Jazz /
Climbing To Sleep
As students in the late 1980s, Julia Werntz and Pandelis Karayorgis both enrolled in Joe Maneri’s Microtonal Composition and Performance class at the New England Conservatory, beginning a formative period of mentorship and collaborations with musicians in the scene surrounding that course. During those years a special mindset was cultivated regarding rhythm and musical form, as well as the rich world of microtonal melody and harmony. We also were married during that period, but our musical paths…
Atmos
"The music of this trio, with its emphasis on phrasing, space and dialog, evokes for me the sensation of watching vapor rise and dissolve. That’s why I named the group and the album Atmos, after the Greek word for vapor. The trio has been active since 2023, especially before Brittany Karlson moved from Boston to NY, but there have been other contexts in which the three of us collaborated in different formations. There are six improvised pieces here, five originals of mine (three written specific…
Blink
"I started Blink in the summer of 2024, aiming to create a band sound where collective improvisations and responses take precedence over individual solos. The compositions are inspired by group behavioral patterns such as insect swarms and bird flocks, with their organic swells in dynamics and density. Gabe and Nate’s instruments are tuned a quarter tone sharp, giving the band a distinctive, off-balance feel – one inspired by classic African High Life bands, Indonesian Gamelan ensembles, and Del…
Beyond Scope
"Ultimately, the best free improvisation performances—and the best films—are those that refuse to be bound by rigid formulas yet still adhere to a fundamental sense of logic and cohesion. They remind us that while structure is important, the real magic happens in the space between the rules." - Mark Corroto
Collected Works
*2025 stock* PainKiller's Collected Works presents the complete documentation of one of experimental music's most brutal and boundary-pushing collaborations. This four-CD compilation gathers all studio recordings and essential live performances from the trio of John Zorn (saxophone, vocals), Bill Laswell (bass), and Mick Harris (drums, vocals), documenting their three-year assault on the boundaries between avant-garde jazz and extreme metal. PainKiller was formed in 1991 when NYC downtown giants…
PorchBone
*2025 stock* Driff Records proudly announces the release of PorchBone, the latest project from Dutch saxophonist and composer Jorrit Dijkstra, leading an adventurous ensemble that brings new colors and textures to contemporary improvised music.
On PorchBone, Dijkstra assembles a singular front line that sets alto saxophone and lyricon alongside the rich, brassy voice of the trombone. This unusual pairing creates a wide palette of timbres—by turns muscular, playful, and surprisingly intimate. Th…
Natuitive Speakers
This album was recorded in Brno, Czech Republic when these five masterful musicians were invited to perform together at a festival. Quentin Rollet started playing the alto saxophone at the age of 11 and the sopranino saxophone at 37. After a few years spent unlearning the teaching of the conservatory, he devoted himself to free improvisation. This led him to find himself on record or on stage with groups as varied as Nurse With Wound, Prohibition or The Red Krayola. Sylvia Bruckner is an interna…
Monster
A sensational quartet that was created by Free Music Forum in Austria. Joe McPhee is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser, conceptualist and theoretician. He is currently the member of Trio X, Survival Unit III and has collaborated with Pauline Oliveros, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Raymond Boni, The Thing, Trespass Trio, and Universal Indians among many others. With a career spanning nearly 50 years and over 100 recordings, he continues to tour internationally, forge new connections a…
Free Music (1975-1988)
Cortizona proudly unveils Cortizona Heritage, a new sublabel created in partnership with the Study Centre for Flemish Music (SVM) to revive and showcase hidden chapters of Flemish music history.The debut release sets the tone: blending the exuberance of a marching band with the unpredictability of free improvisation, WIM Fanfare brought raw, joyful musical anarchy to city squares, parades, and unsuspecting audiences.
Tom Prehn Kvartet (LP)
Rare 2016 re-issue on Pladeselskabet Centrifuga, in an edition of 300 copies with insert and stamped innersleeve, of ultra-rare Danish free-jazz monster from 1967 (originally on V 58).
Zodiac (LP)
Excellent and diverse album on Supraphon from 1978, a wild hybrid of modal and postbop arrangements populated with Penderecki and Ligeti-like choral writing in a dizzying array of styles.
Poor Isa + Evan Parker/Ingar Zach
Acclaimed Belgian duo Poor Isa (banjoists Ruben Machtelinckx and Frederik Leroux) present their third album, evolving their minimalist style by collaborating with saxophonist Evan Parker and percussionist Ingar Zach. The result is a rich blend of introspective textures and dynamic improvisation.
Talisman (Live In Nagoya)
2025 stock Bringing together three of the most voracious and energetic musical minds in new music, Painkiller was one of the most intense live bands ever. Here they are captured at their absolute peak. Culminating their legendary 1994 tour of Japan in a masterful set featuring one of their longest and most inspired improvisations, the thirty-five minute Batrachophrenoboocosmomachia. Beautifully recorded by the unsung fourth member of the group sound engineer Oz Frith and packaged in deliriousl…
The Prophecy
2025 stock John Zorn and Bill Laswell are two of the Downtown scene’s most consistently intrepid musical explorers, and PainKiller, formed in 1991 is their longest running project together. “The Prophecy,” the first official PainKiller release in over ten years, was recorded live in Europe in 2004–5 and pulls together music from several concerts into a powerful and mind blowing suite unlike anything the group has ever released before. Featuring master drummer Yoshida Tatsuya (Ruins, Korekyojin)…
Phase Murmur 7-11-73
Lost celestial solo piano transmissions retrieved!
Music For People, Birds, Butterflies & Mosquitoes
Jimmy Giuffre, a versatile musician known for his innovative jazz compositions and arrangements, took a break from recording after a prolific career spanning from the 1950s. Following a decade focused on live performances, he returned to the studio with "Music for People, Birds, Butterflies and Mosquitoes." Giuffre's unique approach to jazz, fostering free interplay among musicians, emerged during his tenure as an arranger for Woody Herman in the late 1940s. Transitioning to the West Coast cool …
(Y)earbook Volume 3
1991 release ** The third in a three volume compilation (each available separately) of 114 improvisers from around the world, covering a wide variety of approaches to improvisation. "A turbid dive into new music, this release packs everything from free-form jazz-like scraw to variations in composition, structure and situation to solo exploration." Featuring Pluto, Amy Denio, Davey Williams, LaDonna Smith, Marty Walker, Crawling With Tarts, IDLH, Ed Herrmann, Andrew Voigt, Tom Nunn, Tamio Shirais…
Robyn Rocket And People You May Have Heard Of
What happens when you bring together familiar faces at London experimental music venue Café OTO, Charles Hayward (drummer Abstract Concrete, This Heat) and John Edwards (double bass), and the Total Refreshment Centre (hub of new london jazz scene recording studio ) like Alabaster DePlume (singer and saxophonist) and Danalogue (synths from Soccer96, The Comet is Coming), and the learning disability autism art scene like singers/spoken word artists Sebastian Golgiri and Dean Rodney Jnr (Fish Polic…
Follow A Very Heavy Person, First Visit
"First visit to the audio equivalent of a graphic novel. Follow A Very Heavy Person is more than an album—it is an experience, an inquiry, an adventure into the unknown, defying easy categorization and existing in the liminal space between music, poetry, and philosophy. Armaroli and his quintet have crafted something truly singular—a journey through sound that is both timeless and profoundly rooted in the ephemeral beauty of the present moment." - Mark Corroto
Die Umelieder-Kollektion
2010 release ** "One of the most hypnotic current albums comes from Switzerland: No wonder, given that so many exciting niches live here, where culture and mentality stand for free spirit, which is evident time and again in the music created there. Ruedi Häusermann, Marco Käppeli, and Claude Meier form what we might call a chamber music, folkloristic, and imaginary trio. In the broadest sense... Ruedi Häusermann, the initiator and creator of the Ume songs, uses various flutes, clarinets, bariton…