Jazz /
Blue Marble
Produced and arranged by enigmatic mystical traveller Eyvind Kang, Blue Marble is a CD of surreal folk songs by singer/songwriter Aiko Shimada. Born in Japan and now based in Seattle, Aiko’s music is fresh, original and heartfelt. For this latest release, Eyvind has brought in an unusual team of proto-hippies and music freaks keying off of Aiko’s moody melodies and lyrics. From noise to string orchestra, drum machine to toy piano, Blue Marble is an unforgettable emotional ride through Aiko’s exo…
Babel
After the release of the celebrated The Storyteller, saxophonist and bandleader Uri Gurvich's widely acclaimed debut on Tzadik, he became quite busy as a sideman, with Chris Potter, John Zorn, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, and others, as well as becoming a member of his drummer Francisco Mela's Cuban Safari. For BabEl, Gurvich brings back the same international ensemble: the Cuban-born Mela, Argentinian keyboardist Leo Genovese, and Bulgarian bassist, Peter Slavov. The guest spot this time out is fi…
Gau Ri Laa
Tip! *Silkscreen printed cover. Edition of 200, hand-numbered on the back cover. Totally sold out at source *Muumiot is an Italian-Finnish sextet, which also features Ho Chi Moon’s Pekkola. Gau Ri Laa is a set of four songs, released on ten-inch vinyl and digitally. V. Genta - eceltric piano & saxophones, T. Kemppainen - double bass, S. Pekkola - saxophones & shrutiboxes, T. Tammi - trumpet, T. Tiheäsalo - electric guitar, D. Vanzan - drums
Killer stuff!
Les Poumons Gonflés
"On this album les 3 fous became 4 with the arrival of keyboard player Jo Thirion, and for the first and only time they had the same sax player for 2 consecutive albums. In addition to the expanded line up, EFL's fourth full length release saw the emphasis shift to relatively short, focused songs and in many ways saw them realise the abundant potential that they displayed on their early albums.
The fundamentals of EFL remained in place, despite the changes. Guigou Chenevier and Ferdinand Richard…
Future Moons
*2023 stock* The trio of Kieran Adams (sampler, drum machine, drums), Matthew “Doc” Dunn (keyboards and electronics), and Andy Haas (reeds and electronics) is a subset of Toronto spiritual jazz practitioners The Cosmic Range. Where their parent-group tends to anchor itself with a firm pulse, the trio veers into various flavours of abstraction. Some pieces furnish nervy ambient waft, whereas others are more gestural—sometimes violently so. Meanwhile, on the title track, a synth bass ostinato lays…
Starting Point
Tip! In 1975, under the oppressive air of military dictatorship in Brazil, brothers Lelo and Zé Eduardo Nazario invited bassist Zeca Assumpção to join their musical experiments in a basement under Sao Paulo’s Teodoro Sampaio Street. As teenagers, the trio had already been playing together in Hermeto Pascoal’s Grupo, alongside guitarist Toninho Horta and saxophonist Nivaldo Ornelas, and it was while working together under Hermeto’s direction that the Paulista rhythm section (as they were then kno…
Doctor Dancing Mask: Pianoisms
Neil S. Kvern’s Doctor Dancing Mask: Pianoisms is a near mythical marker on the map of late 20th century experimentalism transpiring in America’s Pacific Northwest. A sublime, spacious effort of left field DIY minimalism constructed from recurring piano pieces, hypnotic percussion, and a peppering of diverse instrumentation, vocals, and invisible effects, Doctor Dancing Mask illuminates a hidden but remarkable legacy of a young composer at the height of his creativity and consciousness.
Original…
More Touch
"More Touch is a courageous step and important record from Patricia Brennan, a wonderful vibraphonist who is rapidly becoming one of the most innovative on today’s contemporary jazz scene. The nature of her compositions gives the quartet the chance to stretch and test boundaries, and the musicians respond by adding a unique dimension to her creative vein. Brennan is seen shoulder to shoulder with a talented rhythm team: bassist Kim Cass, who is an expert in form, texture and groove; the skillful…
Micromotives
Six years in the making, Micromotives represents a dynamic and empowering vision of real-time collective composition, created by composer Moss Freed and showcased by large ensemble Union Division. With improvisation and sociality at its core, this is dazzling and surprising music that shifts nimbly between materials and structural events, encouraging synchronicity and collaboration while giving unusually high levels of creative control to individual performers.
The aim of the project was to engi…
Meets Matthew Bourne Volume 1
On July 16 2021, Shiver (Guitarist Chris Sharkey, Bassist Andy Champion and Drummer Joost Hendrickx) met up with Pianist Matthew Bourne at his house in Airedale, Yorkshire. Hungry to make music following various lockdowns, cancellations and disappointments, the quartet embarked on a ferocious two-day journey of exploratory music-making. The weather was good, the connection was immediate. There was much laughing, tea-drinking and storytelling. In the evening, the stove was lit and we listened to …
Bla Bla Bla Duo
Double bass legend Joelle Leandre and young Catalonian drummer virtuoso Nuria Andorra together. Two generations of the improvised music world, two different approaches to improvisation, and one incredible world of music!
Certain Reveries
*222 copies limited release* In the tradition of toddler crayon scribbles on perfectly painted bedroom walls, multi-freshness composer Ben LaMar Gay expands on the teachings of Alabama star spirits and presents a collection of work involving sound, fabric, movement, rivers, shadows, Lagosian memories, light and listening.
'Certain Reveries' is a long-form composition by Gay, performed in duo with percussionist Tommaso Moretti. It was originally filmed by Chris Strong for EFG London Jazz Fest’s 2…
ZZAJ: Jazz From the 23rd Century
*In process of stocking* ZZAJ: Jazz from the 23rd Century, is a thrilling new collection of music featuring 34 new songs – all previously unreleased – from artists from all over the world. The brainchild of producers/multi-instrumentalists Jerry King (Cloud Over Jupiter, Moon X, John Shirley & Jerry King) and Dave Newhouse (The Muffins, Manna Mirage, Moon X), ZZAJ asked musicians to interpret jazz from various conceptual viewpoints, particularly avoiding traditional jazz sounds. Says King, “It’s…
SuperDeluxe!
After nearly five years of silence, the all-star power trio of Giovanni Di Domenico, Jim O'Rourke, and Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, working as Delivery Health, return with “SuperDeluxe!” a stunningly beautiful double LP of material, issued by Holidays Records. Encountering three of contemporary experimental music's most remarkable minds locked in the rigorous conversations of live improvisation, across four sides the trio darts and dodges across a startlingly range, never revealing what might come next, …
Ho Chi Moon
Tip! *Silkscreen printed cover. Limited edition of 200 copies. Totally sold out at source * Choking hazard: An extra heavy portion of greasy & salty vegetarian freedom music! Ho Chi Moon breaks free from all jazz tradition, including the free jazz tradition. Psychedelic, poetic, ass-kicking, soothing, painful, ecstatic & inconsolable. Tasty & nutritious. Too unhealthy for everyday consumption, yet perfect for special occasions of self-indulgence. Killer stuff!
The Art of Crashing
*200 copies limited edition* “Costa and Ernsting are assertive and confident players who don’t hesitate to claim their positions, but most of all, they are keeping up with each other, using their dialogue to explore and expand. And that is what it is about, a quest for ideas and a way for them to co-exist, make sense, keep the story moving forward on all levels. And as far as the greater story is concerned: this album is another fine addition to an endlessly fascinating mosaic of sounds.” - Guy …
Hush
Temporary Super Offer! We can only answer that question from an individual perspective, based upon our perception of place, and space, and time, and stimuli. Each of these categories exists within a complex of contexts – for example, there is the stimulus of personal relationships, the stimulus of our health and that of others around us, the stimulus of political events, the stimulus of work, the stimulus of art. A work of art provides an interactive opportunity to ignite our perception with th…
Basket of Knives
*Limited edition of 200 copies.* A trio of violinist Alex Cunningham, drummer Thom Nguyen and saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi delivers a new release titled "Basket of Knives" on Astral Editions.
Family Drug
*2022 stock.* “Family Drug” is the premiere recordings of M(h)ysteria, a new trio founded by Giovanni Di Domenico. While featuring the instrumentation of a classic organ trio, M(h)ysteria charges a rather darker path. Not a swinging session, this is an expression of coping with the chronic tensions of modern daily life, with its inherent distractions and mounting stress, as well as a larger feeling of foreboding. Its sound a symptom of a future glittering with menace. Keeping the roles of the in…
Green Money
Steve Day, poet, writer, percussionist has been around Discus Records for several years contributing sleeve notes for Keith Tippett recordings as well as reviews and other wordplay. Although he and comrades Peter Evans, Julian Dale, Mark Langford, have recorded for other labels, the Day Evans Dale Ensemble is a completely new venture with regular live dates in a range of venues. This seemed like an appropriate time to bring their 'new thing' to Discus Music; a mix of spoken word and spontaneous …