Experimental / Acoustic

Tip! Picot is pleased to present the debut solo album by french percussionist Charles Dubois, inaugurating the label’s very first production. Charles Dubois has developed an all-terrain, rudimentary approach to percussion, blending wood, skins, bells, scrap metal, and other found objects. Entirely acoustic, this solo performance on augmented drums explores paradoxical spaces balanced between organic textures, improvised technoid patterns, mechanical movements, and raw sound materials. In this n…

“Viator” is as skeletal as it is instantly recognizable. Following the inception of the unmistakable post-power electronics cubist-Latin-blues that kept Adrián de Alfonso busy during his Don The Tiger days, the first album under his own name is a ruthless step forward into a new form of avant-garde balladry, raw and stripped down, poetic yet enchanting, anchored in a sort of stubborn and repetitive primitivism, which synthesizes the future rituals of a stateless tradition. "Viator" consists main…

*300 copies limited edition* A collection of marvelous songs from the 13-year old Jayden Mont from Belle Vernon, PA, USA. Home recorded brilliance in the American lo-fi tradition of early K Records, Daniel Johnston, Shrimper stuff etc. Raw and heartfelt real music. Curation and sequencing by Gustaf Dicksson. Comes with a booklet containing the full e-mail conversation between Jayden and Gustaf leading up the record. Front cover artwork by Derek Erdman.

*100 copies limited edition* Gianfranco Piombo plays accordion, accompanied by a windscreen wiper motor as percussionist and a fan that makes two truck shock absorbers sing. This little orchestra unfolds in a hypnotic, repetitive drone. A poor man's trance, made up of vibrations, harmonics, gasps, nerves and electricity.

"Limitation Is Necessary is the third set of music by Massachusetts-based string genius Lloyd Thayer we've had the honor of releasing. This follows the Duets LP (with percussionist Jerome Duepree) on which lloyd split his playing between a Weissenborn lap guitar and a 22 string Chaturangui, and the Twenty20 CD which was all done on a double-necked Weissenborn. Both of these album deep and monumental explorations of mesmeric string textures filled with elements that ranged from Indian Classical t…

Isak Hedtjärn plays the clarinet — a straight, metal variant of the more common wooden B flat Clarinet. Kvarpan is Isak’s first ‘solo’ record, but you also hear him in ‘quartet’ with himself, too on this diverse suite of improvisations recorded ‘on location’ on a single day at Patons Malmgård — his usual practice spot just by where the ferries head over to Finland. We recorded until the throb of the boats and waiting cars took over.

  A polymath of undeniable musicality, Isak is a constant, alw…

Tip!  *200 copies limited edition* In 2019, ‘porous structures’ was released, the first album by the quartet Machtelinckx/Badenhorst/Cools/Gouband. The album won the Klara for ‘Best Belgian Jazz CD’. In September 2024, ‘porous structures II’ will be released, a new album by a quartet led by Ruben Machtelinckx, this time in the company of Fredrik Rasten, Frederik Leroux and again Toma Gouband. What remains is the choice for acoustic and fragile sounds, comprehensible to the listener but with an u…

*150 copies limited edition* ‘This here empty room’ is a collection of thirteen miniature compositions for solo acoustic guitar and solo piano. Pieces i until vii are played by Frederik Leroux on steel-string acoustic guitar, pieces viii until xiii are played by pianist Heleen Van Haegenborgh. This album is another exploration of the acoustic space, as you might expect from Leroux. What is new is the purely composed nature of the music, giving Leroux full control over the soundworld he wants to …

*300 copies limited edition* "Martina Verhoeven is a Flemish pianist who likes to seek musical adventure, in different line-ups. The album Martina Verhoeven Invites contains two sessions recorded at Cafe Oto in London on July 23, 2023. During the concert, Gina Southgate made the painting that appears on the cover of the sleeve, which manages to capture the action of the musicians perfectly, as far as I am concerned - lots of color, lots of movement, and a special way of playing together. Two lon…

Reading Group is thrilled to announce a new album from the celebrated trio of Fred Moten (voice), Brandon López (double bass), and Gerald Cleaver (drums). Following the release of their 2022 self-titled debut album, also on Reading Group (RG23), the trio has been developing their improvisatory language in concerts across North America and the UK. While growing from their first album’s perpetually restrained simmer, their infamous live shows explore a propulsive, relentless, and massively energet…

"The creative process, a means by which creative work finds its way into realization, has consistently reconfigured its basic principles as the content of art has evolved. The choices we make, the decisions that make sense to us, reveal our nature and our passion to assemble the things we wish to share with others as an experience. We are offered a number, as a title for this recording, which we have seen before and we'll see once more, as Christian Wolfarth releases this second of three chapter…

Fohn brings connection, displacement and new identities into the moment, on pastoral debut album Seanteach - informed by island life, marine folklore and musical tradition.

Evening Air is the result of Loren Connors and David Grubbs’s first trip to the recording studio in the two decades since their first duo album, Arborvitae (Häpna). Arborvitae stood out for its spellbinding, utterly unhurried meshing of electric guitar (Connors) and piano (Grubbs). With this long-awaited return, Connors and Grubbs take turns trading off on piano and guitar, with Grubbs at the keyboard for the two gently expansive pieces on the first side and Connors taking over the instrument fo…

*75 copies limited edition* Henry Fraser bores into the sound of the double bass to explore the endless patterns of its otherwise hidden contours. The instrument acquires its own dynamic landscape, its own body, and its own mode of perception – opening a space of acute, granular perceptivity in which presumed boundaries are blurred: between center and periphery, sonic and tactile, instrumentalist and instrument, performer and listener."When the poet, Charles Olson wrote, “the HEAD, by way of the…

*75 copies limited edition* Featuring the 1885 pipe organ of Chiesa di San Martina a Maiano and using musical materials derived from Vincenzo Galilei's Fronimo (1581), these pieces articulate the evocative possibilities of sustained tones and low tessituras. The protracted durations of these skeletal structures foreground their lush and often unexpected harmonic progressions, each moment revealing a world of subtle mystery and drama.

*75 copies limited edition* Hold Music is a pair of expansive long-form loop pieces for alto saxophone and electronics, intended to be listened to on infinite repeat. Entrancing and prismatic, constantly spiraling, this is a music that adapts to any listening situation – equally well-suited as accompaniment to daily activities as it is rewarding to the concentrated listen.

Melos Kalpa formed in 2019 around the vision of Tom Relleen; a quintet of musicians employing unconventional instruments and strategies to make music that exists somewhere at the intersection of improvisation, minimalism and sublimated reverie. Musicians Agathe Max (Abstract Concrete, Papivores, These Towns), Jem Doulton (Thurston Moore Group, Too Many Things), David John Morris (Red River Dialect) and Tom Relleen (Tomaga) perform via the conduit of producer Marta Salogni’s intricate tape prepar…

Two hardcore proponents of free improvisations from different generations meet for a granular explosion.

2026 Repress! Custom die-cut rigid slipcase, 5 CDs in double card sleeves, 96 page perfect bound book including an interview between Seymour Wright and John Chantler and additional texts by silvia tarozzi, magnus granberg, nate wooley, valerie mol, pär thörn and lars grip and drawings by guillaume delcourt and aliocha delcourt. Limited Edition of 500 copies.  [Ahmed] is the quartet of Pat Thomas (piano), Joel Grip (double bass), Antonin Gerbal (drums) and Seymour Wright (alto saxophone). Togethe…

*119 copies limited edition* Bury the bag full of nostalgic complaints on "how things used to be better" at Schoonselhof, and get blown away by the fresh Air Force that is Adia Vanheerentals! We are damn proud to present Adia’s first solo release! Seemingly from out of nowhere, Vanheerentals has been blowing minds in many different shapes the past years: as band leader in Bodem, in various free improv set ups, as a guest with The Groovecats, in a trio with Elisabeth Klinck and Maya Dhondt and as…

*200 copies limited edition* British harpist and composer Rhodri Davies (born in 1971) is one of the leading musicians on the international improvised/experimental music scene today. Among his numerous CD releases are several from Ftarri labels, including two duo albums on Ftarri with John Butcher: "Carliol"(2010) and "Routing Lynn" (2014). Pierre Gerard (born in 1966) is a Belgian improviser and composer. Gerard plays a variety of instruments (guitar, piano, cello, electronics and more), select…

Paris-based musician Seijiro Murayama (percussion, voice) and French alto sax and organ player Jean-Luc Guionnet have performed together on a regular basis for many years and released numerous recording of their collaborations. Their duo CDs "Mishima, Day & Night" (2015) and "Idiophonic" (2018) were released on the Ftarri label, and the CD "Blue Mistake, Red Mistake" (with Yan Jun, Guionnet, Matija Schellander and Murayama) came out on on Ftarri’s sister label Meenna in 2020. "Balcony Inside"’s …

Sophie Agnel plays the whole piano. Its body matters as much as its strings. The keyboard's lid is just as good closed as it is open - in fact it’s best slammed open and closed rapidly. Joined by bassist John Edwards and drummer Steve Noble, Three on a Match explodes the piano trio - each player sparking off the other so quickly that it’s impossible to figure out who lit the flame.

yan jun: voiceaxel dörner: trumpet recorded 3rd of january 2017 in berlinmixed by yan junmastered by axel dörner sind

Ubagabi is a baroque solo violin album recorded in 2019 reinterpreting the myth of Ubagabi, a chicken turning into a fire ball. This album is now finally released on a silk-screened CD, fully equipped with a flammable booklet, an insert, and all fits in a hand stamped rotisserie bag. Mastering by Guillaume Lespinasse.

Tip! In "Handle, Nail and Rubber Dinosaur", Jun-Y Ciao plays soprano saxophone and Zhu Wenbo plays clarinet. Before recording there was very little pre-planning, the only decision was that they each play a few short passages. They recorded a single take, during which there were some naturally occurring pauses and breaks – these make up the first 13 tracks of the album. After that they decided to make another recording with a more defined limitation: they maintain fixed fingerings, limiting the s…

MTDM (acronym from the Chinese name mei tui de ma, “horse without legs”) is the duet of Jun-Y Ciao and Tao Yi, both born in 1978, Year of the Horse. Tao Yi plays drums and trumpet, and Jun-Y Ciao, woodwinds, including different sizes of saxophone and clarinet. Around 2008, MTDM returned to Shanghai from Europe, and straight away got involved in the local experimental music scene, giving entirely improvised performances using only acoustic instruments. From their overall musical style, to their a…

Lukas de Clerck brings the telescopic aulos, which his new interpretation of long-form expression coaxed forth on this tremendous recording. Lukas de Clerck explores a niche of archaeological research in music; the aulos is a historical Greek instrument that Lukas analyzed and reinterpreted by a luthier in modern times—navigating this impression as an artwork or living sculptural object, as there is an absence of historical partitions or written information about how to recreate technique on the…

*300 copies limited edition. Screenprinted artwork on old re-used cover jackets + insert.* Another transatlantic collaborative project on Förlag För Fri Musik, this time Blod teams up with Shadow Pattern from Canada. A seemingly impossible match that somehow works like a charm, the lo-fi folk of Gustaf Dicksson beautifully tangled up with the brutish concrete music of Nathan Ivanco. Recorded in the the winter of 2024 in Gothenburg, Sweden and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Mixed and arranged by Nath…

*2024 stock* "I have always been fascinated by the improvising combos that give prominence to the classical guitar, but it is usually easier to find such productions on the contemporary side. So having caught this little gem with strong freeform accents, where it makes its worthy appearance was a sign of amazement. We specify that the Graculus do not give exclusive space to the six strings but that in reality they are a duo formed by the English Phil Hargeraves (flute, soprano sax) and Richard H…

*2021 stock* Phil Hargreaves is a Liverpool saxophonist and bold improviser whose music evokes the voices and echoes of his home city. In his new album, Fall Through the Infinite, he duets with the drummer of Spaceheads, Richard Harrison, and they create an urban soundscape, sometimes forlorn, sometimes bursting with hope, which is constantly inventive and multifaceted in its sonic patterns. Hargreaves’s tenor horn rampages through Reach for the Tar in ardent conversation with Harrison’s scuttli…

"A live recording of freely improvised improv captured at All Hallows Church in High Laver, Essex in 2023 from the trio of AMM drummer and Matchless label-leader Eddie Prévost, Zürich and Maastricht trumpeter Silvan Shmid, and London double bassist Tom Wheatley of the group Widdershins, heard in three investigative conversations of great creative drive." * squidco.com

"Long-time collaborators and iconoclastic improvisers, drummer Eddie Prévost and saxophonist John Butcher, met at All Hallows Church, in High Laver, Essex in 2023, using the natural ambience of the space to capture these three improvisations, Prévost playing primarily on a drum kit and both in a more jazz-oriented sax and drum duo, extended by both players' exceptional technique." - squidco.com

"In 2022, Eddie Prévost celebrated his 80 th birthday with the series Towards a Bright Nowhere, a series of July concerts at Café Oto that appeared as both a series of four CDs and a documentary. These two CDs document later duo performances from October 2022 to June 2023 with French pianist Marjolaine Charbin, apparently a recent association, and saxophonist John Butcher, a longtime creative partner. Each emphasizes a different dimension of Prévost’s creativity. He’s credited with percussion on…

Big tip! Deluxe LP housed in tip-on jacket with gloss film laminated cover and printed inner sleeve featuring photograph and painting by Michael Morley. Over the last ten years, Michael Morley has embraced the acoustic guitar as the means of channeling the darkest threads that have run through his work since the early 1980’s. While he largely made a name for himself as a maverick of primitive electric guitar and electronics in The Dead C and Gate, Morley’s love of song form has never been far fr…

Characteristically invisible and inaudible, the wind is made manifest solely by its agency and performance on objects: huge waves crash to shore, sand dunes edge forward over millennia (rumbling as they go), cyclones uproot trees and houses, intergalactic winds confound the planets. On a more modest scale, I’ve been building aeolian instruments since 1979, part of my investigation into the innumerable aspects of the vibrating string. I designed the two recent aeolian instruments heard on this al…

Mohammad Syfkhan is a Kurdish/Syrian Singer and Bouzouki player. He began playing music in 1980 while he was in college studying nursing. When he got his degree in 1983, Mohammad moved to the city of Raqqa, Syria where hebegan working as a professional singer and started his own band, The Al-Rabie Band which played concerts, parties, weddings and festivals all over Syria. The Al-Rabie Band were a much sought-after group. Their live sets included Kurdish, Arabic, Turkish and some Western songs as…

In 2022 Lori Goldston went on a small 4 date tour of Ireland playing in Cork, Limerick, Leitirm and Drogheda. Willie Stewart of Nyahh Records drove her on the tour and recorded each performance. With Lori’s permission, Willie edited and mixed each performance and put them together to make this album. The end result is a collection of improvisations and spontaneous moments. Every performance is drastically different to one another in mood, energy and technique. In these recordings you can hear ho…

Suspenseful Fantasias Unraveling Into A Humbly Wondrous Journey

*200 copies limited edition* Tokyo-born recorder player/improviser Eiko Yamada has lived in Germany since 1984 and currently resides in Heidelberg. Yamada performs in formations ranging from solo to large ensemble, as well as with a variety of artists including dancers and poets. She returns to Japan once or twice a year and appears in a small number of concerts in Tokyo.During her stay in Japan in summer 2023, Yamada performed with pianist Fumi Endo at Ftarri on August 13. In addition to their …