New Arrivals

The Preservation label presents Burnt Offerings, the fourth album from Brooklyn's Padna. As Padna, Nat Hawks initially made his name in the cassette underground on the revered Stunned label with two works of pop experimentalism displaying a bustling -- often boggling -- and vivid imagination. Veritable joyrides in sound and style, these releases were in line with the DIY aesthetic, primitive songcraft and eclectic sonic stew pioneered by the likes of Tall Dwarfs and forwarded by Olivia Tremo…

Hailed as a hero of underground film in the 1960's, director Masao Adachi presents the shocking new film 'Yuheisha (Terrorist)' after a hiatus of 35 years. The soundtrack was composed by Yoshihide otomo, who is known worldwide for transcending the boundaries of jazz, improv, and noise. As a producer and film composer, he has gained critical acclaim for the soundtracks of 'Heart, beating in the dark', 'Canaria', and 'Boku Wa Imoto Ni Koi Wo Suru'. Also appearing in the film and playing acoustic g…

Klaus Ellerhusen Holm, alto saxophone & clarinet. Tor Haugerud, drums & percussion. Kim Myhr, guitars & objects. Martin Taxt, tuba. Muringa navigates playfully in a polarized world of opposites. Between speed and tranquility, industry and flora, violence and tenderness, noise and silence, chaos and order; Muringa gives the listener the hegelian third choice. The group consists of four of the most active improvising musicians from Norway. All occupied with other SOFA-projects such as Mural…

Billy Gomberg (b 1979, Chicago) is a musician and video artist living in Brooklyn, New York. His studio practice incorporates analog synthesis, digital treatments, acoustic recordings and custom programming that gives rise to electronic sound caught gazing at its own physicality, acoustics in love with their own abstraction. Billy's debut CD release displays abstract and complex dimensions of texture and tone that might make more sense at first on a subconscious level before it will on a conscio…

Finally available on CD. Ranked 3rd best album of 2008 in The Wire magazine. Intensely psychedelic and mixed for maximum hallucinations, this marks a pretty heavy departure from the Hospitals of old. Heavy tranced-out riffs, weird pop, cracked folk, disorienting noise, paranoid vibes. Main Hospital Adam Stonehouse with Rob Enbom & Rod Meyer from Eat Skull and Chris Gunn from The Hunches. The most forward-thinking album of 2008 but also an album of songs with actual emotional intensity. Not a par…

Crazy about the sound: the composer as a medium fHis bizarre way of composing earned Giacinto Scelsi not only fame and respect; he was also mockingly accused of dilettantism. Scelsi regarded himself not as a composer in the traditional sense, i.e. one to combine form, rhythm, pitch and sound in an intelligent way and note the result down on paper, but as a tool. His music was created during periods of meditative contemplation recorded by him on tape, to be noted down only afterwards. Eastern rel…

The first meeting of two masters of improvised music. Concentrated solo pieces from each before an uncompromising duo.When Matthew Shipp was invited to London's Cafe Oto for a residency in 2010 he immediately asked to play with John Butcher, perhaps not the most obvious choice of collaborator but one that proved inspired. Although they generally work in very different areas of improvised music, both players share an intensity of focus and pugnacious individualism that heightened rather than hind…

One of the pioneers of laptop electronics, Ikue Mori has been breaking new ground on the musical frontier for three decades. From her early days in the landmark no wave band DNA, to her years as a regular in the downtown improvisation community and more recently as one of the epicenters of the international laptop electronic scene, Ikue has become an underground hero -- yet her work is still sorely underappreciated. This newest solo CD features Ikue's idiosyncratic take on contemporary dance rhy…

The latest from microsound pioneer and LINE boss Richard Chartier is a re-imagining of probably his best-known work, 2000s ‘Series’, which incidentally was the inaugural LINE release. Since 2011 Chartier has worked on revisiting elements of ‘Series’ and reworking them into ‘Recurrence’, which was intended to be able to be performed in the live environment. One of the drawbacks of ‘Series’ was that its character left it almost ‘unperformable’, so this re-visitation of the source material was out …

Gorgeous solo album from Isaac Edwards of ODAWAS. Think Popul Vuh's soundtracks for Werner Herzog. Limited to 300. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

'Returnal' is the fourth album from Daniel Lopatin's Oneohtrix Point Never project, after 'Betrayed In The Octagon' (Deception Island, 2007), ÔZones Without People' (Arbor, 2009) and 'Russian Mind' (No Fun, 2009). All 3 albums being superbly compiled on the 'Rifts' double CD set (No Fun, 2009). It sees Lopatin fine tune his craft for creation of deep atmospheres and texture even further. Starting off with the mind blowing triptych of 'Nil Admiari'-'Describing Bodies'-'Stress Waves', which …

Moss, is a live recording from a unique collaboration by sound artists/musicians Molly Berg, Olivia Block, Steve Roden and Stephen Vitiello. This was a midnight concert at the beautiful Trinity Cathedral in San Jose, CA which was part of the 01SJ Biennial. Olivia and Steve had performed solo sets on the previous nights. The final night was meant to be a duo with Molly and Stephen but the opportunity to play with musicians/friends who we admire so much called out for an invitation to play …

Intro sampler collection of Glenn's various guitar orchestra classics for the uninitiated. Glenn has personally selected a track listing representative of his absolute unique-on-this-planet vision, with material ranging from the delicate celestial beauty of Symphony No. 3 to the demonical, otherworldly terror unfurled in No. 10. Selections is the ultimate 'in' to Branca's work if you're yet unacquainted with the most influential composer of the era.

This rare collection of recordings from the 1970s features Anthony Braxton at the height of his power and makes an indispensable contribution to his discography. Personally selected by esteemed Italian musicologist Francesco Martinelli from long forgotten cassettes stored in the saxophonist's home, these six tracks were not released commercially until 1999. While the sound quality is mixed, the music is some of Braxton's best. There are two solo performances ("Composition 8G" and "Composition 8C…

This performance was very special concert under candle lights, summertime passion. We performed in garden with very relaxed audience in that atomosphere which will ever bring you there. This track alone is worth documentation for creative moment of time and space.

Brand new issue of archve series of NHK electronic music studio. Contents: Toshira Mayuzumi : 'Princess Hollyhock' (1957), Shinichi Matsushita : 'Le Cloitre NOir' for voice and electronic music (1959), Toshi Ichiyanagi : 'Parallel Music' (1962), Shiro Ima : 'Music for 12 players and Electronic sounds' (1965)'.

An intense, meditative journey through the sound of stone, one continuous piece of more than three quarters of an hour during which the normal rules of time and flow are suspended by this master of lithophones. 

Axel Dörner, Nobuyoshi Ino, Kazuo Imai, Noritaka Tanaka. This is the masterpiece of 2CDs, splitting the music into improvisation (momentary composition) and / or composition. Disc 1 is the improvised music by Axel, Ino, Imai. Guitar sound of Imai is hot and tingling, Ino  plays careful his choice pizzicato and arcoexquisitely, and Axel's original sound bring Ôout' into their music. Their atmosphere of music is special one, cannot be similar from every music. Disc 2 consists of all Axel's composi…

Features Will Oldham (Bonnie Prince Billy) on vocals, and is a fascinating, compelling collaboration that mixes the last three centuries into one beautifully haunting, cryptic flow of idea-sound. Presented in a quietly handsome paper folio package!

"Active in electronic composition since 1971, Creshevsky delights in presenting extreme and unpredictable juxtapositions in which the integration of electronic and acoustic sources and processes creates virtual "superperformers" by using the sounds of traditional instruments pushed past human capacities. Creshevsky uses the term Hyperrealism to describe his electroacoustic language constructed from found sounds, handled in ways that are exaggerated or intense. The second Tzadik CD by this modern…

“The Gowanus Session”, a new trio recording by Thollem McDonas (piano), William Parker (acoustic bass), Nels Cline (electric guitar), that explores the density and subtlety of tones with reverberating layers of sounds. Thollem McDonas approaches the piano brilliantly, leading the listener to image abstract and beautiful worlds within themselves. William Parker, with his mastery of the acoustic bass, brings warmth to the recording that is complex, soaring and joyful. Nels Cline’s innovative and s…

new work by David Jackman aka Organum after completing the recent "Holy" trilogy ('Sanctus', 'Amen' and 'Omega'). SOROW is not an album that expands the trilogy still farther, but opens a new chapter in Organum's career. On the basis of the European organ drones and the Indian Tanpura foundation, the gentle Japanese temple bell compliments the piece. ....

A true experimental music classic by Maurizio Bianchi, originally released as private cassette in early 80's and then later bootleged on tape. This is the very first official re-release on CD of this incredible sound-material!!! This is the most intense M.B.: raw and experimental! Released on 1:1 high quality new generation CDr -> same quality and 99% same 'look' of a glass mastered CD. Digislim package.

Nmperign are one of the most celebrated and influential bands in contemporary improvised music. Yet surprisingly, more than a decade after their debut, Greg Kelley (trumpet) and Bhob Rainey (soprano sax) have never recorded a studio album as an unaccompanied duo... until now! Intransitive is proud to present the nmperig album that fans have been waiting for: the core duo, beautifully recorded in an actual studio with excellent microphones. The music is spare and peerlessly inventive as always, b…

Consisting of one side of solo lute material by Van Wissem and one side of new pieces by the duo. Film maker Jim Jarmusch plays electric and acoustic guitar and does tape on one piece. Van Wissem plays lute and 12 string electric guitar. CD edition.Jim Jarmusch and Jozef Van Wissem met on the streets of New York in 2006.  Finding that they shared many interests, both a friendship and a musical collaboration was soon born.  The duo has released two albums of lute and guitar compositions: Conce…

An inspired fusion of Middle Eastern rhythms and psychedelia resulted in this the gorgeous album by accomplished oud player John Berberian and his troop of skilled musicians. First released on Verve/Forecast in 1969 this exotic album features music based on traditional themes from Turkey, Armenia, Greece, Arabia and North Africa blended with the terrific improvised energy of psychedelia. So what you end up with here is bustling bazaars and scorched sands passed through the prism of the lysergic …

'Classical. Electro acoustic and widdly weird noises from the big brain. Over the last few years intrepid music lovers have been investigating and enjoying the work of pioneering electronic musicians, electro-acoustic artists and all the groovy folks who spent hours manipulating and cutting tape to make new and exciting sounds. It's meant that lots of interesting figures have been brought back into our musical view. But one of the most important, innovative, influential and almost forgotten arti…

"Sound Is, is delightfully not what I had expected when this fine disc arrived, a beautiful soundscape, awash with more layerings and hypnotic cinematic virtues than I would ever hope to find.  Though while saying that, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the ultra fine hazy jazz that both effortlessly, and rambunctiously flows through this release, and stands not starkly in juxtaposition to the soundscape, but gives it the vibrant life necessary to keep you quietly swinging at 4 in the mornin…

'Architeuthis rex. Leviathan. King. Magnificent sea dweller and haunter of the dreams of Italian artist Antonio Gallucci.  Dark of the Sea is that dream, each of the seven recordings an aperture into a horrific underwater world filled with the fear of what lies outside. Together, the album is a kaleidoscope of Don Cherry's Brown Rice, backward masked King Tubby acetates, strange strings, outer space broadcasts of unholy funeral rites, Native American percussion and metaphysical drone. Illustrati…

All music by Charbel Haber, recorded mixed and mastered by fadi tabbal at tunefork studios on the 16th and 17th of January 2012. all track titles are taken from roberto bolaño's novel 'nazi literature in the americas'. artwork and design by mazen kerbaj. produced in lebanon by al maslakh

Northern Spy is proud to present two of John Butcher’s most recent experiments in moving sound waves through space. On Bell Trove Spools we hear Butcher in two distinct situations: Richmond Hall, a Houston art gallery housing a permanent Dan Flavin collection that has been compared to a bowling alley; and the high-ceilinged marble room in Brooklyn which is the new home to Issue Project Room. Butcher is heard on his two saxes of choice, the soprano and the tenor, and suspended in space, fluid, ch…

Another important piece of the elusive and hermetic Eyvind Kang puzzle. This newest studio project from one of the most consistently interesting young composer/performers working today is instantly Kang’s most adventurous, varied and ambitious recordings to date. Featuring many of his most illustrious musical associates as well as several orchestral ensembles from around the world, this new CD brings Kang’s exuberant gift for orchestration and lyricism together with a keen sense of the miraculou…

Likeness is the newest release from the duo of Tom and Christina Carter. Recorded over a period of several weeks during the Spring of 2006, the album is a return to the spontaneous composition of previous Charalambides records such as Houston and Union. With the exception of "The Good Life", which appeared in a primitive version on the Wholly Other CDR Home, all of the tracks on this release sprung forth after 'record' was pressed, and were fleshed out via overdubs, editing, and a malfu…

Originally released in 2001. A long overdue compilation of Australia's incredible post-punk history, featuring the finest selection of bands from the period 1978-82, with many previously-unreleased tracks. This is a fantastically inventive and dynamic time in Australian music history, a time when Australia stepped out of the shadow of overseas influence and asserted its own musical identity for the first time. All of the bands on Can't Stop It! released their music independently, either t…

Classical world-folk style by Moondog joined with jazz timbers by The London Saxophonic: the amazing and original collaboration between two distinct way of music.

"This CD is made for the occasion of Moon Life by Alicia Framis, Shanghai. A continuous sound material from the installation 'Wormhole 2' in Yan Jun's washroom. After simple mastering (Denoise and Compression only). For playing in any environment and listening with any other sounds. 'Wormhole 2' is a continuation of the installation 'Wormhole Trip Souvenir' in The Shop Beijing, as 'Music For Listening On The Moon' is a continuation of 'Wormhole Trip OST'" (Label info)

The works of Clemens Gadenstätter are a wonderful example to evidence how an analytical approach to the phenomenon of hearing may result in music that sincerely moves its listeners. This production, entitled “Portrait,” represents a kind of screen capture of Gadenstätter’s oeuvre. Portraits are sometimes given away as presents in order to convey something of the essence of whom or which they portray. Clemens Gadenstätter’s music is perfectly suited as such a gift. …

In the 'Harmony Series 11-16', very small events are happening in every nook and cranny of the music, and these subtle changes give magical effects to the music. This is in fact not magic at all - all the events are due to the theoretical structure of the music, but the way Pisaro incorporates them into his compositions is so subtle and natural, that the whole impression on his music becomes poetic. When I listen to each piece while carefully paying attention to the details, I feel that the nuan…

At last, the reissue of German saxophonist Peter Brötzmann's long out-of-print first record, one of the most auspicious debuts of free music, and a trenchant tribute to the inventor of the saxophone. For Adolphe Sax is a roundhouse punch of European free jazz, delivered in1967 by the saxophonist's first classic trio featuring drummer Sven-Ake Johansson and bassist Peter Kowald. Initially issued in a tiny private run on Brötzmann's own BRO label -- silkscreened cover designed by Brötzmann, with h…

To say that the words "unique" and "singular" are over-used in describing music is to state the obvious.  To apply these words to the sounds created by the various duo/trio configurations of the Texas group Charalambides  over the last decade plus would be understatement. To be sure there are numerous antecedents to their music; to deny this of any artist's work would be akin to saying that they are deaf. But they have surely broken new ground in the primitive/folk/mystic/improv/psych valley in …