New Arrivals
Danze Degli Scorpioni
Dark moon music. If you are interested in the moon. Music concentrated in the process of discovering music, taking any risk. Extreme.How extreme is the exploration of one’s instruments, body, memories and stories. Vibrant, fast but at the same time calm music; slow.In search of the sound. Of movement that becomes sound. Of sound that becomes voice. That becomes movement.We dedicate this music to Coleman Hawkins, master improviser.
Orbita
The live performance recorded in the ancient Church of S. Giuliano, in Vercelli, encompasses some of the music conceived and written over the last few years, which Francesco Aroni Vigone spent in Valle d’Aosta. The recording location was chosen for its particular acoustics, perfect for a saxophone ‘solo’ and its aptitude for meditation. The performance took place during worship hours to have an unusual ‘audience’ in an unusual ‘liturgy’. The pieces are monodic songs that can be traced back mainl…
7 rocks
"This is the whole improvisation session we had on the evening of 25 April 2014, after a day spent recording some duets for Enrico’s project “Girotondo”. In the afternoon I had recorded with Mario Arcari “La prostituta e il soldato”, one of his compositions. The next day I was going to record my song “Il soldato e la cameriera” with Alberto Mandarini. So, during the evening break, after years of not playing together anymore, a little bit on my insistence, because Enrico seemed to want it too, we…
This Is What People Think Mountains Look Like
*100 copies limited edition* An absolutely gorgeous long-form piece for trombone, its sustained tones billowing into spectral rumbles that open up trance-inducing harmonic spaces. Simultaneously monumental in scale and introspectively meditative, This Is What People Think Mountains Look Like leaves the brain swirling for days with its reverberations. The venue is vital to the overall recording given its reverberant nature, allowing Barbier to follow the sound of their own trombone as it develops…
Fen
*100 copies limited edition* Fen is a selective evocation and invocation of a Kildare fenland. Focusing on the vocalisations and physical communication sounds of three bird species, it is comprised of field recordings of Grasshopper Warbler, Sedge Warbler (both Summer migrant breeders) and Snipe (resident breeder), alongside tuned percussion and synthesiser textures. As a birdwatcher and sound recordist the communication and language of birds fascinates me. The singular sounds made by the these …
Aether Ore
*300 copies limited edition* New album from Josiah Wolfson’s X Or Size project, all washed out and reverberating dub. X Or Size throw just the right amount of darkened ambiguity into proceedings to render the sound at its most compelling, borrowing from the classic dub techno playbook with wave after wave of luxurious, eroded dub chords and fractured percussion somewhere between vintage Chain Reaction and the more contemporary wave of late night zoners as best exemplified by Actress’ ghost-in-th…
High Tide In The Lowlands
Born in 2012 when the three were living in the same apartment building in Cairo's Agouza district, the trio's instrumental improvisation-based explorations are propelled by Louca's North African percussion loops and shimmering keys, Shalabi's West African tinged free jazz guitar and grounded by Bishop's driving Krautrock-style acoustic bass.
High Tide in the Lowlands was recorded in Brussels at Les Ateliers Claus on September 5, 2017 and is quite an intense experience. Most performances and reco…
Mauve District
After issuing an incredible stream of collections featuring archival and recent material in the last years, electroacoustic journeyman, Stephan Mathieu, returns with “Mauve District”, his first physical solo stand-alone release of new material since 2017’s “Radiance”. Created as the soundtrack for an exhibition of the American painter, Helen Frankenthaler, at the Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany, earlier this year, it encounters Mathieu weaving a truly mesmerizing minimalist work for piano and …
First Meeting
Release on Raw Tonk Records.
Colin Webster - alto saxRachel Musson - tenor saxCath Roberts - baritone saxCharlotte Keeffe - trumpet / flugelhornGraham Dunning - electronicsDirk Serries - guitarJohn Edwards - bassAndrew Lisle - drumsRecorded live at Cafe Oto, London on 21st August 2022. Recorded by Pedro Subtil. Mixed and mastered by Dirk SerriesArtwork by Colin Webster. Layout by Rutger Zuydervelt
Enz
"After two and a half years of refining, calibrating, and reconceptualising their approach, pianist Darius Heid, cellist Emily Wittbrodt, and double bassist Jonas Gerigk are now releasing their debut CD. With great enthusiasm, the trio met frequently for playful and dedicated rehearsals, improvising freely then observing and discussing the resulting phenomena, delving further into the depths of their music. A long and involved process - creating trialogues that weave through constant re-examinat…
Was ficht dich an?
impakt Records presents the new record by Huhn | Schönegg | Mahnig "Was ficht dich an?" with Leonhard Huhn (alto saxophone), Stefan Schönegg (double bass) and Dominik Mahnig (drums).
plays Herzog | Muche | Nillesen
impakt Records presents the new record by T.ON "plays Herzog | Muche | Nillesen" with Constantin Herzog (double bass), Matthias Muche (trombone) and Etienne Nillesen (extended snare drum).
Kuden
"Kuden is a method of communicating information verbally in Japan. The word also refers to the knowledge of secret techniques traditionally passed on orally, be it from martial arts or from music and the performing arts. An apt title for this exceptional, non-arranged meeting of three musical experts who tell each other about the rich vault of their sound treasures in order to enrich it with something new through this musical dialogue, which is immediately passed on to the spellbound, amazed aud…
2 compositions by Frank Gratkowski
Fo[u]r Alto is the quadrupling of the alto saxophone as a unified body of sound. Since the ensemble was founded in 2008, the four Berlin saxophonists Frank Gratkowski, Christian Weidner, Leonhard Huhn (until 2018 Benjamin Weidekamp) and Florian Bergmann have found an unmistakable sound language characterised by artistic uncompromisingness and continuous musical research. In autumn 2012, they released their first CD "4 compositions by Frank Gratkowski" on the English label Leo Records. Now follow…
Disengage
*300 copies limited edition* With three studio albums, four live releases and a number of tours, the Belgian-British Kodian Trio has built up quite a reputation within the European improvisation scene. The trio unites the attention to texture and detail often associated with the 'English school' with the fierce urgency of the 'fire music' of the sixties and seventies. The result is a wringing cocktail on the seesaw between European free improvisation and witty free jazz. Dirk Serries' disordered…
African Funk Experimentals (1979 to 1981)
Next up on Africa Seven is the second edition of our "African Funk Experimentals" LPs. With these we took some of our favourite African artists, choose the most funky we can find and then put together a compilation of their choicest and funkiest tracks. Of course that may not be their most popular or best selling tracks… but that's just fine. We are digging for the funk.
Threshold
Noise/noisecore/grindcore/cut-up in unparalleled intensity from Mumma/Wiese with two tracks featuring Jay Randall.
3
Tip! A Phil Blankenship/John Wiese maelstrom at maximum pressure. The duo behind LHD continue their five-year White Gold cycle, unleashing a blistering new cascade of deafening sound, desiccated crumble, and rusted shriek recorded in 2022, featuring over forty minutes of heavy electronics for shredded speakers.
Live In Hong Kong
Sissy Spacek is known for their extended approach to sound and performance. Founded in 1999, the group (since 2013, primarily a duo of Charlie Mumma and John Wiese) have released a broad range of work, from grindcore to musique concrète, with a considerable gulf of experimentation in between. Their performance at Empty Gallery in Hong Kong and its peripheral documentation is an example of the band’s abstracting style and approach. Recorded on the occasion of Takeshi Murata’s “Infinite Doors” ope…
The Elusive Flexure
Helicopter is proud to present the first trio album of Joseph Hammer (Solid Eye, Dinosaurs With Horns, LAFMS), Joe Potts (Airway, Extended Organ, LAFMS), and John Wiese (Sissy Spacek, Strain of Laws).