Jazz /
Move Fast And Mend Things
For their second album Hi Res Heart expand from being a trio to a performing quintet with the addition of the two string players. In contrast to the first album - a very carefully conceived studio construct - Move Fast And Mend Things finds the group in live performance mode, recorded the day after their first gig as a five piece. As before, spaciousness and fire co-exist. Even when the music is at its most abstract, the spirit of the blues is never too far away. The music is direct and melodic …
Away With Troubles And Anxieties!
A senior figure on the scene whose output shows no sign of letting up as he enters his eighth decade. As well as groups alongside his established peers, he increasingly provides great experience and opportunity for his younger colleagues.
Paul Dunmall and Discus Music are clearly on a roll together as the veteran composer and improviser delivers his sixth album in two years to the label. And what is especially interesting is how each of them sits well outside Paul's free blowing music, concentra…
Extraordinary Popular Delusions
Two decades ago, an all-star assembly of Chicago improvisers started a new band, drawing its name from an 1841 book by Charles Mackay: Extraordinary Popular Delusions. With weekly gigs at a spot in Chicago called Hotti Biscotti, Jim Baker, Mars Williams, Brian Sandstrom, and Steve Hunt honed their sound, which could be ferocious or nerdy or diffuse, as they moment required. After a couple years, the quartet moved to a regular Monday session at Beat Kitchen, where they have maintained their weekl…
Kaleidoscopic Visions
Kaleidoscopic Visions showcases Tom Skinner drawing together the many threads of his career as one of the UK’s most versatile and free-thinking contemporary musicians. Performing and recording with Sons of Kemet, The Smile, David Byrne, Meshell Ndegeocello, Alabaster DePlume, Floating Points and Peter Zummo as well as a wide range of collaborations across London’s vibrant improvised and electronic scene, Skinner’s diverse touchpoints are brought together in an album of quiet power and profound t…
Mwandishi
This album is one of Hancock's first departures from the traditional idioms of jazz, as well as the beginning of an original and creative style which eventually appealed to a wider audience. In addition, Mwandishi was Hancock's attempt at continuing the musical principles and styles he explored in his previous experiences with Miles Davis. Mwandishi was recorded at Wally Heider Studios Studio C, in San Francisco, California in January 1971, by Hancock's Mwandishi Sextet. The recording incorporat…
Live Spirit I
“Kalaczakra” marks the powerful return of Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet, one of Europe’s leading jazz ensembles. The new single offers the first glimpse of their upcoming album Live Spirit I. Built around a catchy horn motif, a distinctive bass line, and a free-flowing, pulsing drum rhythm, the track brilliantly blends Polish and spiritual jazz traditions with a raw, modern edge—bold, uplifting, and unmistakably fresh. The forthcoming album Live Spirit I, recorded live at Warsaw’s iconic Witold Luto…
Baobab
Long hidden from the world, the extraordinary sound of Baobab finally emerges. Recordings made in the late 1970s by the Stuttgart-based group—once described as "one of the most interesting rock-jazz groups on the Stuttgart scene"—are being unveiled to listeners for the very first time after more than 45 years in the vaults.
The album, simply titled Baobab, showcases the fearless creativity and genre-blurring spirit of a band who were decades ahead of their time. Fusing the improvisational energy…
Two Felt-Tip Pens: Live At Moers
Balance Point Acoustics proudly announces the release of "Two Felt-Tip Pens: Live At Moers," a strikingly original album recorded live at the renowned Moers Festival in Germany and dedicated to the late Hans Schneider (1951–2024). The release features the adventurous trio of German saxophonist Stefan Keune, American guitarist Sandy Ewen, and acclaimed bassist and label curator Damon Smith, three master improvisers converging in an equilateral triangle of spontaneous sonic exploration.
"Two Felt-…
Miniature Paintings And The Impossible Warehouse
*2025 stock* Founded in the Winter of 2017 Adam Shead’s Adiaphora Orchestra is a large mixed chamber orchestra performing the compositions and conductions of percussionist composer, and educator Adam Shead. The Adiaphora Orchestra, located in Chicago, IL, is comprised of the cities finest rising star improvisers from a variety of performance idioms and practices. Including a full string, brass, woodwind, auxillary, and rhythm section the ensemble performs what Shead calls “indifference music”. A…
Full Cycle, Thread New.
*2025 stock* Full Cycle, Thread New. is a long form composition in three movements by Chicago multi-disciplinary artist Adam Shead. The piece focuses heavily on concepts of reformation, regeneration, non-linear time dynamics, and cyclical history. Throughout the three movements (which features Shead alongside acclaimed Chicago improvised music stalwarts Jeff Kimmel, clarinets; Ishmael Ali, cello/electronics; Matt Piet, piano; and Andrew Scott Young, double bass.) the quintet effortlessly intertw…
Volumes & Surfaces
*2025 stock* Balance Point Acoustics proudly presents Volumes & Surfaces, a bold new statement in contemporary free jazz from the extraordinary trio of Jason Stein (bass clarinet), Damon Smith (double bass), and Adam Shead (drums). Recorded in Chicago at Elastic Arts and The Hungry Brain, this album showcases three of creative music’s most distinctive voices in full flight.
Volumes & Surfaces reveals the trio’s uncanny synergy, adventurous spirit, and unyielding commitment to improvisational exp…
![[music for] A Thousand Ways to Run](https://cdn.soundohm.com/data/products/2025-09/Ksr_ThousandWaysToRun_CD_01-jpg.jpg.500.jpg)
[music for] A Thousand Ways to Run
*30 copies limited edition* Physical is excited to announce the release of (music for) A Thousand Ways to Run. This sonic journey brings together the eclectic talents of pianist Ben Kujawski, drummer Abigail Smith, and guitarist/harmonicist Justin Rhody, whose collaborations coalesce in a collection that blurs the lines between avant-jazz, experimental soundscapes, and evocative improvisation. Recorded in the intimate setting of Kujawski’s home studio in 2023, the album is an invitation to liste…
split
From the enigmatic fringes of experimental sound comes an extraordinary split release between K/S/R and The Tulsa Ball Room Singers—a bold document of two singular live performances where music and moving image intertwine.
Beyond Antibiotics & Bad for Business
*100 copies limited edition* "Like the early work of fellow Midwestern experimentalists Raccoo-oo-oon, there's a calming franticness in the work of (D)(B)(H), an ever-changing group whose sound is constantly evolving. (D)(B)(H)'s "Bad For Business," captured live summer 2010, features a quartet taking the entire 21-minute side to sculpt a piece that rests somewhere between free jazz and non-idiomatic improv. The result is not unlike what the AACM captured in its 1966 'Little Suite' or what The B…
Dream Up
Out Of Your Head Records is proud to announce the release of “Dream Up,” the latest groundbreaking work from acclaimed drummer and composer Tomas Fujiwara. Known for his dynamic presence on the New York creative music scene, Fujiwara now turns his visionary artistry to the percussive universe, presenting a suite that explores the boundless possibilities of rhythm, texture, and collective expression.
“Dream Up” is a suite composed specifically for a unique percussion quartet, featuring top-tier c…
The Oracle
Composer, clarinetist, singer and spiritual jazz soothsayer Angel Bat Dawid descended on Chicago's jazz and improvised music scene just a few years ago. In very short time, the potency, prowess, spirit and charisma of her cosmic musical proselytizing has taken her from relatively unknown improviser to borderline ubiquitous performer in Chicago's avant-garde. On any given night you can find Angel adding aura to ensembles led by Ben LaMar Gay, or Damon Locks, or Jaimie Branch, or Matthew Lux, or e…
Mob 1
Cush is a raw, genre-blurring journey of drums, trumpet & baritone sax — where musique concrète meets groove-jazz. A sonic rebellion echoing Corto Maltese’s mythos. For fans of Pierre Henry & wild improvisation.
Stinger
Recorded live at Chicago’s renowned listening rooms, Constellation in February 2023, and Hungry Brain in July 2023, Stinger captures an exhilarating blend of precision and spontaneity. This album showcases a band that has fine-tuned its sound while embracing the thrill of unpredictability. At the forefront of this musical conversation is Keefe Jackson, a saxophonist whose deep and resonant tones on the tenor saxophone reflect his artistry as both composer and performer. Celebrated for his abilit…
Blare Blow Bloom!
*2025 stock* Performing the compositions of band leader Adam Shead, Microplastique creates music that is both absurd in its aesthetic and serious in its execution. "blare blow bloom!" consists of 10 tracks recorded live in stereo during the ensemble’s July 2024 tour throughout the United States. Throughout the tour, the ensemble performed 10 compositions at each concert, each with vastly different approaches and outcomes. Utilizing their keen improvisational abilities and shared language to morp…
Spi-raling Horn
*2025 stock* Irritable Mystic Records and Balance Point Acoustics are thrilled to announce the release of Spi-raling Horn, an audacious, boundary-blurring album from a staggering quartet: bass clarinetist Jason Stein, pianist Marilyn Crispell, double bassist Damon Smith, and drummer Adam Shead.
Born from a chance collaboration rooted in a shared appreciation between Smith and Crispell for the radical visual art of Cy Twombly, Spi-raling Horn invites listeners into a sonic universe where improv…