Experimental / Free Improvisation

Marble, lasagne, lego, moon, liquorice, sap, weightlessness... These are all words and their associated sensations that come to mind when I think of the music of Société Etrange and more precisely to this brand new album mysteriously named "Chance". To tell the truth, it's lucky that this trip exists.The German groove of Can, the ghostly haze of Phew and the industrial elasticity of African Head Charge. All this and more. Société Etrange is an entity, it's a name and a sound. A compact and preci…

Tip! *2022 stock. In process of stocking* Their second duo recording, the follow-up to 1999's Apertura. Off-Road finds the two of them forsaking their earlier, glacially meditative m.o. for a shower of digitally recomposed slivers, the metal-on-metal timbre of a saxophone equipped with contact mics, Grubbs's chiming electric guitar, and Gustafsson's pro rhythm analog synthesizer clipped to the bell of his horn.

Tip! “For the first duo release, Birgit Ulher stays close to her primary instrument, the trumpet. She plays that, as per usual, in combination with a radio, speakers and a voice changer. Early February 2020, she recorded a duet with Petr Vrba, also on trumpet and electronics, during a two-day met in Hamburg. Both musicians have quite a reputation when it comes to playing improvised music. Well, maybe improvised music covers only partially what they do. The addition of electronics and objects mak…

*2023 stock* "A blend of intonation and improvisation, The Eternity-Cult is a harmonies-across-the-seas program featuring the trumpet and objects of Birgit Ulher from Northern Germany with the double bass (Damon Smith) and percussion and electronics (Chris Cogburn) from the southern US. Despite geographical distances the three are equally committed to free-from improvisation. This disc's single 37-minute track finds the trio exploring textures and pitches from minimalist to embellished, while ma…

Limited edition of 116. One-sided LP. In these times of double lives it happens fairly frequently that acquaintances from outside "the world of experimental music" send short video’s of all kinds of circus acts, people making music in a river, singing in a helicopter, their pets sounding like the intro of an 80’s hit, etcetera. Often these outings are sent in an ironic way, as often liked by us in a painful, deadly serious way. There must be thousands of video’s of Japanese percussionist Ryosuke…

Entering their twentieth year of existence, the GOL orchestra, together with the label Planam, celebrates and starts a new program of collaborations: the Gollaboration series.Volume 1, hence the title "Musique Directe",  shows the band facing the leaders of Roumenian spectralism Ana-Maria Avaram and Iancu Dumitrescu. Electric and intense spontaneous experiments, on the edge of electroacoustic music and primitive avant-garde. Live recordings in Marseille and Paris with the participation of Ansamb…

The Kriego is the joint project of musicians and sound artists Fernando Feria & Emiliano Cruz. Born from cultivating similar creative interests in sound art, improvisation, and composition, the duo weaves a sound born of noise, ambient, and free improvisation; exploring various formats and using the electric guitar as their main mean of expression. The project emerged in October 2021 in Mexico City with the presentation of their album I at Casa Patricio, later performing at the first edition of …

*350 copies limited edition.* 2024 stock.Nick Parkin and Z’ev were introduced to each other by Charles Powne of Soleilmoon Recordings at a social get together in London in 2005. The following year they ran into each other again at the ICA’s Sonic Arts Festival, and after a series of meetings and conversations realised they had a number of common sonic and philosophical threads, and decided to try recording together. The two musicians shared an interest in site-specific recordings and the atmosph…

Tip!  Sam Newsome – Soprano Saxophone, Horn Preparations, ToysMax Johnson – Double Bass Recorded at Conveyor by Jason Borisoff on March 18, 2023Mixed and Mastered by Max JohnsonPhoto by Peter GannushkinDesign by David Mirarchi All music by Max Johnson (Max Johnson Music ASCAP and Sam Newsome (Some New Music BMI), except “Blue Monk” by Thelonious Monk

*200 copies limited edition* And if we thought we couldn't top a line-up, here's this unique quartet who brings a totally different experience. While Garuda Trio with special guest Rodrigo Pinheiro musters a fine balance between classic free jazz and improvisation, this quartet dives deep into the fantastic realm of pure improvisation and textural dialogue : the electronics of Carla Santana, the subtle horn contribution of José Lencastre, Maria do Mar drawing linear lines on the viola and the ev…

*200 copies limited edition* Our 2nd release in the Axis series, graced with the beautiful b&w photography of Martina Verhoeven, is a special one.  When José Lencastre came over last year for a recording with Dirk Serries (a pending release somewhere), we did this last-minute trio concert for the Jazzblazzt series in The Netherlands.  With Martina Verhoeven on the electric crumar piano, this trio became something else.  Tryptophan Suite represents the very first notes this new trio played togeth…

Pseudo-music cuts from sessions separated by covid and having kids: pre, in early 2020, using a Bastl Microgranny and a Korg Volca Beats; post, in 2023, using electric guitar and bass. In both, musical fragments are reconfigured in real time, bending patterns into new shapes, refracting melody into texture and back again.Digipack with risograph inlay.

"Music for Two Flutes is one of those numerous documents of modern composition with deceptively humble titles. Both "Ceòl Meadhonach" and "SLUB", the pair of pieces presented on this digipak release from Hideous Replica, are certainly written for and performed by flutes, but what each actually sounds like transcends (yet does not hide) such a minimal approach. I’m revealing my own inexperience when I admit I have always associated the instrument with an almost saccharine whimsicality, all delica…

* 66 copies limited edition * "This split sees the two members of South London-based Ashcircle performing under their solo guises. If you’re unfamiliar, Ashcircle deliver awkward electronic plonk outs, a kind of ragged yet hopeful perpetual glitch to “cope with the chaos of overwhelming information and Tory governments”. City of Urbom and Yawning Gap are described as the duo’s dungeon synth projects, but they place a markedly wabi-sabi spin on the genre. Small and off-kilter sonic gestures becom…

*2024 stock. 100 copies limited edition* Seven recordings, each documenting an automated assemblage of synthesiser, DC motors and a drum.Mastered by Jacques Beloeil

*2024 stock. 100 copies limited edition*  Cassette loops, multi-track looper, digital recorder.Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi

*2024 stock. 100 copies limited edition*  "Bypass (2013) called for a heavily amplified live duo performance of modified boombox and prepared pump organ against a focal verging image. It's one of Coppice's first compositions to exclude signal processing. Instead, each part changes progressively while developing independently. We've recorded and isolated each part and placed them on opposing sides of a tape to further evade the intended mode of listening of the piece as a duo performance. Instead…

*2024 stock. 200 copies limited edition*  "This interesting setup consists of a small speaker being used in two different ways: to play sounds from Gregory Büttner’s computer and as Birgit Ulher’s trumpet mute. This results in the trumpet functioning as both a transmitter and a receiver, modulating the sounds produced by the speaker as it plays. A wide range of sounds has been produced: metallic clanks, squeaks, wheezes, seizures, gaseous emissions and a variety of vibrating pulses. The catalogu…

*50 copies limited edition* Although we play other instruments, this recording is focused on the sounds of electric guitar and saxophone. We are inspired by silence, the phenomena that break it and their effects and in cosmic and natural drifts as well. Vision plays a fundamental role. Together, we understand sound as the result of our relationship and our way of building and destroying. The result is a story that becomes a future visual story, because when we play, we see.

Tip! On October 4, 2022, Jorge Nuno had a stroke and underwent surgery on February 4, 2023, to close a small hole in his heart. A year later, he presents 'Labirinto,' an audacious music album that is a reflection of his journey and a testament to his resilience. This album, primarily featuring solo acoustic guitar, showcases Jorge Nuno's endeavor to expand his musical language into new territories. Recorded at Namouche Studios in Lisbon and meticulously mixed and mastered by Rodrigo Pinheiro, 'L…

String Dialogues is a collection of six duo recordings initiated by the renowned musician, composer, and improviser Peter Soderberg. Here, he investigates different tuning systems and the idea of hybrid instruments. Within various instrumental settings and informed by his musical co-partners and fellow improvisors Katt Hernandez, Stina Hellberg Agback, Mats Persson, Sten Sandell, My Hellgren and Vilhelm Bromander, he has sculpted an album highlighting complex timbres and intimate interplay.The a…

Following his Acoustic Masks, the new record Constellation of Anomaly is Vasco Trilla's 6th solo album, bringing a new palette of sounds with a vast array of percussion instruments played in numerous creative and unconventional ways. Russian Flat bells bowed and played with vibrating objects, a timpani full of wind-up music boxes and spiced up by a transducer speaker, an old zither hit as a drum with two snare drums as resonators, Iranian round bells mixed with gamelan strips, styrofoam and tria…

300 copies limited edition* Mysterious band from France. Recorded at La Manufacture / Manurhin weapon factory (Mulhouse), on the occasion of a residency of artist and poet Charles Pennequin, invited by collectif ÖDL and the band Gun-Gi. A digital version was also released with 3 additional tracks and slightly different track names. Comes with a folded poster and black inner sleeve.

2023 marks the 35th year of Idea Fire Company’s ongoing commitment to the radical avant-garde. To mark the occasion, Horn of Plenty is proud to present the band’s latest campaign statement Bathroom Electronics. IFCO’s core members are Scott Foust and Karla Borecky who operate from rural Massachusetts. Early despatches came via Scott’s Swill Radio imprint alongside titles by The Shadow Ring, RLW, and Asmus Tietchens. The last decade or so has seen them work with other notable labels including Kye…

As the mist clears from their Sift LP (hop9) Eyes of the Amaryllis return to Horn of Plenty with the equally enigmatic Perceptible to Everyone. Recorded in various remote locations around the northeast of the US over a few warm months in 2022, Perceptible to Everyone maps the band's poetry in nebulous song forms that dance on their constant fission between pastoral and ghostly inner galaxies. Its eight tracks utilize a wide range of instruments and techniques to span an alien, ritualistic territ…

'An investigation into some smaller sounds and interactions from this new trio, plus a few excursions into more expansive territory. All of the music was improvised and performed as heard, apart from the coda of the closing track Rotten Star which is a collage. Heartless, Heartless…… / Rotten State edits together, in alternation, parts of two separate longer improvisations. Pat plays grand piano interior and keyboard simultaneously for much of the album, while Johnny responds with sounds from a …

Recorded partly at London’s Cafe Oto and Cable Street Studios, 'Live / Studio' represents the debut by established British improvisers Phil Durrant and Daniel Thompson. Moving within and between close textural territories, the duo explores shifting sonic patterns and a dynamic interplay resulting in an intimate listening experience

Czarnoziem is a band created by Dawid Dąbrowski (modular synthesizer) and Michał Giżycki (bass clarinet, saxophones). The duo boldly creates its own independent language, using the possibilities of a wide spectrum of genres - from experimental electronics, improvised music to echoes of free jazz and contemporary electroacoustic music. Czarnoziem's sound became more precise during an intensive process of rehearsals, sessions and concerts, it became expressive and texturally transparent: from stil…

*300 copies limited edition* Casimir Liberski, pianist, improviser and composer widely recognized in Belgium as one of the most gifted jazz musicians, joins forces with renowned Japanese drummer and composer, Tatsuya Yoshida, founder of the group Ruins, he is considered a monument in the realm of Japanese avant-garde music. This duo brings together two generations and two distinct worlds of sound to deliver free improvisation and syncretic new music on their debut album “Troubled Water". Ranging…

*2024 stock* This album is dedicated to Rosetta Barabino: grandmother, art collector and sparkle of the fire that still burns in the family. This is a collection of material prepared for exhibitions,dance, visual art and theatre pieces; mostly home studio recorded. Intimate, dreamy and inspired by multiple inputs. The first 7 tracks have been conceivedin a deep exchange between words and music with Pavlica Bajsić Brazzoduro, during our art residency in Nantes, during the Trempolino - Slash event…

*2024 stock* "In late February we played our first concert together in a wonderful space in Savignone Liguria near the town of Busalla about an hour from Genova. A beautiful old barn or cascina as it is called in Liguria , Cascina Pre Angiou run by Associazione Altravallescrivia a crew of great enthusiasts and fantastic hosts. Friends and families were all invited and we all eat a great minestrone and pasta and drank good wine at long tables before the concert began. There were several children …

"In my experience listening to the music of both Martin Küchen and Sophie Agnel, I’ve often detected what I perceive to be a (sometimes hidden) strain of romanticism, a deep and dark vaguely lyrical content that one doesn’t routinely identify with free improvisers. With Küchen, this could be heard most prominently in his solo recordings such as ‘The Lie and the Orphanage’ (Mathka, 2010) or ‘Hellstorm’ (Mathka, 2012). I had also heard Agnel give a memorable solo piano recital in Västerås, Sweden …

An anonymous ICA fan writes in a reddit post, that if you layer these two voices on top of each other and play KP’s voice backwards the band members will speak in unison saying, “we mean there are footsteps while we stand still”. This was suggested a short time after the band played their first concert back in 2022. A few weeks later in another chat someone suggests how the ICA acronym could be understood as a counterabreviation of CIA, “… a music to infiltrate a secret police force?”… Then a ce…

The first release of 2024 is in! After their well-received debut duo album Puncture Cycle (released five years ago on A New Wave Of Jazz - this album you find here), British key improviser Benedict Taylor (viola) and Dirk Serries (archtop guitar) are back with a new duo album.  An album they recorded at the fantastic Oude Klooster chapel in Brecht (Belgium) on August 11th, 2023.  Full-on interaction, fast-paced dialogue while still listening and corresponding in depth with the sublime acoustics …

*50 copies limited edition* Astral Spirits presents Unfamiliar Ceilings. Lina Tullgren: violinAlec Toku Whiting: koto, bass kotoTed Reichman: synthesizer, pedals (track 3) Engineered and mixed by Ted Reichman at Subtext Sound SystemMastered by Jack Callahan

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…

Joanna Mattrey & gabby fluke-mogul, two of the most radical & revolutionary New York-based improvisers, join forces in the birth of Oracle. Rejoicing in the strange magic of sound, the duo weaves together new worlds while simultaneously destroying the ones that no longer serve them. Oracle is a declaration, a remedy, and a revelation.

Channeling their shared interest in noise, drone, freak folk, liturgy, and some real haunted New England atmosphere, Tongue Depressor and Weston Olencki unfold their singular vision in two wild pieces of rapturous intensity and resonance. Weston Olencki is a musician, composer, and sound artist from South Carolina, now living and working in Berlin. Their work is centered around questions of instrumental music and its contexts/constructs, various mediated practices of listening and improvisation,…

Horizontal shift, features the international trio, from Germany and U.S., of Birgit Ulher, Carol Genetti, and Eric Leonardson. The CD consists of a live performance recorded in 2018 at Elastic Arts in Chicago. Having known each other since the late 1990s, it wasn’t until early 2018 that Ulher, Leonardson and Genetti were able to perform as a trio at Elastic Arts in Chicago. All three are seasoned performers in their own right — each bringing their distinct palettes in combination to create an im…

Amgen presents Rhodri Davies's For Simon H. Fell. Concert harp. Recorded 26th of June 2020.Mastered by Sam Grant.