New Arrivals
Zealous Angles
Zealous Angles is the first documentation of pianist/composer Matt Mitchell’s long-running trio featuring bassist Chris Tordini and drummer Dan Weiss.Pi Recordings’ not-so-secret weapon, Mitchell now has six releases as a leader or co-leader and fourteen appearances on the label. His 2024 release Illimitable (on his and Kate Gentile's Obliquity Records) was called “one of greatest albums of spontaneously composed solo piano music, ever…. a masterpiece of twenty-first century solo piano music” by…
Levs
Bassist Kim Cass is among a vanguard group of Brooklyn-based improvisors who are creating works at the leading-edge of rhythmic acuity. Levs, his debut with Pi Recordings, features pianist Matt Mitchell and drummer Tyshawn Sorey, who called Cass “a singular composer and player: the man can do things that don’t seem possible on the bass, displaying a technical command of the instrument on the level of the most celebrated virtuosic performers in any genre of music.”The compositions on Levs were in…
Unknown Rivers
Unknown Rivers is bassist Luke Stewart’s debut for Pi Recordings. An omnipresent and galvanizing force on the music scene, Stewart is a leader or co-leader of such bands as Irreversible Entanglements, Exposure Quintet, Blacks’ Myths, Heart of the Ghost, and Remembrance Quintet. He is also among the most in-demand collaborators, having performed with the likes of David Murray, Nicole Mitchell, Moor Mother, Jaimie Branch, Nate Wooley, Ken Vandermark and countless others. Stewart is also a curator …
Éthiopiques 23
*2024 stock* The story of Orchestra Ethiopia (1963-1975) is unusual and compelling in more ways than one. Just as modern music was reaching the peak of its excellence and popularity, at the very same moment, via Orchestra Ethiopia's unlikely undertaking, traditional music acquired a legitimacy that the times had tended to deprive it of. Between the coup d'état (Dec 1960) and the revolution (1974), Ethiopia was combining, unbeknownst to all, both the end of an empire and the "golden age" of its m…
Io Sto Con Gli Ippopotami
"It was 1979, and I was barely 5 years old. Some memories are impressed on my mind with a sort of solarized texture, like in the photographs of the period, full of icons and myths. My father Franco and mother Luciana were like crazy pinballs, touring the world: America, France and Germany were the sides against which they continuously bumped and Italy's capital the hole to which they always returned. I was really young, but I remember very well the period in which my father worked on this little…
Medietas
Brian Marsella is one of the most accomplished keyboard virtuosos in the Downtown scene. A vital member of projects by Cyro Baptista and John Zorn for decades, his fluid keyboard stylings and intense energy is legendary—and Medietas is his masterwork: a sprawling three-hour long work that embraces jazz, rock, funk, classical, world music, exotica, folk, soundtrack moods, and so much more. Segueing from song to song seamlessly, this is a work that puts you into an ecstatic dream world—a psychedel…
New Masada Quartet, Volume Three
This long-awaited third volume featuring John Zorn's newest and most exciting ensemble, New Masada Quartet was recorded live at Roulette, one of Zorn's home bases in NYC. White hot and razor sharp, an intense electricity is in the air from the very first note. Resplendent with burning solos, telepathic group interaction, heartfelt lyricism, hypnotic grooves, and of course Zorn’s ever-surprising conducting techniques, this is truly one of the most transcendent sets they have yet performed. With a…
Straight up, Without Wings, The Musical Flight of Joe McPhee (Book)
In Straight Up, Without Wings, Joe McPhee surveys sixty years in creative music. Starting with his trumpeter-father's influence and formative years in the U.S. Army, McPhee recounts experiences as a Black-hippy-cum-budding-musician based in upstate New York, perched at an ideal distance from Manhattan’s free jazz demimonde of the 1960s and its loft scene of the 1970s. A natural storyteller, revealing never-told tales and reveling in the joys of noise, McPhee puts the influence of – and encounter…
Maggot Brain #18 (Sep/Oct/Nov 2024)
"On the cover: Grace Jones by Tamara Palmer: Palmer delves into the entire history of this remarkable artist, who will naturally deliver us a stunning cover image. Jones is even more of a one-of-a-kind musician and persona than most of us realize, so we're extra excited to feature her on the cover of this issue. Deep Archival Dives With Living Luminaries -- PULP: Peeling back the onion of time, we are graced with a fine selection of ephemera and rare images from the forthcoming Hat + Beard book …
Looking For My Value: Prologue To A Blade (Book, Signed Copies)
Alabaster DePlume’s debut poetry collection, Looking For My Value: Prologue To A Blade, offers readers a deeper exploration of the themes of dignity, sovereignty, and the work of healing that are present in his music. Arriving as a limited gatefold custom A6 pocket book featuring cover art by British illustrator Ian Wright and design by London-based Jamie Coull, this collection features raw and vulnerable prose that reflects DePlume’s journey toward finding and taking responsibility for his own …
Snowbug
After the high times and critical-mass arrangements of the previous two records, Snowbug exuded a breezy, spare, morning-after vibe. Edified by all manner of world-folk, classic Brazilian pop and the first volumes of the Ethiopiques comp, the Llamas recorded in London with Fulton Dingley and in Chicago with Bundy Brown and Jim O’Rourke engineering at Electrical Audio and John McEntire mixing at Soma. Snowbug is an understated, underrated gem.
Lollo Rosso
The remix album, with marvelously creative EDM remakes from some of the best powerbook players of the day: Mouse On Mars, Jim O’Rourke, Kid Loco, Schneider TM, Stock, Hausen & Walkman, Cornelius and The High Llamas themselves. In addition to showcasing this emerging new generation of digital masters, the treatments here also highlight an oft-undersung aspect of The High Llamas’ sound – the influence of Krautrock.
Cold And Bouncy
Having passed – at least figuratively – through hundreds of years over the course of their previous two albums, the good ship High Llamas docked, fully loaded, into a congenial present moment for once in its life. O’Hagan’s continued work with Tim Gane and Stereolab caused a healthy dose of electronica to spike the Llamas’ already heady brew, creating an apex of late 90s-style neo-exotica. RIYL: Mouse On Mars, Oval, Grand Royal, Dots and Loops.
Gideon Gaye
This brave foray into conceptual art music produced a jaw-dropping reset on the 20th century pop perspective. The High Llamas engaged songwriting and production with an eye toward filmmaking. Digging through ephemera of choice vintages with post-modern zest, they struck a rich vein they could call their own – a kind of gothic Americana, formal aspects pushed to extremes. The spirit of discovery here can be vibrantly felt over 30 years later.
Popoli di Vetro (Book)
112 pages. Italian language.Popoli di Vetro (Peoples of Glass) is a new publication by Francesco Cavaliere published by Viaindustriae and produced by Xing, in the frame of the project Abyssal Creatures supported by Italian Council.Popoli di Vetro is an artist’s book in the form of a fantastical novella. Here, the writing generates an imaginative world in which glass is the pervasive element the protagonist must deal with.
Tan – also known as Metastasio – moves freely in an abyssal setting, searc…
Sleepy Jazz For Tired Cats
300 copies only! First-ever vinyl pressing of the band's inaugural EP, 'Sleepy Jazz for Tired Cats', featuring new artwork and mastering by Marta Salogni.
Established in 2013 by Valentina Magaletti and Tom Relleen, the duo operated until 2020 as a creative laboratory for the London-based musicians to explore beyond their traditional musical endeavours. They sought to deconstruct their usual sonic frameworks, venturing into a novel and unfamiliar auditory landscape. Their work seamlessly integrat…
Every Dog Has His Day
The two works which comprise this retrospective release project - "Plan for Sleep” (1984) and "Every Dog Has His Day” (1985) - are collaborations between Yamanaka and Furuhashi which were foundational to the music development of Dumb Type's aural legacy and intermedia innovations at large. Their early stage music possessed a unique charm and innovation, serving as an essential element at the core of their art. Through this project, the legacy of these works is to be re-evaluated, and the essence…
Plan For Sleep
In the performance of this work, "Plan for Sleep" (1986), created simultaneously with “Every Dog Has His Day” (1985), Yamanaka took on the role of sound operation. The performance begins with a minimal piece where the tones of the electronic organ and striking phrases from the piano and saxophone race forward in syncopation. Following this, various sound fragments drift over a deafening industrial beat reminiscent of machine noises. There are also pieces that transform the typing sounds of a typ…
The Tokyo Concert
The Bill Evans Trio's 1973 concert in Tokyo was his first recording for Fantasy and it produced yet another Grammy-nomination for the presentation. With bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell, this LP mixes offbeat songs with overlooked gems, familiar standards, and surprisingly, only one Evans composition, the demanding "T.T.T.T. (Twelve Tone Tune Two)”. The Tokyo concert reveals the trio functioning at a high level, with each member by this time able to anticipate whatever direction the …
Leichenschrei
OEC is proudly going "again" for the re-edition of that SPK masterpiece first out in 1982.
More than 40 years are gone but the energy of Leichenscrei by "Socialistisches Patienten Kollektiv / << S.P.K. >>" is still very H.I.G.H.! A reference and absolute highlight in Industrial culture and muzak!