Mars Williams / Vasco Trilla:
Awakening Nature From Her Dream (Live In Barcelona) (Not Two)

A powerful 2019 live performance from Barcelona between legendary multi-reedist Mars Williams and boundary-pushing percussionist Vasco Trilla, unfolding from introspective explorations into bursts of intricate and energetic free jazz, as Williams' array of saxophones and toys meets Trilla's rich palette of percussion in an electrifying exchange. ... Click to View

Fred Frith / Shelley Burgon:
The Life and Behavior (Relative Pitch)

A compelling collaboration between guitarist Fred Frith and innovative harpist Shelley Burgon — known for her work with Anthony Braxton, Trevor Dunn, and Okkyung Lee — in a series of concise and precise improvisations recorded in Oakland, CA, in 2002 and 2005, as Burgon blends seamlessly with Frith's acoustic guitar to create seemingly telepathic synchronicity and an expansive sonic palette. ... Click to View

Brandon Lopez Septet:
nada sagrada (Relative Pitch)

An intense performance led by bassist Brandon Lopez, recorded live at Roulette during the 2023 Vision Festival, blending deep listening and collective spirit in a dynamic, politically charged composition featuring Zeena Parkins (electric harp), Mat Maneri (viola), Cecilia Lopez (electronics), DoYeon Kim (gayageum), and drummers Gerald Cleaver &Tom Rainey, propelling intricate textures and ritualistic intensity. ... Click to View

Hobbs and Shanko:
The Depression Tapes (Relative Pitch)

Alto saxophonist Jim Hobbs and bassist Timo Shanko, co-founders of the Fully Celebrated Orchestra, present their first duo recording, nine improvisations recorded in the studio in Massachusetts, expressing their three-decade synergy through intimate, exploratory playing that blends passionate and deep-seated melodic interplay with free jazz elements and a strong sense of the blues. ... Click to View

Painkiller:
The Equinox (Tzadik)

Following their acclaimed 2024 album Samsara, Painkiller returns with Mick Harris (beats, electronics), Bill Laswell (bass), and John Zorn (alto saxophone) delivering six intense and genre-blurring tracks that fuse jazz, grindcore, metal, noise, and techno into an exhilarating, multilayered sonic journey inspired by the magickal practices of Aleister Crowley. ... Click to View

dustsceawung:
dustsceawung [CASSETTE w/ Download] (Eh?)

Minneapolis trio Dustsceawung — Miri Karraker (viola), Noah Ophoven-Baldwin (cornet), and Mitch Stahlmann (flute) — explore lowercase improvisation and instrumental abstraction in two 20-minute pieces, "Firn" (2018) and "Fold" (2022), blending scraping textures, breathy timbres, and hushed dynamics, as they create an intimate, shifting soundscape of subtle tension and ephemeral beauty. ... Click to View

Rutger Zuydervelt :
Microtopia (Original Game Score) (Machinefabriek)

An immersive and atmospheric soundtrack from composer Rutger Zuydervelt, known for his work as Machinefabriek, scoring the video game Microtopia with intricate electronic textures and evocative soundscapes that enhance the game's robotic ant colony simulation, blending ambient, rhythmic, and experimental elements to create a rich sonic environment praised for its depth and integration with gameplay. ... Click to View

Simulacrum:
Shadows (Evil Clown)

An electrified vortex of shifting soundworlds from PEK's Simulacrum ensemble, recorded live at Evil Clown Headquarters, blending PEK's reeds and electro-acoustics with Bob Moores' space trumpet and synths, Eric Woods' analog synthesis, Robin Amos' hybrid synths, and Michael Caglianone's saxophones in an Arkestra-infused, kosmische exploration of entropy and sonic strangeness. ... Click to View

Expanse:
Attenuations (Evil Clown)

David Peck leads an expansive sextet with Bob Moores, John Fugarino, Jiaxin Wan, Ziyi Gao, and Michael Knoblach, blending Western and Chinese instrumentation as clarinet, saxophones, & space trumpet intertwine with guzheng, pipa, electronics, & percussion, creating a richly textured, dynamic improvisation that reflects the ensemble's ongoing exploration of spontaneous composition. ... Click to View

John Zorn / Mary Halvorson Quartet:
The Bagatelles Vol. 1 (Tzadik)

Originally part of the Bagatelles 4-CD box set, this standalone release presents John Zorn's tightly constructed compositions interpreted by the Mary Halvorson Quartet, where Halvorson's microtonal guitar meets Miles Okazaki's rhythmic fluidity, propelled by bassist Drew Gress and drummer Tomas Fujiwara in an explosive and intricately woven set of high-energy, avant-garde jazz explorations. ... Click to View

John Zorn / Erik Friedlander / Michael Nicolas:
The Bagatelles Vol. 2 (Tzadik)

An intimate exploration of John Zorn's Bagatelles, featuring the seemingly telepathic cello duo of Erik Friedlander and Michael Nicolas in deeply expressive and intricately woven performances that reveal the emotional depth, sensitivity, and Zorn's adventurous compositional spirit, bridging composed forms with spontaneous improvisation for a nuanced and exciting chamber setting. ... Click to View

Peter Brotzmann / Steve Swell / Paal Nilssen-Love:
Krakow Nights (Not Two)

A powerhouse trio of free jazz titans — Peter Brötzmann on saxophone and clarinet, Steve Swell on trombone, and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums — captured live at Krakow's Alchemia Club in 2015, delivering a high-energy set of unrelenting interplay, shifting dynamics, and deep improvisational synergy, from explosive full-throttle exchanges to nuanced explorations of timbre and structure. ... Click to View

Brotzmann / Swell / Nilssen-Love:
Live in Copenhagen (Not Two)

Captured live at Copenhagen's Jazzhouse in 2016, the explosive trio of Peter Brötzmann on saxophone & clarinet, Steve Swell on trombone, and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums & percussion delivers a high-intensity set, opening with the fiery 30-minute "Copenhagen Maneuvers" and continuing through shorter pieces that demonstrate their raw power, deep improvisational synergy, and relentless momentum. ... Click to View

Un Drame Musical Instantane:
Trop D'Adrenaline Nuit (GRRR)

The groundbreaking 1977 debut of Un Drame Musical Instantané is a fully improvised yet strikingly structured work blending synthesizer, trumpet, guitar, film dialogue, and radio broadcasts into a dynamic sonic collage, here reissued in 2004 with a new master and the bonus track "Sancta Papaverina", the album captures the trio's bold fusion of avant-garde improvisation and experimental composition. ... Click to View

Helene Sage :
Les Araignees (GRRR)

An imaginative and genre-defying return from Hélène Sage in an eclectic blend of songs, jazz-inflected fanfares, and humorous yet critical texts performed in multiple languages, featuring a striking ensemble of avant-garde musicians whose voices, instruments, and unconventional approaches craft a surreal and adventurous sonic world; of interest to RIO fans. ... Click to View

Ellen Christi / Fiorenzo Sordini Quintet:
A Piece of the Rock (Splasc(h))

An engaging meeting recorded in the studio in New York in 1991, bringing together vocalist Ellen Christi, saxophonist & bass clarinetist Carlo Actis Dato, trombonist Masahiko Kono, bassist Enrico Fazio, drummer Fiorenzo Sordini, and text artist Michael Vecchio, blending adventurous contemporary jazz, spontaneous composition, and spoken word in a strikingly dynamic and generally lyrical session. ... Click to View

Ellen Christi / Yuko Fujiyama / Masahiko Kono / Mauro Orselli:
Reconstruction Of Sound (Network)

A compelling collaboration featuring improvising vocalist Ellen Christi alongside pianist Yuko Fujiyama, trombonist Masahiko Kono, and drummer Mauro Orselli, recorded in the studio in 1993 and live at Roulette in 1996, weaving dynamic free improvisation and exploratory soundscapes that showcase Christi’s innovative vocal techniques and deep engagement with spontaneous composition. ... Click to View

Machinefabriek:
Omval (Flag Day Recordings)

Inspired by a live performance with serpent player Berlinde Deman, Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek) recreated his live setup from that show to record this intricate sonic collage, blending hardware improvisations, field recordings, and an array of electronic and acoustic sources into an organic, layered work that merges performative immediacy with studio precision. ... Click to View

John Zorn / JACK Quartet:
The Complete String Quartets [2 CDs] (Tzadik)

The JACK Quartet presents definitive interpretations of John Zorn's eight string quartets, composed between 1988-2017, in a two-disc album presenting Zorn's evolution through avant-garde techniques and deep musical traditions, with virtuosic performances of intricate works like "Cat O'Nine Tails", "Memento Mori", or "Necronomicon"; includes a 36-page booklet of notes, scores, and insights. ... Click to View

Dennis Palmer (Palmer / Lurie / Pahl / Hampton / Stagner):
White Wuff (Public Eyesore)

Uniting members of the Shaking Ray Levis with luminaries including Bob Stagner (Palmer's SRL cohort), Jessica Lurie, Frank Pahl, and Col. Bruce Hampton, this final album from Dennis Palmer captures his fearless spirit in an eclectic fusion of free improvisation, surreal storytelling, and genre-bending instrumentation, traversing rock, jazz, sound collage, and absurdist experimentation. ... Click to View

Carlos Zingaro / Joao Madeira / Sofia Borges:
Trizmaris (4DaRecord)

Recorded live at BOTA in Lisbon, the trio of pioneering violinist Carlos 'Zíngaro', bassist João Madeira, and drummer/percussionist Sofia Borges engage in a dynamic and expressive real-time composition, balancing intensity and restraint through intricate musical dialogues, evoking the raw energy of free jazz while embracing contemporary improvisational textures. ... Click to View

Joao Madeira / Margarida Mestre :
Voz Debaixo (4DaRecord)

Exploring the fluid boundaries between singing, recitation, and speech, bassist João Madeira and vocalist Margarida Mestre present an intricate dialogue of sound and expression, recorded in Lisbon, with Mestre's voice shifting between phonetic poetry, storytelling, and abstract improvisation, while Madeira's double bass, guitar, and field recordings weave around and underpin her vocalizations. ... Click to View

Halls of the Machine:
Atmospheres For Lovers And Sleepers [CASSETTE w/ DOWNLOAD] (Copy This!)

Expanding beyond their post-industrial rock roots, guitarist Mike Graff and drummer Michael Jerome join forces with producer/keyboardist Van Eric Martin, bassist Mike Daane, and vocalist Blythe Gaissert for an ambient and cinematic work inspired by Metropolis, blending ethereal soundscapes and hypnotic rhythms into an immersive instrumental journey. ... Click to View

Rutger Zuydervelt :
Meander (Machinefabriek)

A mesmerizing sonic counterpart to the acrobatic and dance performance Meander, Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek) crafts an immersive score that mirrors the movement of Marta & Kim, Knot on Hands, and Felix Zech, blending ambient textures and dynamic shifts to evoke fluidity, weight, and momentum, shaping an auditory journey that unfolds with the same grace and unpredictability as the performance itself. ... Click to View

Birge & Vitet:
Carton (GRRR)

Merging electronic experimentation with improvisational spontaneity, Jean-Jacques Birgé's synthesizers and Bernard Vitet's trumpet weave alongside Michèle Buirette's vocals and Hervé Legeay's guitar, constructing a dynamic and unpredictable sonic landscape that blurs the line between composition and free expression, expanding the possibilities of form and texture. ... Click to View

Perturbations:
Equilibrium Disturbed (Evil Clown)

Expanding the boundaries of real-time signal processing as an active improvisational voice, the trio of David Peck (PEK), Albey onBass, and engineer Joel Simches are heard in a dynamic session where Simches manipulates and transforms instrumental expressions into intricate sonic layers, merging winds, percussion, electronics, and bass with live perturbations. ... Click to View

Leap Of Faith:
Lexical and Syntactic Ambiguities (Evil Clown)

This edition of Leap of Faith brings core members David Peck and Glynis Lomon together with both longtime collaborators and first-time guests, including Vance Provey, Tor Snyder, Albey onBass, and Marc Edwards, for two improvisations that blend musical histories with fresh interactions in an exploratory journey of winds, strings, electronics, and an arsenal of percussive & resonant instruments. ... Click to View

Paul Dunmall:
Red Hot Ice (Discus)

A unique entry in Paul Dunmall's discography, this album presents a 9-piece Birmingham-based ensemble with dual keyboards and electronics, evoking Dunmall's compositions and orchestrations into vibrant, groove-driven improvisation that shifts between cinematic atmospheres, fiery free jazz, and unexpected nods to rock, balancing tightly composed sections with exhilarating exploration. ... Click to View

Eclectic Maybe Band:
Cosmic Light Clusters (Discus)

Guy Segers (Univers Zero) in his 5th expansive EMBand project, assembling an ensemble of progressive and avant-garde musicians in ever-shifting configurations, for an album that evolves from introspective and textural atmospheres to dynamic and complex sonic landscapes, incorporating voices, poetry, and intricate instrumental interplay; a compelling example of Europe's progressive music scene. ... Click to View

Heikki Ruokangas :
Live In New York (Right Brain Records)

Recorded live at the 2024 New York Forward Festival in NYC by guitarist Killick Hinds, Finnish guitarist Heikki Ruokangas presents an expressive solo acoustic performance that shifts fluidly between melody and noise, balancing introspective sensitivity with intense avant-garde bursts, weaving elements of contemporary jazz, Finnish musical heritage, and free improvisation into a raw and immediate sonic exploration. ... Click to View