Jazz /
Fly Or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise
Fly or Die II. Bird Dogs of Paradise is the much-anticipated follow-up to composer, trumpeter, and (now) singer Jaimie Branch's debut Fly or Die, which was dubbed one of the “Best Albums of 2017” by The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, NPR Music, WIRE, Stereogum, Aquarium Drunkard, and more. Written (mostly) while on her first European tour with Fly or Die in November 2018; and recorded (mostly) in studio at Total Refreshment Centre and live at Café OTO in London UK at the end of that tour, Bi…
Volume 1
**500 copies** The debut release from the long-running Chicago based collaboration of Quin Kirchner, Daniel Van Duerm and Matthew Lux aka KVL. Also featuring super special guest Jaimie Branch on Peaceable. KVL sits nicely in the same headspace as recent modern improv that eschews a more traditional "jazz" label. Think Matthew Lux's Contra/Fact, Jaimie Branch's Fly or Die, Shabaka Hutching's Sons of Kemet or The Comet Is Coming, Ben Lamar Gaye, Rob Mazurek and others. Of course, many folks will p…
Segment Tones
**300 copies** "Tonus is a group that always contains Dirk Serries and his wife Martina Verhoeven, but otherwise seems to be an open membership group. Today, on Segment Tones, it is a trio. Serries plays accordion and soprano melodica (the latter I would believe for the first time), Verhoven is on concertina and cello and Colin Webster on clarinet and alto saxophone. Whatever the line-up of Tonus might be, I do believe they play slow and quiet music; music that is not in any way, shape or form, …
Close | Quarters
**300 copies** "Close | Quarters is a seven-track slice of often compacted and angular improv for viola and prepared chamber. The two players here are Benedict Taylor and Anton Mobin. Taylor is a British improviser / avant musician who has been active in the scene since the early 2000s releasing a good body of work, as well as becoming a respected name, and Frenchman Mobin has once again been active since the early 2000’s making a name for himself as both an improviser and sound artists.The albu…
Ear Duration
**300 copies** "Overall, especially on the over 35-minute Set 1, which perversely in placed last on the CD, the improvisations’ mooring is supplied by the brief, repetative but distinctive patterning of Belgian pianist Martina Verhoeven. Much like John Tilbury’s program with AMM, these continuous motifs are the reassuring signposts for the puffs, scratches, strums and plops contributed by Britons, flutist / alto saxophonist Colin Webster, violist Benedict Taylor and Graham Dunning using a snare …
Zeitweise Leitcher Schneefall
**300 copies** "One aim of improvised music is to create unprecedented sounds. And by specializing in the textures that can be extracted from the spinet, the piano’s 18th Century ancestor, keyboardist Christoph Schiller, who now divides his time between Basel and Weil am Rhein is firmly involved in this trope. On this hushed, microtonal CD, Schiller applies his tweaking of the traditional keyboard to responsive sounds from an instrument as venerable as his, Anouck Genthon’s violin on Zeitweise L…
Cagean Morphology
**300 copies, 2019 stock** "The Serries-Verhoeven acoustic, chamber duo – Serries on the acoustic guitar and Verhoeven on the piano – is actually the last one to be recorded in the Tonus series but the duo distills the very essence of the series serves as a fitting introduction to this series. Cagean Morphology was recorded, mixed and mastered at the Sunny Side Studio at Anderlecht, Belgium on March 10th 2018. The minimalist layout of the Tonus series, was designed by Rutger Zuydervelt, aka Mach…
Texture Point
**300 copies, 2019 stock** "Minimal art is often presented as an act of simplification, a field in which nothing much happens and lesser (or even lazy) artists can have a field day. However, it is both in the visual arts and in music, perhaps one of the most misunderstood movements. Minimal artists not only sought out a certain core essence, but leading artists and theorists, such as Donald Judd, also offered a reaction against the extravagant focus on the subjective by the abstract expressionis…
Intermediate Obscurities I+IV
**300 copies, 2019 stock** What self-taught musicians lack in education and (sometimes) technical prowess, many make up for with the need to carve out a space for themselves. Their trajectory is often like a perpetual motion of restless movements. Even among those musicians, Dirk Serries is a special case. Loyal to whoever he comes across, but a solitary seeker at the same time. An eternal outcast whose discography expands at a swift and steady pace, building an island entirely of his own, despi…
In the Moment - Deluxe Edition
**New 3LP Deluxe Edition** Makaya McCraven's early 2015 offering In The Moment was pared from nearly 48 hours of live, improvised performance recorded at 1 venue over 12 months and 28 shows. Working with instrumental contributions from an array of Chicago jazz players (including Jeff Parker, Joshua Abrams, Marquis Hill, and Matt Ulery), Makaya culled, cut, rendered and remixed the mass of sounds into 19 potent pieces of organic beat music for the original 80-minute, 2xLP issue.At the close of a …
The Oracle
Composer, clarinetist, singer and spiritual jazz soothsayer Angel Bat Dawid descended on Chicago's jazz and improvised music scene just a few years ago. In very short time, the potency, prowess, spirit and charisma of her cosmic musical proselytizing has taken her from relatively unknown improviser to borderline ubiquitous performer in Chicago's avant-garde. On any given night you can find Angel adding aura to ensembles led by Ben LaMar Gay, or Damon Locks, or Jaimie Branch, or Matthew Lux, or e…
Piano Works
**2019 stock** Piano Works is Lisa Ullén’s most ambitious work so far – a triple CD of solo recordings capturing the breadth and depth of her singular musical vision. Ranging from 49 seconds to almost fifteen minutes, the 27 pieces collected share the distinction of sounding thoroughly composed and yet instantaneously sculpted (as they are) at the same time. There is a precision to her playing which brings out every note, fixes it and makes it sit there on the musical canvas, even as the figures…
F4 Fake
This is for sure no fake news! F4 Fake is the exciting new album by Made To Break, the gripping quartet of Ken Vandermark, mixing jazz, funky patterns, and electronics in groovy improvisations -- interrupted by abstract insertions. Recorded by Daniel Schatz, November 29 2017 at Primitive Studios, Vienna. Mastering by Alex Inglizian at Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago. Mixing by Alex Inglizian and Ken Vandermark. Artwork by Federico Peñalva. Personnel: Ken Vandermark - reeds; Christof Kurzmann …
Unaccustomed Soil
**300 copies** Strong sixth release on the very solid Signal & Sound label - this time with Sol Sol, a quartet featuring David Stackenäs, Elin Larsson, Anna Lund and Mauritz Agnas. A very consistent set throughout, with some favourites among the progressive Our Mobile Home and the beautiful Aura.David Stackenäs - guitar & composition, Mauritz Agnas - bass, Anna Lund - drums, Elin Forkelid - saxophones & composition.
The Timeless Nowhere
The Timeless Nowhere features 42 tracks never previously available on vinyl (most previously unavailable on any format at all) and now distributed across 4 individual albums, each with stunning artwork by Kim Hiorthøy and assembled in a sturdy Box.In a world where being loud seems to be the only ticket for attention, Arve Henriksen has somewhat quietly and without much ado established himself as an important, major player on the European jazz scene. In his 20 years with Rune Grammofon counting 1…
Primrose
Le Tres Jazz Club present a first time vinyl reissue of Hiromasa Suzuki's Primrose, originally released in 1978. Hiromasa Suzuki is a Japanese pianist who began his recording career in the early '70s. Nicknamed "Colgen" in Japan, he is well-known for two amazing records combining jazz-fusion and traditional Japanese instruments (Rock-Joint Biwa and Rock-Joint Cipher on the RCA label), jazz-funk oriented albums (High-Flying and Skip Step Colgen), and the famous record from the Electro Keyboard Or…
Great Harvest
Le Tres Jazz Club presents a reissue of Makoto Terashita's Great Harvest, originally released in 1978. Pianist Makoto Terashita has only released three records under his name during his career. Topology with Harold Land, on the great indie Japanese label Aketa (1984), Ihatov, a trio, with only one of his composition (1997), and Great Harvest. Released in 1978 on the Japanese label Union, Great Harvest is the first record of a then young Makoto Terashita who proudly poses on the back cover of thi…
Su Mimmi non si spara!
The music of Italian cellist Francesco Guerri obliterates the line between contemporary classical music and free improvisation, sculpting spontaneous invention into startling, unpredictable compositions.On his striking third album, Su Mimmi non si spara!, Guerri presents a dozen innovative pieces that span a wide range of stylistic approaches and technical challenges, invigorated by the physicality of his virtuosic playing and the deep emotional bond he maintains with his instrument. Su Mimmi no…
Mutima
A landmark recording in early creative improvised modern music, bassist Cecil McBee's recording for the Strata East label is an important document introducing him as a leader from the international jazz-based scene in New York City via his native Tulsa, OK and following a brief mid-'60s stint in Detroit. McBee as a pure musician has staggering technique, rich harmonic ideas, and an indefatigable swing, but it is as a composer that he is set apart from other musicians of this mid-'70s era.Life Wa…
Free Percussion
**100 copies** Tsss Tapes is a new tape label from Italy and this is their first release. Snares, bells, sticks, cymbals, pinecones, rattles, brushes, bass drums, mallets and other objects that make a sound if you hit them, stroke them, let them bounce. A compilation of improvisations by twelve percussionists from different parts of the world mastered by Nacho García. Includes tracks by Claire Rousay, Rie Nakajima, Chris Dadge, Håkon Berre, Ted Byrnes, Tim Daisy, Will Guthrie, Simon Camatta, Kev…