Experimental / Free Improvisation

Albedo Gravitas are derived from the improvised duo group called Albedo Fantastica of Keiko Higuchi and Sachiko established in 2015 joined by Shizuo Uchida to be a trio. The kaleidoscopic voices of Higuchi and Sachiko intermingling with the piano, bass, electronics and melodica, seem to stagnate and cut up the space which to result to create their only unique improvisation. They have been constantly performing in Tokyo and released their first album Eihwaz from the French label An’archives in 20…

*2023 stock. 200 copies limited edition* Masahiko Okura is a Tokyo-based reed player (clarinet, alto sax, etc.), improviser and composer. Apart from his performances on reed instruments, he is energetically engaged in performance activities with his solo project Active Recovering Music. Okura is also a member of the experimental music group Suidobashi Chamber Ensemble. In 2004, Okura released the solo album "Time Service" on the Improvised Music from Japan label. The highly original performance …

*2023 stock. 200 copies limited edition* Misaki Motofuji plays baritone sax in all types of free jazz settings. She also carries out performances focusing on acoustic phenomena, based on sound-art-like concepts and incorporating field recordings. But she says her background is in neither jazz nor art—that she actually studied classical music as a music university student. In the bands she leads, Motofuji creates a wide variety of original compositions, from chamber-music-style pop, jazz and mini…

*2023 stock. 30 coipes limited edition* Econore presents Trun'zoyl'zl by alto sax player Rob Michalchuk.

Tip! Jean-Marc Foussat (b.1955) is a French guitar player, VCS synth player, label founder and recording engineer. He played with a band called Mandragore in the 1970s, as wel as collaborating with Jean-François Pauvros, Jac Berrocal, Roger Turner, Raymond Boni and Claude Parle. In the 1980s he worked as a recording engineer for Incus, Hat Hut, Po Torch, Rec Rec, Celluloid, etc. He founded Potlatch Records along Jacques Oger in 1997.  On ‘Abattage’ (1983), he self released his studio experiments…

Tip! Every squeak, skonk, breath, tap & honk imaginable. Eye-scrunching-brick-wall-saxophone for Sampler & Alto Sax by Breathing Heavy (Sam Andreae & Ciaran Mackle) on their debut tape for Infant Tree. Both proving how far they are willing to push themselves and their listeners. It's a great pleasure to be able to share this unique music. Fans of Ashcircle will be familiar with Mackles's singular sampler workouts, but will be thrilled to hear how far its goes here. Sam Andreae's work as an impro…

Tip! *200 copies limited edition* While continuously engaged in the field of traditional Japanese music, female-school gidayu shamisen player Yumiko Tanaka has since the 1990s been carrying out multifaceted musical activities including contemporary classical music, improvisation (in 1996-97 she was a member of Otomo Yoshihide’s band Ground-Zero), experimental music, and theater performance/composition, performing and exchanging ideas with many musicians from Japan and other countries. While Tana…

*2023 stock. 200 copies limited edition* Born in 1943, Lance Austin Olsen is a Canadian artist and composer. He started painting in his youth and has since continued developing his work as an artist. In 1997, Olsen met sound and visual artist Jamie Drouin and became interested in experimental music. In Olsen’s creative process, composition and painting are closely related and inspired by each other. French musician Bruno Duplant is an energetic and acclaimed creator on the contemporary experimen…

Atsuko Hatano plays viola, violin and cello; she also uses electronics. She has released numerous albums and attracted a great deal of attention both inside and outside Japan. Hatano also creates music for movies, TV dramas and commercials. She frequently collaborates with other musicians and artists, including Jim O’Rourke and Eiko Ishibashi. Ryotaro Miyasaka, a percussionist active in genres ranging from pop to experimental music, has been extremely busy of late. In 2022, he released the CD "O…

*2023 stock. 200 copies limited release* Chiho Oka is a computer music player and sound artist. Aoi Tagami specializes in improvised voice performance and is also a singer-songwriter, performing songs with her own lyrics and music. A solo CD by each of these artists, produced as part of the "Ftarri Fukubukuro CD 2021" series, was presented to those who attended concerts at Ftarri in the 2020/2021 New Year period. Released for sale to the public in February 2021, the CDs are Chiho Oka's "Manipula…

*2023 stock* Ayami Suzuki, a musician based in the Tokyo area, performs a unique kind of ambient drone using electronics and voice. Since 2020 she has been performing at Ftarri in Tokyo, both as a soloist and with other musicians. Acclaimed guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama is active on the international improvised music scene. In 2021 Akiyama gave many outstanding performances at Ftarri; recordings of a number of these concerts were subsequently released as CDs. "Allelopathy" is one of these recordings.…

*200 copies limited edition* Born in 2000, Sun Yizhou is an up-and-coming improviser/composer based in Beijing. In 2022 he released the CD "Responses" (on the Japanese label zappak), a collaboration with fellow Beijing resident Zhu Wenbo. Kevin Corcoran is a San Francisco-based percussionist who also uses field recordings and electronics in his musical projects. He has carried out tours in Europe as well as Japan and other East Asian countries. The four pieces on this CD (each about 13 minutes l…

*Edition of 100.* "Live Recordings" presents MAW—the trio of Frank Meadows (bass), Jessica Ackerley (guitar), and Eli Wallace (piano/synth)—fully testing the possibilities of their creative dialogue in front of a live audience for the first time. Two concerts in Brooklyn and Saugerties, both staged in October 2021, display the performance of an acute democratic understanding, acquired across formative years of private sessions and conversation, including the late 2020 recording session that prod…

Tip! *Edition of 100.* Stella Silbert and Nat Baldwin’s "01.30.22" starts with a disorienting and curt mixture of vinyl static, chopped and skewed mysterious acoustic guitar strings, and a loud, acoustic “thud”. It’s an introduction to a strange piece of music from a strange album by two fascinating players in the current improvised and contemporary music landscape. This first piece, “5”, warbles and wobbles its way though oddly lyrical passages, framed in sporadic collaged format by the rapidly…

On 31st January 2022, Hydra Ensemble performed at De Pletterij in Haarlem (NL). It was a good one. Luckily our bass player Gonçalo decided to release the (newly mixed and mastered) recording on his label Cylinder Recordings. I'd say this is my favorite Hydra recording thusfar...

*2023 repress* Richard Dawson’s folk music has been hailed far and wide for its innovations; Rhodri Davies’ improvised harp playing is similarly regarded. Both have collaborated with a great many improvisers, composers and musicians, but they play together as only kindred spirits can and their music as Hen Ogledd stands in a field of its own.

*100 copies limited edition* Eventless Plot joins forces with a duo of clarinets for the aptly titled Distance Between Us, an extended composition that gives sensual expression to the nature of distance and its implied correlate, closeness – reflecting and blurring the two across multiple levels both apparent on the music's surface and hidden beneath it. As with previous releases, the ensemble forgoes straightforward narrative forms in favor of a process they call 'semi-composition,' which invol…

* Edition of 300. Double lp in a gatefold sleeve is set to be released in a limited edition of 300 copies * Asked if they would be interested to perform at the Summer Bummer Festival in 2019 with reed player Peter Brötzmann, both bass player Farida Amadou and drummer Steve Noble replied with a quick and definite ‘yes’. The plans to join forces with this iconic player existed already and the Summer Bummer Festival would be ideal to meet on stage for the first time. To show the extreme musical div…

ErikM & dj sniff - Next Mix23.5.2023 / Next Festival Records. For this release, Next Festival Records dives deep into its archive to unveil a collaboration from Next Festival 2009 – one of the highlights of that year's festival – a tape by French musician, composer, visual artist and improviser ErikM & Japanese musician, curator, instrument designer and producer dj sniff. 13 years on, the sounds on 'Next Mix' still resonate, channelling the frenetic energy of free jazz, the looseness of plunderp…

"David Toop and Avsluta are friends, collaborators and occasional co-performers in various constellations. This live recording from their 2021 set at Next Festival in Cafe OTO is from their first concert together following a pandemic-enforced pause, and provides a glimpse of their mystical practice of object-oriented improvisation and sonic dialogue. On a blog post from late November 2021, David Toop recalls how he utilised a gift from Ecka Mordecai – a collection of eggflutes – in several conce…

For the 36th installment of our Catalytic Artist Albums series, we are excited to present an exclusive collection of improvisations on nylon string guitar by the exceptional, Tashi Dorji. Recorded over the month of August, this record showcases Dorji's most recent work and explorations on the guitar. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Mark Cunningham, the legendary trumpet player and experimental musician, is back with a CD release that showcases his solo work from the past decade. Odd Songs is a collection of tracks recorded between 2012 and 2019, featuring collaborations with Arnau Sala, Adrian de Alfonso and Joxean Rivas and first released on cassette in 2019. These songs explore different genres and styles, from ambient to noise, from no wave to free jazz, always with Mark’s distinctive touch and sound. Blue Mystery is a …

Charlie Nothing was the fractured-psyche pseudonym of author, father, horsekeeper, organic farmer, beekeeper, philosopher and clown Charles Martin Simon, inventor of the dingulator (guitar sculptures made out of the metal from American cars). Charlie's only visible offering to the record buying public was really anything but. Due to its rarity, The Psychedelic Saxophone of Charlie Nothing, issued by Takoma Records in 1967, has been a source of consternation for in-the-know types for years. Outsi…

Eternities is a collaboration between bass clarinetist Katie Porter (Utah) and sound artist Bob Bellerue (NYC). Their work is inspired by deep presence, resonant feedback, melodic drone, and overtone magic, in the fluid realm between intention and indeterminacy.  Katie Porter is a clarinetist and curator specializing in experimental music. Passionate about fostering musical communities, she co-founded Listen/Space in Brooklyn, the Listen/Space Commissions in the mountains of Utah, and the bienni…

*2023 stock* Iterations is the (mostly) unedited documentation of a single session of duets of Carlos Santistevan (upright bass) and Tara Khozein (voice) recorded on Friday June 25th, 2021, in Santa Fe, NM. We made these sounds, thinking very often of our common friend and mentor, J.A. "Dino" Deane, who took his final exit shortly after we made this recording. 2 humans, 2 microphones, 1 instrument, 1 voice. 16 Iterations.

Tip! Banjo and woodblocks are the scarce ingredients of Poor Isa's second album, ‘dissolution of the other’. The instruments can be used not only in their usual form, but in alternative tunings, with preparations and additional attributes. This creates an otherworldly vacuum, rich in silence and shadow, with sounds that seem equally familiar as mystical. The music is broken up from its classical form and sounds like an instrumental eld recording or a musical ceremony. In contrast to the rst al…

Recording live on a rainy night at Brussels in October 2017 “Pray For Your Prey” will capture your attention with it’s s striking power. An eclectic mixture of noise, experimental, free jazz and improvised music blended exemplary together creating a volcanic atmosphere.

“06 06 16 (St. Elisabeth Kirche, Berlin)” documents a rare three-hour concert by the legendary avant-garde improvisation collective Marginal Consort, on their first-ever appearance in Germany. The event was presented by Manuela Benetton on 6th June 2016, in collaboration with PAN and 33-33. It was supported by Initiative Neue Musik e.V. "Marginal Consort is a rare gift of restlessness, aspiration and sense, growing ever deeper." — Lawrence English

*100 copies limited edition* Eventless Plot joins forces with a duo of clarinets for the aptly titled Distance Between Us, an extended composition that gives sensual expression to the nature of distance and its implied correlate, closeness – reflecting and blurring the two across multiple levels both apparent on the music's surface and hidden beneath it. As with previous releases, the ensemble forgoes straightforward narrative forms in favor of a process they call 'semi-composition,' which invol…

Tip! 370-page book + CD chronicling of a solo tour through North America from May 5 to June 30, 2022.In addition to the book, there are two concert recordings on a factory-pressed CD:Portland: recorded June 1 at the Discordance Concert Series.Chicago: recorded June 15 at Elastic Arts.Jason Kahn // modular synthesizer, mixing board, tubeamplifier, electromagnetic transducers, contactmicrophones, radio, field recordingsAll recordings by Jason Kahn.

*2023 stock* Collaboration project of Puma and Lasse Marhaug.

Tip! *2023 stock. 300 copies limited edition* In 2015 KBA Records released a collaborative album of Norwegians Lasse Marhaug and Kristoffer Berre Alberts. Titled "Organistskolen" it documented the first-time meeting of the two musicians. The album was released in a limited edition of 100 copies and sold out without being announced. One year later the duo return with "Generasjon Lindemenn", which being a studio creation has a different genesis. Recorded in Marhaug's Oslo studio in the spring of 2…

*2023 stock* Ingar Zach (b.1971) is one of Norway`s leading percussionists and founder of the record label SOFA. He has recorded for the ECM and Rune Grammofon labels together with his bands Dans Les Arbres and Huntsville and has released several solo and duo records. Andreas Meland is a Norwegian sound artist and musician. He has recorded with the projects Røyskatt, Norwegian Noize orchestra, düplo and Forell plus several solo projects. He is also the founder of the experimental music festival …

*50 copies limited edition. 2023 stock* "The photo used on the cover comes from the demolition of a never completed miner's hostel belonging to the coal mines in Frenštát, which has long been a threat to the Beskydy landscape and a symbol of the arrogance with which we treat our surroundings. But the end of coal is just a tiny fragment in the kaleidoscope of what we must do to make the anthropocene not just an age of destruction, but a time that will leave behind the anthropocentric worldview an…

*100 copies limited edition. 2023 stock* This new collaboration of Jakub Šimanský and Jiří Štěpán is sort of happy coincidence. They are both active musicians, both coming from different background and performing in within slightly different scenes. Jakub Šuminaský has been cultivating his guitar playing based on the echoes of american primitive guitar style. Bass player Jiří Štěpán is active in his group Národní Divadlo, which steer towards free improvised and dissonant music. They both met at …

*2023 stock* 'A CD of one man improvising on his self-designed and built instruments. Stringboards are essentially hunks of cast-off wood with tuning pegs and guitar strings attached. That description does not prepare one for what they sound like though. Distant bells, odd filings and ratchetings, electrical sounding buzzes, (these are acoustic instruments), giant out-of-tune dulcimers, prepared guitars, warped blues records...all these and more are conjured from these simple devices at the hand…

Edition of 500, no repress, no digital** Smalltown Superjazzz was a free-jazz subsidiary label to Smalltown Supersound from 2005-2012. The label has been dormant in the years 2012 to 2019, but is now reborn as the AFJ-Serie. The AFJ-Series represents a new start - built on the foundation and heritage of the Superjazzz label. AFJ-Series is short for Actions for free jazz. This was the slogan for Smalltown Superjazzz and was borrowed at the time from Don Cherry & Krystzof Penderecki’s The New Eter…

The compilation “Celestial Birds” reveals and focuses on the widely unkown electronic compositions of the AACM founder and jazz pianist Muhal Richard Abrams. #5 in the Perihel Series, curated by zeitkratzer director Reinhold Friedl. Anybody interested in jazz knows that Chicago has always been an impressive hot spot for new talents – and still is. One essential landmark in the history and development of jazz was the founding of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) in …

** Gold tape Limited Edition to 90 numbered copies ** Matière Mémoire presents Mokusatsu by Giovanni Di Domenico and Tatsuhisa Yamamoto.

Tokyo's experimental musicians Toshimaru Nakamura and Suzueri collaborated on a CD released in April 2023 on the Italian experimental label Superpang. Includes two improvisational songs using piano, mixer, and self-made instruments.