Experimental / Acoustic

*In process of stocking* Amgen presents Rhodri Davies's Dwa Dni. Titles borrowed from the works of Lisa Jarnot, Ed Luker, Nathaniel Mackey, Redell Olsen, Sun Ra, Nisha Ramayya, Sarah Riggs and Leslie Scalapino. Telyn clun MOGIC / MOGIC lap harp.

Tip! A body is bounded. It operates within physical limitations and biological constraints. Whilst some see these physiological boundaries as a terminus, others such as Colin Stetson perceive them as a nexus of possibility, and perhaps even of expansion. It is in this zone of unsteady tension and promise that his new album Chimæra dwells. Collecting a series of extended drone works for saxophone, Chimæra charts an entirely new thread of work for Stetson. This thread simultaneously maintains stat…

*2023 stock* Charlemagne Palestine's performance on the organ of the Friedenskirche, Eupen for the reihe-M showcase at the Meakusma Festival 2019 was one of the many highlights of that year's festival edition. This record features the full live performance as Palestine conjures up his dense definition of maximized minimalism, introducing the performance with a minimalist drone and himself singing on top. His voice touches upon melancholy and the absurd and gives the piece context and direction. …

*In process of stocking* An extraordinary project arising from Frank Denyer’s ethno-musicological studies in the 1970’s, which forced him to go back to basics and ask himself ‘what is a melody?’ and ‘what is a note?’   Frank answered these questions by composing a series of 25 pieces starting from single-note melodies, through melodies with 2, 3 or 4 notes, ending with more complex pieces with 14- and 15-note melodies. A wonderful double CD, with a 24-page booklet containing an essay by Frank de…

*In process of stocking* “Hermit Music is a collection of spontaneously composed pieces for the double bass and bow. From 2017-2019 I played a series of solo concerts in the US and Europe and wanted to capture the music I was creating at the time, so I planned to record in the Spring of 2020. Just before the Covid-19 pandemic began, my life had undergone some major changes and losses, but when New York shut down in March of 2020, I became deeply depressed and couldn’t bear to play my instrument …

** Limited to 250 copies ** 8-Infinities represents Discos Transgénero’s first contemporary release after several reissues and archival projects. Stepping away from customary North-American guitar traditions, Ameel Brecht (core member of Razen) presents an utterly singular take on early European music with an album which evokes the inner conflicts of growing up and their connection to the concerns of fatherhood. A classically trained musician, Brecht resorts once again to the use of resophonic g…

Fabrica Records announces the first volume in the Same Animal, Different Cages series by American composer and improviser David First. On Études for Acoustic Guitar, First twists and bends notes from his steel-string acoustic guitar, an instrument traditionally associated with American folk, country and blues music. And in fact, those genres are central to First's explorations here, constituting portions of a palette that also encompasses jazz and Indian classical music. In this series of s…

Tip! Release on Raw Tonk Records. Colin Webster - Baritone SaxophoneDirk Serries - Acoustic GuitarEmilie Škrijelj - AccordionMartina Verhoeven - Double BassTom Malmendier - Percussion Recorded at Oud Klooster, Brecht, Belgium on 5th May 2022. Mixed and mastered by Dirk Serries

*In process of stocking* Recording of the premiere performance of the "Weihnachtsoratorium" (Christmas Oratorio), an organ concert composed and played by the four hands of Daniel Löwenbrück & Fabian Löwenbrück. Performed December 26th, 2006 on the Hugo Meyer organ of the Evangelische Kirche in Lebach, Germany.

*200 copies limited edition* A set of islands, emerging from the seafloor, standing isolated from one another above water. In Inseln, this image manifests itself musically as combinations of long tones, fading in, fading out, overlapping in everchanging permutations to form islands of sound in a sea of silence. - Cenk Ergün A multi-channel sound work by Turkish-American composer Cenk Ergün, Inseln was first realized as an installation for six loudspeakers at Zionskirche, Berlin in March 2021. 44…

*In process of stocking* Look Like is the first complete solo release from bassist and vocalist Kelsey Mines. A series of improvised solo-duets, Look Like explores how listening to our on-going internal dialogue helps us conjure honest, outward expressions.

Tip! *200 copies limited edition* “If the measure of freedom is measured by the resilience of an elastic band, they get close to the point where the rubber is about to snap, but it is exactly at that spot, where they recognise something and react to that with a refreshing lack of explicitness, that you can feel the result, and unfolded potential, of a shared intimacy.” - Guy Peters

*In process of stocking. Edition of 100.* Malcolm Goldstein has long been an admired figure for Notice Recordings; such albums Soundings and The Seasons: Vermont were foundational for our early forays into contemporary music. It is with great honor, then, that we present a document of a 2003 live improvised duo set with Fred Lonberg-Holm recorded at 3030 in Chicago. With ample room-tone, sounds of people shuffling into place, atmospheric sounds from the occasional interior/exterior crossover, Lo…

Organism is the debut album from Copenhagen Clarinet Choir. With track titles like ’Flocking’, ‘Hive Mind’ and ‘Water Piece’, the work is situated at the intersection of composition and improvisation, and at the nexus of nature and music. Led by Irish woodwind player and composer Carolyn Goodwin, the clarinet sextet takes an egalitarian approach in the way it assembles its players. In the music of Organism, interdependent parts find an overall shape as organically as a living entity. Much like a…

Twin Cosmos is not only the name of the musical output of fraternal twins Morihito & Yasuhito Ito, but more philosophically, an album that encapsulates, “the universe of twins”. The pair were born 1953 in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture. A port city 50 kilometres west of Nagoya, famous for its chemical plants. Despite their surroundings, they grew up in an environment that fostered learning and self-expression. From an early age, they began to carve out their own paths. Morihito was fascinated with sc…

"Sometimes I wonder why it takes years for something to find its way to a release, but in this case, you could think: wow, that's really fast. The concert that we find on these recordings dates from September 4. I must assume the CD went into production the day after the concert. I believe I had not yet the pleasure to hear music as part of a duo (in some bigger groups, yes), and he teams up with recent improvised music convert Dirk Serries. The latter is on guitar. I would think this CD covers …

*2022 stock.* Dust is a piece composed by the Swiss artist Antoine Chessex. A slow meta-physical progression, the junction of tense violins and a revoxian dust, juxtaposing, overlapping, resorbing and accompanying each other, before exploding in a powerful final catharsis. Like a proposal for departure towards infinity, a before-after Big Bang, highly successful, disturbing at times as is the vast unknown… the music of a ship leaving for the limits of the cosmos perhaps, in any case it can reson…

Tip! *2022 stock. 300 copies limited edition* Splitrec presents Parasite solo prepared guitar works by Rhys Mottley.

Tip! *2022 stock* 180º is a new group formed in August 2018 - Nick Ashwood acoustic guitar, Jim Denley bass flute, and Amanda Stewart voice and text. Amanda and Jim first met in the late 1980s, founding Machine for Making Sense in 1989, as well as performing numerous duos over the years — a long and fruitful association. They’ve always been interested in what their music instinct can learn from language and vice versa. Nick is from the southern tip of Tasmania. Jim and Nick have been developing …

Tip! This fourth release by Great Waitress titled back, before was recorded before the pandemic and lockdowns in 2018, and has taken four years to get to production. A live set was beautifully recorded by Peter Farrar at the Annandale Creative Arts Centre in Sydney and mixed and mastered by Joe Talia.  In the elegant liner notes, Chris Abrahams writes of Great Waitress transcending “ ...the individual contributions of Mayas, Altman and Brooks. It's an identity made from a multi-dimensional count…

Luis Vicente, one of the most demanding trumpet players from Lisbon with the companion of the excellent pianist Seppe Gebruers and magnificent drummer Onno Govaert. Three young faces in an improvised world in their second trio recording. Unedited improvisations in the order as played, are composed by an interaction between the musicians, instruments, a nameless room, audience, microphones and you.

* Edition of 70 copies. In process of stocking * Follow up to Morc's 'Hymnes Apophatiques' that came out earlier this year, In Illo Tempore was also recorded at the church of St. Saphorin in Switzerland last year. Atmospheric organ melodies acompanied by wordless vocals descending into timeless devotional ambience.

*2022 stock. Limited edition of 100 copies.* Witness the common phenomenon of feedback such as produced inadvertently through poorly configured microphones and loudspeakers in public amplification situations: the sound coming from the speakers finds its way back into the microphones and produces an uncomfortable squealing sound. The component elements are electronic and acoustic, the latter involving air movement and vibration of physical objects. But internal electronic feedback is quite a curi…

Portuguese trumpeter Susana Santos Silva joins Swedish composer Alexandra Nilsson for their new album debut Radio Two on Superpang. Composed and recorded in residency at the legendary EMS in Stockholm, "Radio Two" presents the duo in full-tilt, engaging joyfully with sinuous figures, contrasting textures, and dynamic extremes throughout the album's six compositions. Disinterring at the perimeters of sounds both possible and impossible within the sonorities of their respective instruments, Santos…

*Limited edition of 300 copies, incl. download.* "Tableau" is Rolf Hansen's second full-length album under his given name and acts as a sequel to his solo debut "Elektrisk Guitar", released in 2019 through Karaoke Kalk. On the 14 new pieces, the Copenhagen-based composer and musician further explores the sonic possibilities of the electric guitar by opting for a radically different approach and putting great limitations on himself as a performer. "Tableau" is an experimental record in the truest…

Tip! An homage to the wildlife and mountain people of Benedicte Maurseth’s home area in Hardanger . The acclaimed and innovative visionary musician Benedicte Maurseth is coming forth with the wonderful all-consuming album Hárr. The sound of her magic Hardanger fiddle is woven seamlessly together with that of birds and the other musicians’ musical impressions. Always moving forward with a steely calm disposition, the record draws you into a world where one feels to be one with nature, wandering o…

Midori Takada's 1999 album Tree Of Life was only Takada's second solo LP after the release of 1983 debut Through The Looking Glass, was originally made available on CD only by Japanese label BAJ Records. Reissues of Takada's music by WRWTFWW, including her work with Mkawju Ensemble, triggered a return to live touring for the artist in recent years. She also released a collaborative record with Lafawndah, called Le Renard Blue, in 2018, while her first new solo material in 23 years arrived earlie…

*In process of stocking. 2022 stock* "Alterations on record is a bit like listening to the soundtrack to a movie without the picture show. Essential to their 'performance' was the aspect that making music can be both visually & musically entertaining; which hints at the notion of entertainment as a valid musical form - and suggests that 'High Art' can be born from "playing for laughs" - (which the Alterations perfected to such a fine art as to become 'flavour of the month' for a year or two). At…

Astral Spirits presents the debut duo recording from Alex Cunningham (violin) and Claire Rousay (percussion) entitled Specifically the Water.Alex Cunningham is a violinist, improviser, and visual artist based in St. Louis, MO. His work explores free improvisation, drone, noise, and minimalist composition. Cunningham has recently performed with Mark Shippy, Sandy Ewen, Damon Smith, Stefan Gonzalez, and Lisa Cameron and has ongoing collaborations with Chris Trull (under the Apathist! moniker), Kev…

Alexandra Grimal’s new record is an exploration of her inner improvised language in resonance with the very special acoustic of the castle of Chambord. Refuge was recorded in the double revolution staircase in the castle of Chambord in September 2020.

*In process of stocking.* The album consists of two tracks that shows Èlg’s excellent capacity to blend songs, improvisation and music concrete in one sonic cocktail which can be digested either as a cassette or digital. Recorded in 2018 at Next festival in Bratislava, Zwarte Vijvers is two side long pieces by Belgian singer-mangler Èlg, a consistently underrated musician who made my favourite release on Hundebiss records about ten years ago, and who collaborated with the late Ghédalia Tazartès …

*Limited Edition of 400 copies. Habitat, an environmental music collaboration by Berlin based composer Niklas Kramer and percussionist Joda Foerster, is inspired by the drawings of Italian architect Ettore Sottsass. Each of the eight tracks represents a room in an imaginary building. In Habitat the duo layers, loops and merges sonic textures and patterns into fluid blocks without the restraint of statics. African log drum, Bolivian chajchas, vibraphone, kalimba and various other percussion instr…

*200 copies limited edition. In process of stocking* "These performances are all about the process, about exploration and they more than once reminded me of a quote by Derek Bailey about the creation process as a kind of jigsaw puzzle: “Emptied out of the box, there’s a heap of pieces, all shapes, sizes and colors, in themselves attractive and could add up to anything— intriguing. Figuring out how to put them together can be interesting, but what you finish up with as often as not is a picture o…

Reading Group is thrilled to introduce the debut LP from a new improvising group of three singular artists: Fred Moten (voice), Brandon López (double bass), and Gerald Cleaver (drums). López and Cleaver have been improvising together as a duo for a number of years, over which they’ve developed a secret, unspoken language of organically growing repetitive figures in a wide range of sonic palettes. López and Cleaver have long been recognized as some of the most vital voices in contemporary experim…

*2022 stock.* Le grand K is a newborn project featuring four young musicians part of the Italian improvised music scene: Riccardo La Foresta, percussioninst who focused his work on the bass drum and its relationship with the breath, Renato Grieco, electroacoustic composer and doublebass player, Chiara Mallozzi, baroque cellist and researcher, and Davide Maria Viola, cellist active both in the field of classical and improvised music.The ensemble is focused on site specific acoustic improvisation as…

Tip! "Recorded during the first lockdown in July 2020. All pieces are derived from improvisations experimenting with extended techniques / prepared bass, microtonality and Harry Partch's 11-Limit tonality diamond tuning system, overdubbing and long formless melodies. Inspired and dedicated to my daughter Yumi who was born on 25th April 2020." - Michael Bardon

A new trio from three master improvisers in the great sax / bass / drums tradition. This suite of compact pieces sees the players move between pure jazz skill and areas where extended techniques on all three instruments take the music into more textural and abstract areas. Paul Hession has played percussion with a wide range of improvising  musicians from around the world including Derek Bailey, Peter Brotzmann and Marshall Allen. Bassist Michael Bardon featured in the Nat Birchall Quartet and S…

Tip! *In process of stocking* Ashley Paul is an American multi-instrumentalist/ composer based in London. Her intuitive process integrates free form song structures with a focused approach to sound. Using a complexity of instruments including saxophone, clarinet, voice, prepared guitar and percussion she creates a delicate palette, uniquely her own. I Am Fog to us sounds like a new evolution of Ashley’s work, it is silent shoegaze with hints of free jazz. Joan La Barbara on methadone is somethin…

*Limited edition of 500 copies, silk-screened sleeve, random green and rose artwork.* Alien Transistor present Alien Parade Japan, a joyous double-album compilation of groups from Japan’s indie-pop and avant-garde undergrounds, all of which feature brass or woodwind instruments as part of their line-up. Compiled by Markus Acher (Alien Transistor, The Notwist, Hochzeitskapelle) with plenty of support and help from his Spirit Fest bandmate, Saya (also of Tenniscoats), it features some familiar nam…

Tip! *110 copies limieted edition. In process of stocking* 'Bitter Desert ushers in an intensely reflective listening induced by the sounds of clarinets moving restlessly through progressions of granulated tone, soaring harmonic, gnarly growl, and wild fluttering. The ground here is only apparently firm; rather it is sand-like, constantly shifting beneath the feet of our ears as it surveys a vast sonic expanse turned profoundly inward.' – Adam Zuckerman