Experimental / Acoustic

Over the past decade, saxophonist Makoto Kawashima has consistently established himself as one of the most compelling improvisers in contemporary music. His unique approach to solo performance aligns him with the tradition of groundbreaking Japanese saxophonists like Kaoru Abe, Tamio Shiraishi, and Masayushi Urabe. Operating at the fringes of improvised music, Kawashima's artistry unveils a delicate essence, placing equal focus on silence and minute detail alongside intense expressions of tone a…

Lao Dan's innovative approach to music seamlessly intertwines elements of rock, free jazz, and noise with textures of Chinese folk music, creating a unique tapestry characterized by improvisational and aesthetic tension. His fearless transgression of genres, infusing Chinese folk-tinged free jazz with the raw energy of punk, results in a compelling and dynamic listening experience.

Vents is seemingly a musical wind trio - humans playing with flutes, airdrums, bubbles… Although, in each set-up, material has its own vitality.

Arriving just four months after his previous release, Tombed Visions obsession with the work of guitarist Takashi Masubuchi continues with the release of 'Styx'.

Microcanonical Ensemble is an album woven with subtle paradoxes, balancing stasis and movement, resonance and decay, improvisation and composition, precision and raw performance. While the echoes of Morton Feldman, Jürg Frey, and the Wandelweiser scene whisper through their music, the group's contrasting approaches, coupled with an openness and fragility, create a sound that is rustic and fallibly human. With purely acoustic instrumentation, the quartet of Takashi Masubuchi, Wakana Ikeda, Tom So…

"How and why do we continue to make art in this bizarre time? Let me try here to offer a small break from insanity. I do believe that for listeners in our small pond, focused attention on sonic expression might help the individual keep a connection with their humanity and reinforce positive human endeavors—love, empathy, and truth-seeking. These seemingly obvious pursuits now need support as they are so unbelievably at risk. I offer this music as an aural refuge for mind and body. Such small bre…

Black Editions present a reissue of Kazuo Imai's far and wee, originally released in 2004. Kazuo Imai is one of the few artists to traverse both Japan's early avant-garde and free jazz movements. Though he began performing in the 1970s, his 2004 P.S.F. album far and wee was only the second under his name. In a series of thrilling acoustic guitar improvisations -- Imai's playing crackles with dynamic tension and physicality as well as a subtlety and nuance that reveals him as one of the instrumen…

*100 copies limited edition* "Dig Up Roots" is a document of a live performance at Tokyo Arts and Space on July 1, 2022. Ryosuke Kiyasu plays snare drum and table, presenting an extreme and cathartic relationship with physical surfaces and their characteristic tolerances, as exploited with wood, hands, and body. Notably the distinctive acoustics of the space can be felt deeply throughout the performance, not to mention the overblown recording. The space’s container is audible, fluctuating, and s…

*2024 stock* "A lone voice rises over the booming rumble of the octobass, a large acoustic instrument resembling a double-bass, yet twice the height. The octobass’ unusually large stature lends itself to these haunting sounds, looming over this cacophonous reverberation like a specter of monstrosity. Another voice lightly ascends, and the two vocalizations coalesce as this musical foundation crumbles along, carried by the tapping of harmonium keys, swimming and dissonant.  This patient singing b…

London-based Ciaran Mackle (Breathing Heavy, Ashcircle, Cliff Edge, etc.) is an Irish musician working primarily with sampling and improvisation. Sitting Still for a Living, is his first eponymous work.

*75 copies limited edition* Layered improvisations converge to form a duo of longform drone harmonies, composed entirely with the bow chime. This esoteric instrument, comprising a large stainless steel resonating sheet paired with an array of tuned rods, produces a rich spectrum of tones and pitches when bowed. The recording emphasizes its deeply resonant qualities, unfolding in a continuous sonic line — fluid, unbroken, and immersive.

The legendary double bass master is not appearing in our catalogue for the first time, but for the first time we have the honour of publishing music that has not appeared on Paul Rogers' albums many times before. A recital for solo double bass! If one could wish for the bass to speak, we believe that it does so most fully and poignantly when played by this wonderful master.

John Tilbury's latest duo piano and saxophone improvisations

'Solo Acoustic Guitar Improvisations VII' is volume 7 in a series Dirk Serries is recording in honor of the Höfner archtop guitars.  A few years ago Dirk fell in love with the acoustic guitar and specifically the Höfner brand for its specific and unique harsher sound their vintage archtop guitars hold.  It's definitely far away from Dirk's electric constructions but at the same the acoustic approach is merely another way for him to express his fascination for sound in particular and how you can …

"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…

This album was recorded at Liu Ying Studio in Shenzhen. An improvised session on acoustic guitar from start to finish, it nonetheless demonstrates a highly original, coherent artistic conception: a distinct “Oriental” aesthetic redefined by Mamer’s own creative vision. In tracks like “Sleepless”, “Man from the East”, and “Backyard”, Mamer ingeniously deconstructs and deploys traditional Han Chinese music scales to serve his own purpose, adding artful ambivalence and rich subtleties to an unmista…

*2024 stock* This series of reel-to-reel tape recordings, to be jointly released by Old Heaven Books and Liu Ying Studio, aims to offer to our listeners the best quality of sound we can achieve so far. Whilst a small part of these releases come from historical archives, the majority are freshly made by musicians we invite to our studio. We record these studio sessions − some of which free-improvised, others more composition-based − on reel-to-reel tapes. With high-quality studio equipment, we ma…

New album from Richard Youngs that, similar to a lot of his work, happened fairly spontaneously following our having heard one of Richard's sketches utilising a Spanish guitar during the spring of 2021 and being duly impressed. We then proposed releasing a CD album of such work, where Richard uses the same guitar alongside real-time street sounds, birdsong, tape loops, synth, FM radio and runout grooves to create a setting that's comparatively gentler than most of his work thus far on Fourth Dim…

Erototox Decodings proudly presents "I Lost Myself In Finding You," a mesmerizing new album from the international trio Rasha Ragab, Christoph Nicolaus, and Lucio Capece. Released November 4, 2022, this recording is a unique confluence of voices, tradition, and modern sonic investigation, designed to captivate the ear and spirit alike - Rasha Ragab: Egyptian performer renowned for her evocative vocal presence, blending singing with Sufi poetry and texts.- Christoph Nicolaus: Innovator of the sto…

*2023 stock. 300 copies limited edition* Guitarist John Russell, a leading figure on Britain's improvised music scene, passed away on January 19, 2021. Born in December 1954, Russell started performing improvised music in London in his late teens, and for many years he toured and gave concerts not only in the UK and Europe but throughout the world. Known as a Japanophile, Russell traveled to Japan for the first time in 2001, and subsequently visited the country many times, including as recently …

*2025 stock. 30 copies limited edition* Renowned experimental guitarist and avant-garde musician Eugene Chadbourne presents Milanesa / Astral Traveling, a bold new release available now via the German label Frei zum Abriss Kollektiv. This two-track album showcases Chadbourne’s signature blend of free improvisation, wit, and boundary-pushing soundscapes, further cementing his status as a true pioneer of the underground music scene.

Dominique Pifarély, Lina Andonovska, and Izumi Kimura—three versatile, internationally acclaimed musicians—unite in a unique trio project born from a residency.

The Lava Quartet—Berlin to Portugal—unites for free improvisation, blending creativity and extended techniques. Their debut album, "Ethereal Chant," showcases boundary-breaking, unpredictable soundscapes.

Such a beautiful release from my friend Frederik. Acoustic instruments and a lot of silence. I hope he is going to do many more releases for the label.

First cassette from my friend Jeff, hopefully many more to come.Side a is quite tense, side b is really sweetlovely tapeMy Room Is An Oyster Side A A series of dissociative solo guitar compositions inspired by overstimulation and political desperation. Side B A lil less of lonely conceptuality - the guitar as a blank canvas to be discovered with the people in the room.Feat. Casper Hejlesen and Malina Midera

"Basically, we witness an intimate dialogue between two improvisers. If there had not been a special circumstance leading to this result. Christine Abdelnour and Hans Koch could not hear each other. In fact, "FFlair" is based on two separately recorded solo improvisations, which were superimposed at the end. Mind you, without any subsequent editing." - Rudolf Amstutz

300 copies limited edition "On this LP you hear two kanteles built by the Master Luthier Rauno Nieminen. One of them is a copy of a historical instrument built by the folk poet Ontrei Malinen in 1833. It is carved from single piece of pine, and it has five bronze strings. The other one is carved from a single piece of spruce. Its lowest seven strings are bronze, and highest three strings are English iron. On most tracks the two kanteles are played simultaneously. For me, playing these instrument…

*2025 stock. 200 copies limited edition* Three eminent figures of the international experimental music scene meet here in an unexpected configuration. Aidan Baker and Katharina Schmidt are well-known for their drone/ambient-oriented work, while versatile improviser Han-earl Park is certainly the person one would expect in an improvising trio. Katharina Schmidt performs as a drummer and percussionist, Aidan Baker switches between guitar and bass, while Han-earl Park appears on his trademark instr…

According to legend, Orpheus was the son of Apollo, the Greek god of music. His father gave him a lyre and, from an early age, Orpheus played so well that he surpassed even his father's skill. It is said that when he played, the objects around him came to life, so enchanting was his music. Orfeu is the Portuguese translation of ‘Orpheus’, and is above all the intimate project of Alexandre Casato, who has been developing it in secret in his bedroom for several years... Alex is the guitarist behin…

Scottish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist James Yorkston, English guitarist David A. Jaycock, and Swedish saxophonist Lina Langendorf unite in a collaborative album that seamlessly weaves together elements of folk, jazz, and atmospheric soundscapes. This project, born from longstanding friendships and mutual musical admiration, offers a richly textured journey—both intimate and expansive. The album's genesis lies in Yorkston's enduring partnership with Jaycock, dating back to their co…

The music of Panzer Constellations was the result of a single occasion - by the invitation of After Action Review - to record a duo of soprano saxophones for the wonderful acoustics available at the former Heeresbekleidungsamt, Bernau - now an expansive abandoned building.

Moondog singing Moondog? Really! even goodness knows, Moondog doesn't sing a song; he shows you how it goes."

Peter Brötzmann and Keiji Haino's first music on record together since 1996: two full concerts recorded in Los Angeles and San Francisco in 2018, on four LPs with art prints by both.

*200 copies limited edition* Seijiro Murayama is a drummer/percussionist, improviser and composer who has lived in Paris for many years. He continues to carry out tours throughout Europe, and nearly every year he returns to Japan for a time and holds concerts. Murayama has many releases on labels in countries around the world. Attila Gyárfás is a drummer, improviser and composer from Hungary. Along with his activities in a number of groups including Quelquefois and Identified Flying Object as we…

Astrïd and Sylvain Chauveau previously released the collaborative album Butterfly in the Snowfall in 2014, and have played shows together and with Rachel Grimes. Sylvain often covers songs, changing the original music using electronic or a minimalistic harmonium. For their new collaboration, Astrïd and Sylvain decided to work together for the first time on an album of cover songs, starting with Nina Simone’s version of Dambala, then Nancy Sinatra’s Bang Bang (a song Sylvain regularly performs li…

Lotus Eaters is Stephen O'Malley (Sunn O))), KTL, etc.), James Plotkin (Khanate, Phantomsmasher, etc.) and Aaron Turner (Isis, Old Man Gloom, etc.). Initially released on CD in 2002 by Neurot Recordings, Mind Control For Infants has been expanded, remixed and rearranged for this vinyl edition using alternate takes from the original recording sessions. Quietly subversive and contemplative, Mind Control For Infants features droning and silvery finger-picked guitars that conjure holy states, grumbl…

*In process of stocking* Or, 'whose drum is it, anyway?' Recording of a drum solo concert given at Network Theatre, London on 6th February, 2012

Capturing two exceptional concerts at London's Cafe OTO in 2021 & 2022, in the launch of a new quartet expanding the longstanding trio of N.O. Moore on electric guitar, John Edwards on double bass and Eddie Prévost on drums, with Alan Wilkinson on baritone & alto saxophones, and for one performance on each night, tenor saxophonist Nathaniel Catchpole joining. "Launch show for the quartet to mark the release of new CD 'EMPoWered' on Brooklyn's 577 Records. Edwards, Moore and Prévost have comprise…

*2025 stock. 100 copies limited edition* During a 4-day residency at kunstencentrum Nona, april 2023, Ocean Eddie worked together with Swedish vocalist Sofia Jernberg (The End, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, Mette Rasmussen), recording new material for their 2nd album. Adding vocalist Sofia Jernberg, the trio challenges itself, pushing the orchestral unbalanced combination of instruments even further. Written music, played from the perspective of free musicians, the music can be described as minimal,…