Experimental / All styles

Recorded live 2000 at Berlin (1) and 2001 at Graz, Wien (Vienna) and Berlin.

Debut of the Norwegian psychedelic drone trio Lumen Drones: Nils Økland (Hardanger fiddle), Per Steinar Lie (guitars) and Ørjan Haaland (drums). Recorded November 2011 at ABC Studio, Etne, Norway, with engineer Kjetil Ulland.

Eleven pieces composed and performed alone by Stephan Micus on nine instruments, including the Moroccan genbri and the San ndingo, both new to his work, plus voice. Recorded 2012-2014 at MCM Studios; his 21st album for ECM.

Including the films 'Hashima, Japan 2002' (installation and documentary versions) and 'Al Qasr, Bahriyah Oasis, Egypt 2005'. Plus 'filmmakers in conversation'. 'Straddling the line between documentary and audio-visual meditations on landscape, the Hausswolff-Nordanstad filmic partnership taps both the detritus of human civilization and its uncanny ability to withstand the forces of nature. In 'Hashima, Japan 2002' we are given a portrait of the Battleship Island off the coast of Nagasaki, a form…

Second ECM album by the improvising quartet Dans les arbres: Xavier Charles (clarinet, harmonica), Ivar Grydeland (electric guitar, banjo, sruti box), Christian Wallumrød (prepared piano, harmonium) and Ingar Zach (gran cassa, percussion). Recorded in Oslo, June 2010 and April 2011.

Solo album by Iva Bittová (voice, violin, kalimba): twelve pieces titled Fragments I-XII, mostly her own. Recorded February 2012 at Auditorio Radiotelevisione svizzera, Lugano, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Waves of polytonal freedom and poetic beauty... lines of noise clusters and complex patterns... She is sculpting her sounds around a microtonal hub, transforming slow melodies into free improvised structures and drama (...) a new language - with a totally new concept on how to produce sounds and noises from an acoustic instrument (...) making electronic music on acoustic instrument..." Mats Gustaffson

Solo album by Stephan Micus in ten parts, layering raj nplaim (Laotian free-reed pipe), nohkan, sho, zithers, kalimba, shakuhachi, sinding and up to nineteen of his own voices. Recorded 2007-2010 at MCM Studios; released 2010.

Recorded in June 2003 at Radiostudio Zürich. Mixed and mastered 2004/05.

This is seen by many as the "turning point" between early Fennesz electronic abstract works such as the Instrument 12" and Hotel Paral.lel CD, and the more guitar-based works such as Endless Summer and Venice. The two tracks, "Paint It Black" and "Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)," were initially released as cover versions of songs by The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys, respectively. Since then, via the relevant mechanical and publishing rights, the world has ruled that these tracks …

From Montreal across the Prairies to the North-Western Arctic, down to the Pacific and back through the Badlands. The Mercury minivan took to the road, loaded with recording equipment, tools, DAT cassettes, tent, Coleman burner, sleeping bags and cooking apparatus, spare tires, beer and camera, boots, books and maps.In 'The little man in the ear', materials are presented with little transformation. Only to better the listening clarity did we apply some processing. On the other hand, we took at …

The purr of a leopard close up against a baobab tree, waiting. Whales surfacing, breathing in cold air. Coll starling imitate the noise of farm machinery from the hollow ring of a ruined bothy. The rattle of wood over a black stream... Chris Watson's second CD is a dramatic contrast to the spacious atmospheres of "Stepping into the Dark" (touch TO:27, 1996). Featuring 22 close-up recordings of animals, birds and insect life, "Outside the Circle of Fire" enlarges our awareness of the sound univer…

For her second solo album, Hug (pronounced 'hoog') concentrates on solo viola without any electronics in a series of pieces inspired by her recent visits to London. Her strong musical personality and original extended techniques ensure that this is a solo recital unlike any other.

Eight-part suite by Stephan Micus, who plays every instrument and sings every voice: duduk, bass duduk, Bavarian zither, sinding and doussn' gouni harps, charangos, hammered dulcimers, nay, gongs. Recorded 2005-2007 at MCM Studios; his 18th ECM album.

Debut album of the Norwegian-French improvising quartet Dans les arbres: Xavier Charles (clarinet, harmonica), Ivar Grydeland (guitar, banjo, sruti box), Christian Wallumrød (piano), Ingar Zach (percussion). Recorded July 2006, Festiviteten, Eidsvoll.

2nd album from 1987 by this French trio made up Gilbert Artman (post-Lard Free, Urban Sax), Jac Berrocol and Jean-Francois Pauvros. Chaotic, experimental rock & wave.

Ten-part instrumental suite by Stephan Micus, who plays every part through multitracking: sattar, mudbesh, hné, nay, suling, sho, shakuhachi, mandobahar, sitar, guitars, hang and gongs. Recorded 2003-2006 at MCM Studios. ECM 1987, 2006.

North Six is a mind-bogglingly great trio recording from two adepts and an up-and-coming interventionist. Definitively old-school noise in inclination, the performers repeatedly set bombs and deviant devices of their own making against each other, stoking a great astral spat. A wild plume of electric-fire smoke invades the performance space as Ranaldo's guitar is repeatedly speared by silver darts of electronics. This tactic only serves to illuminate those moments where the six-string suddenly s…

Five chapters of sound inspired by one of the most powerful and complex emotions of humankind. arrogance is a departure from the digital machine insanity of his previous full length release, Welcome Home (Important Records), for a world of total analog electronics, primal energy, walls of monumental sound and precise attention to layers - creating massive slowly evolving structures that are both beautiful and terrifying. arrogance is the first CD release on the No Fun Productions label. Recorded…

There has been a connection between carl michael and raster-noton since the early days of the label. First meeting was at documenta x in kassel in 1997 where carsten nicolai, olaf bender, frank bretschneider, mika vainio and c.m.v. hausswolff came together to do a spontaneous session at kassel autospindel. their common interest in focusing on underrated qualities of sound or music has brought them together. Above all carl michael von hausswolffs work is about presentation of static quality of hi…

Stephan Micus's first album with the Armenian duduk, an eight-part suite for duduk, kalimba, shakuhachi, dondon, sattar, guitars and voice, all played by Micus. Recorded 1999-2001 at MCM Studios, released by ECM in 2002.

Fifteenth solo album by Stephan Micus, who plays every instrument and sings every voice, among them doussn' gouni, kalimba, dondon, sarangi, dilruba, sattar, nay and shakuhachi. Recorded 1997-2000 at MCM Studios, Mallorca; released by ECM in 2001. CD edition.

1: Recorded live at Adam Art Gallery, Wellington. Overdubbed at C/Psi/P, Lower Hutt. 2, 3: Postal exchange recorded in Lyttleton and Lower Hutt. 4: Live collaboration recorded at Adam Art Gallery, Wellington. 5: Postal exchange recorded live in Christchurch and overdubbed in Lower Hutt. 6: Postal exchange recorded in Lyttleton and Lower Hutt, additional tracks recorded live in High Street, Christchurch.

The first DVD of the new collection “Evidence Video” : Four experimental films realised by bruce licher (guitarist for the legendary bands Savage Republic and Scenic) and a panorama about his letterpress graphic work. An exceptional collector item ! DVD-R zone 0 - NTSC (can be read also in Europe on most PAL systems). Limited edition of 200 hand-numbered copies. Released to coincide with an exhibit of the artist's graphic design and letterpress printing work in Paris. Also includes a 6-color com…

Brast Burn was a legendarily obscure Japanese ensemble that existed in the first half (I presume) of the 1970s. For many years, they were known only as an entry in the notorious Nurse With Wound list, with no way for anyone to check them out. Thus this CD. First off, I'll say that it sounds really good. One would never guess that it was a transfer from vinyl. Brast Burn has been cited/promoted at various times as the "Japanese Faust". I feel that this is incorrect. A better analogy would be to t…

Stephan Micus's fourteenth album, built on two West African harps, the bolombatto and the sinding, with voices, steel drums, suling, shakuhachi, nay and tin whistle, all played by Micus. Recorded 1995-1996 at MCM Studios, released by ECM in 1997.

Stephan Micus's cycle of three days and three nights inspired by a stay on Mount Athos, with zither, sattar, shakuhachi, suling, ney, flowerpots and his own multi-tracked voice, recorded at MCM Studios between November 1993 and February 1994.

Coelacanth (june 1992) was a collaboration between Borbetomagus and The Shaking Ray Levis (Dennis Palmer and Bob Stagner).

One of the heaviest live documents of the original Borbetomagus big-band - Jim Sauter and Don Dietrich on saxophones, Donald Miller on guitar and Brian Doherty on live electronics - live at In-Roads, New York, 27th November 1982. This one was originally released on cassette in two different versions, copies of which somehow made it to Japan where it took on the role of some kind of free-noise Rosetta Stone, planting seeds in the helmets of a whole bunch of punks. But nothing beats the glorious p…

Bratra shows some well build rhythmical tracks, as the debut release of Boca Raton. Completely constructed of manipulated or synthesized (contact) mic-recordings, bratra moves on the edges of lo-fi sound and noises in an almost hypnotizing way. These tracks bring a certain sedated feeling which usually appears with the use of drones, isn't it that these tracks are hardly to be labeled droney. There's several layers and elements moving in and out of place, and also in and out of sound so to say, …

With John Zorn (alto sax) and Fred Frith (guitar). Ostertag liner notes, 1990: "This recording is the direct precursor to Say No More. Here I also began with solo recordings, one by John Zorn and the other by Fred Frith. But instead of performing improvisations they merely recorded an "inventory" of the sounds they make. The cd is divided into halves. Slam Dunk is a series of 26 extremely short solos which I performed using only the sounds of John's sax. In Sleepless I use Fred's source material…

Heiner Goebbels' setting of a monologue from Heiner Müller's play Der Auftrag, with Arto Lindsay, Don Cherry, Fred Frith, George Lewis and actor Ernst Stötzner, recorded in March 1988 in New York and Berlin and released by ECM in 1988.

Benny Nilsen writes: 'Fade To White contains material from the making of 3 pieces which were created within a different season and then edited, re-arranged and re-mixed in the summer of 2004. 6 pieces contain outdoor field recordings from travels in mainly central Europe in 2003 [Gdansk-Poland, Narva-Estonia, Sarajevo-Serbia Herzegovina, Arad-Romania, Trieste-Italy], and static indoor recordings from 2004 Stockholm-Sweden, Brussels-Belgium, Amsterdam-Netherlands, Vienna-Austria, Geneva-Switzerla…

New York is pretty different from Lower Hutt. In a lot of ways. But that doesn't mean New York is BAD... its just 'different', y'know? I was down the Lower East Side recently with the guy from Sonic Youth. He was as cool as he looked in Rip It Up magazine! We tuned our guitars and bagpipes, the lights sunk in anticipation, and we buried the audience in a cloud of fairy-dust so thick you could eat it with chopsticks and people with shovels tried to dig their way out of it but it just got deeper …

This collection of three pieces is dedicated to artists and musicians whom Bernhard Günter admires. The collection's title translates to "Enlarged Details," an apt description of Günter's approach to composition. Musically all of them involve a limited vocabulary of sounds interacting with silence. "Four Grey Paintings" uses low rumbles hovering at the very edge of audibility, interrupted with high-pitched tones and metallic twangs. Dedicated to Jim O'Rourke (an early champion of Günter's music)…

Both Justin Bennett and Toshiya Tsunoda have gained a reputation when it comes to fieldrecording-based soundworks. Using their sonic surroundings as the startingpoint for their work, both are unique in approach and result. Last copies.

The Object series is Locust Music's shot at documenting worldwide currents in creative improvisation and composition but as you may expect by now, we're doing it with a twist. For each release in this ongoing series, we've worked with the musicians to arrive at audio-visual ties between sounds and objects that may indicate a visual tie to the music. In this case, a bowling ball and a Brill-o pad grace the cover. Object 1 teams together trumpeter Axel Dorner, an internationally celebrated …

Psychedelic space music from Hiroshi Hasegawa of the legendary japanese noise outfit C.C.C.C. Astral orange sunshine was recorded between 2004 and 2007 using the EMS Synthi as it's main sound generator.

Ectoplasmic drool, ruptured voice, multi-temporal cash, concerti for nostrils, hyperactive excursions into comedy and violence. An aural textbook of constant change presenting a multi-dynamic evaluation of what may be possible with what we have at this point. Equal parts postwar beard and modern patchnocrat, Flux compendium sees two of Melbourne's hairiest sons nose dive and writhe in their unique take of sonic totalism, rising out of the muck with their kaleidoscopic best. Far from the lifeless…