This meeting of 5 EA-Improv heavyweights from Europe and the Pacific US happened during the MKM trio tour in Northern America 2010, capturing this extended performance at CalArts for 40 minutes of engaging, burbling electronics, pulses, and short wave introspection.

The duo of Miguel A. Garcia on electronics and Lali Barriere on objects and no-input mixer for an album of investigative, detailed improvisation that's well paced and calmly complex.

Electro-acoustic improv from the Phosphor grouping, an amazing set of musicians who began working together in 2001 and have developed a complex and incredible form of interplay.

Extended improvisations using a mix of acoustic and electric instruments from the sextet of Ernesto Rodrigues, d'incise, Cyril Bondi, Abdul Moiemem, Eduardo Chagas, and Nuno Torres.

Portuguese composer and pianist Simao Costa in an album of solo prepared piano in the style of John Cage, using transducers, speaker & objects, paced like a Morton Feldman composition, balancing tones and percussive sound in exquisite compositions.

The results of years of collaboration between the Cremaster electroacoustic improvising duo of Ferran Fages and Alfredo Costa Monteiro with pianist Sophie Agnel, in a remarkable album of fragile yet rich tones and tonal punctuations, a feast of timbral possibilities.

Sweden's Skogen returns with a beautiful work for chamber ensemble with Magnus Granberg, Angharad Davies, Toshimaru Nakamura, Ko Ishikawa, Anna Lindal, Henrik Olsson, Petter wastberg and Erik Carlsson, interpreting a piece by Anders Dahl using a 12 tone system.

Frequent Squidco in-store performer Electric Bird Noise returns defying expectation with an album of new wave dance & 1970s synth experiments, taking influence from bands like New Order, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, & Gary Numan

A collection of southeast darkwave & post rock band Electric Bird Noise (Brian Lea McKenzie) from 2000-2010, cinematic, richly eclectic, and absorbing instrumental music.

Jean Derome, Joane Hetu, Danielle Palardy Roger, Alexandre St-Onge and Martin Tetreault each composed works for this stellar group of nine Montreal-based musique actuelle players, a startling and wonderful release of style, approach and concept.

The Eventless Plot trio hails from Thessaloniki, Greece, borrowing elements from different genres and aesthetics to build a hybrid of free improv, noise, new electronica, electroacoustic composition and jazz.

The improvising quartet of Canaries on the Pole (Foschia / goyvaerts / Irmer / Wissel) in their second release after their self-titled debut on the Free Elephant label.

Helen Mirra uses the index of a W.G. Sebald's novel to create a mysterious, intriguing and fascinating audio world, performed by Mirra on printing press and acoustic guitar, and Fred Frith on rainsticks, mbira, charango, music box, voice, shoes and other objects.

Beautiful, mysterious improvised compositions with spoken interludes, recorded live in March 2003 at the first Montréal/Nouvelles Musiques (MNM) festival.

Sound artist Jason Kahn performing in Zurich at the Kunstraum Walcheturm arts organization, recording fourteen short improvised sections, focusing on heavily effected drums and percussive elements augmented with synthetics, radio, plus work exclusively for voice.

A dynamic set of wind and object improvisations from multi-reedist Hans Koch, using extended techniques to elicit a diverse and astounding range of sounds from his instruments, and Thomas Peter creating indescribable sound on amplified objects and live electronics.

Taking their name from the German Town Bad Fallingbostel, this album collects recordings from the 3 year collaboration of these two improvising sound artists: Gunnar Lettow on prepared bass guitar, electronics & objects; and Korhan Erel on computer & controllers.

A 2-CD release from Japanese percussionist Seijiro Murayama, performing solo on "objects" which combines clearly percussive objects and other electroacoustic items of obscure origin, creating active, rich and curious sonic environments that envelop the listener.

The Portugese trio of Pedro Sousa (sax), Tiago Sousa (keys & percussion) and Travassos (tapes and electronics), using amplified objects and circuit bending amidst acoustic and electric sources that blends melodic sound sources in rich and unexpected ways.

David Payne (Fossils, Slut Mouth, Middle James Co.) solo offers a wasted take on the acoustic guitar, which is mangled, scraped, rubbed, fingered, bent, and subjected to a variety of preparations.

Quartetski Does Stravinsky with drummer Isaiah Ceccarelli, guitarist Bernard Falaise, reedist Phillipe Lauzier, viole de gamaba player Pierre-Yves Martel and violinist Joshua Zubot reinterpret Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in honor of its 100th anniversary.

The Remote Viewers' 10th album, with David Petts, Caroline Kraabel, Sue Lynch, Adrian Northover, John Edwards, Rosa Lynch-Northover, and Adam Bohman, in mysterious works of dissonance and wonderfully idiosyncratic expression.

Two freely improvised works performed on cello, sine waves, cracklebox, bottle, synth, cornet and objects from the quartet of frequent collaborators Guilherme Rodrigue, David Area Guillermo Torres, and Tomas Gris, a mix of subtle improvisation and subsuming sound.

A large group under the direction of violinist Ernesto Rodrigues (also on harp, metronome & objects) in 4 extended improvisations of great suspense and tension through sound and silence.

Remarkably detailed, slowly moving improvisation from the trio of Katsura Yamauchi on alto sax, Carlos Santos on electronics, and Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, harp and objects, a beautiful balance of acoustic and electronic sound in intensely concentrated music.

For a decade this trio has created some of the most interesting electroacoustic improvisation, captured in a 38 minute performance at the Ear We Are Festival in Biel, Switzerland, 2007.

Hypnotic lo-fi space pop from Azalia Snail, whose 20 year career of 4-track era work is heard in this musical journey paying tribute to the power of the sun & the hope it can bring to us all.

Sontag Shogun is the trio of pianist Ian Temple and sound artists Jesse Perlstein and Jeremy Young, setting the piano against intricately designed sonic textures and cut-ups of choral voice and acoustic guitar, as well as processed field recordings, here in a 10" 4 track EP.

The solo debut album from electronic artist and composer Pierre Tanguay is a collection of dark ambient background music that is minimalist in nature but also very impressive.

A powerful mix of rock and jazz in this extraordinary debut album by a young trio comprised of Luca Serrapiglio, Antonio Bertoni, and Carlo Garof playing a variety of acoustic and electronic instruments in fresh variations.

Triple CD from Variable Geometry Orchestra, who create music by juxtaposing acoustic and electronic sound matter with subliminal and psycho-acoustic side effects.

The French WPB3 trio explores areas between abstract minimalist, contemporary concrete instrumental improvised music and energetic noisy free jazz with an uncompromisingly totally free approach.

Two saxophones, two voices; two gargoyles, two satyrs; two forces of nature that agitate, whistle, squeak, scrape, blow, and bite, transforming music into a secular incantation and a banquet of sound.

With lyrics inspired by Hindu erotic books, Arabic love games, and sensual songs; Joane Hetu presents her first CD of her own music with accompaniment from Jean Derome, Diane Labrosse, and Pierre Tanguay.

The duo of Jean-Luc Cappozzo on trumpet, horns and objects, and Geraldine Keller on voice flute & objects in an album of tones and tongues, an unusual set of adventurous free improvisation.

Live recordings of JC Jones in duo settings, 14 different collaborations including Ned Rothenberg, Victoria Hanna, Harold Rubin, Josef Sprinzak, Nori Jacoby, &c.

"Fracture Mechanics" is the scientific study of cracks in any material, an apt title from these European experimental innovators--Burkhard Beins, Lucio Capece, Martin Kuchen, and Paul Vogel--pulling back the curtain on process and creating an impressive album crossing acoustic and electronic improv, organized sound, and inexplicable interaction; recommended.

A live recording at POP in Berlin between synth and electronics player Jean-Marc Foussat and vocalist and electronicist Maria Luisa Capurso, subverting the voice through electronics and effects to create wildly encompassing sound environments that contrast Foussat's synthetics with the organic quality of the human voice; rich, hallucinatory, wonderful.

The NY duo of accordionist Andrea Parkins, using self-designed virtual instruments, field recordings, everyday objects and small instruments, and drummer Brian Chase, applying guitar pedals to his percussion, create fascinating sculpted works of electroacoustic improvisation.

Using principles similar to Pauline Oliveros' Deep Listening, the quartet of Thanos Chrysakis, Christian Kobi, Christian Skjodt, and Zsolt Sores use acoustic and electronic instruments in carefully developed improvisations based around dynamics, densities & textures.

Of interest to lowercase/Wandelweiser fans, the quartet of Billy Gomberg, Anne Guthrie, Richard Kamerman and Takahiro Kawaguchi use synthesizer, french horn, found objects, & field recordings, frequency generators, to create evolving sound environments of unique sound and timbre.

An extended improvisation of muted sound from the long-running duo of Jeph Jerman and Tim Barnes, performing live at Non-Event in Boston, creating mysterious analog sounds and cycles of drones with underlaying metallic textures creating an environment of suspense.

A collaboration between American sound artist Jeph Jerman and Italian percussionists Paolo Sanna and Giacomo Salis, twelve intriguing short improvisations using extended techniques and lowercase approaches that include minimal textures, field recordings, abstract atmospheres and organic sounds.

A rich and building improvisation from this French 10 piece ensemble, using 4 reeds, piano, zither, gangsa gantung, Indian harmonium, harmonium, mixing desk, contact microphones, banjo, objects, electric & acoustic guitars, effects, gong and drums to create a expansive audio universe that owes its sound to free improvisation and Ligeti.

At the same event in Scotland that John Butcher recorded his excellent "Resonant Spaces" album, he also joined forces with sound artist Akio Suzuki on a variety of objects and sound devices to record the first 5 tracks of this unusual album of very free improv, the last track by the duo recording at the 2015 Ftarri Festival at SuperDeluxe in Tokyo.

"Exosphere is the follow up to Mekhaanu-La Foret des Mecanismes Sauvages(Insubordinations Netlabel, 2013) and like that album, Exosphere features Moimeme on his two home-made electric guitars, enhancers and assorted sound devices. The s...

Translating to "Fever Counts" and "At Lightening", the trio of Jean-Luc Petit on bass clarinet and alto & sopranino sax, Fabrice Favriou on electric guitar, and Julien Touery on piano and objects create impressive improvisations, the first a disruptive piece of detailed electracoustic colective interaction, the second a swelling work of sonic landscape.

"Argentinian pianist (by way of Amsterdam) Nicolas Chientaroli delivers a solo performance that demonstrates the piano's architectural sound beyond the usual demarcation points of its 88 keys. Cada Fuego Es El Primero opens with plucked str...

"Rumor is a studio session by four musicians who had recently performed together for the first time during the 2014 MIA improvisation festival in Lisbon. It joins two international visitors - Brazilian Marco Scarassatti on sound sculptu...

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Electroacoustic improvisation from the trio of Marc Vilanova on saxophone, Sergio Castrillon on cello, and pianist James Andean also performing on objects and electronics, in nine collective improvisations of close-knit dialog balancing intense activity and silent space, building tension and releasing it in unexpected and wonderfully eccentric ways.

Two women in a duo of voice and amplified objects, Lali Barrier using a variety of devices that are clearly micro-amplifed and mixed in performance, as Marta Sainz intones vocal sounds, never speaking but creating innuendo and drama at a cautious pace, allowing Barrier's objects to interact, creating an unusual sonic environment of unpredictable and interesting discourse.

Creative uses of percussion from Italian drummers Giacomo Salis and Paolo Sanna, who explore gesture, movement, listening, and the investigation of natural materials and found objects, in five studio tracks that present the results of their research in both rhythmic sections and sections of abstract sound, honed from concerts, studio albums, and a collaboration with Jeph Jerman.

Aural Terrains label leader and electronic composer Thanos Chrysakis in a work in five movements based on field recordings, synthesized, and acoustic instrumental sounds.

The Italian Acre trio of Ermanno Baron on drums & objects, Ginomaria Boschi on guitar & effects, and Marco 'uBiK' Bonini on laptop, tapes, theremin, in a five-part improvised work using a "free game" methodology to promote new modulations and configurations in organic and synthetic sounds and timbre, make each player subsume into their collective sound.

Bridging contemporary and improvised music, Montreal double bassist Nicolas Caloia wrote these pieces for textured and impossible rhythms; blending pieces by Nancarrow and Grand Master Flash; and manipulating poems by Genevieve Letarte; with supporting improv from Jean Derome & Lori Freedman.

A series of musical "mobiles" from European composer Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, sonic transformations of the visual experiences of Alexander Calder's dynamic sculptures.

Separated by 1,000 KMs and speaking a different language, the collaboration of Quebec bassist Eric Normand and Australian saxophonist Jim Denley, both dedicated experimenters, share a common aesthetic in free improvisation as they release their third album: five dialogs using reeds, electric bass, drums, objects and tools to create unusual sonic conversations.

The Italian trio of saxophonist/clarinetist Francesco Masaro, pianist and prepared pianist Giovanni Cristino, and drummer/percussionist Walter Forestiere, take us on a journey at the lower levels of a forest's undergrowth, adding objects, preparations and extended techniques in a blend of free jazz and nonidiomatic forms to reveal mystery and brightness in the brambles.

New York-based Italian percussionist and Neither/Nor label leader Carlo Costa in a solo percussion album of two pieces using drum set, concert bass drum, singing bowls, bells, triangles, wood blocks, tiles, styrofoam, cymbals, violin bows, marbles, chains, knives, and other objects, creating fascinating alien soundscapes of momentous activity without histrionics.

The core trio of the Boston collective Leap of Faith Orchestra of improvisers, approaching large work using unique compositional techniques and an arsenal of traditional and unusual instruments and percussive devices, here joined by Elinor Spiers on violin, log drums, glockenspiel, metal, wood, crotales, and cymbells, for a uniquely detailed and immense improvisation.

Referencing the poem "Star-splitter" by Robert Frost, Italian improviser Gabriele Mitelli on cornet, soprano sax & alto flugelhorn, and Chicago improviser Rob Mazurek on piccolo trumpet, both using electronics, object & voice, create a spiritually rich and warm series, "gazing" at four planets through immersive, unique and authoritative performance; exceptional.

A unique pairing of reeds, piano and spinet captured live at Le Singe Club in Biel, Switzerland in 2018 between multi-reedist Hans Koch and keyboardist Jacques Demierre, a wild ride from frenetic interaction to introspective experimental, both using unusual techniques and Demierre playing inside his keyboards, a truly excellent and thrilling concert.

Antoine Beuger's piece merges compositional and improvised approaches, drawing on the text "the memories of RN", as he performs on flute, voice and objects with the electroacoustic improvising ensemble Colectivo maDam, merging long instrumental phrases with words, syllables or letters, using space and detachment to create numerous possibilities to resonate.

Portuguese guitarist and experiementer Abdul Moimeme, once a student of US free jazz saxophonist Patrick Brennan, now joins him as Moimeme employs two electroacoustically altered guitars played simultaneously with objects, Brennan performing on sax and cornet, as they create unusual and assertive abstract sonic environments, intensely detailed and gripping.

Brooklyn-based composer, bassist, and writer Nick Dunston in his debut album, blending jazz, contemporary, chamber and avant forms, in a uniquely voiced quintet with Louna Dekker on Vargas on flutes & piccolo, Ledah Finck on violin & viola, Tal Yahalom on guitar, and Stephen Boegehold on drums, in a sophisticated album of concisely fascinating compositions.

Christoph Nicolaus began working with the stone harp around 2007, a block of granite with a slanted top that is deeply notched to create fins that resemble a loaf of bread, played by "bowing" the sides with wet hands causing each to vibrate in unique and beautiful tones; this album collects 13 compositions & improvisations performed between 2008 and 2018, in rich and uniquely evocative sound.

A split 7" release between Cremaster (Alfredo Costa Monteiro (electronics) and Ferran Fages (feedback mixing board and electroacoustic devices); and the Komora A trio of Karol Koszniec (electronics), Dominik Kowalczyk (laptop) and Jakub Mikolajczyk (modular synth).

Insanely inventive and obsessive, the Bascaille trio of Antoine Letourneau-Berger, Olivier Tremblay-Noel and Tom Jacques use a mix of traditional and world percussive devices, homemade instruments, objects and amplification to create works of contemporary art and percussion, using equal temperament, microtonality, noise music, improvisation, unison, and polyrhythms.

A solo percussion album from Francesco Gregoretti, employing traditional instruments and unusual object to create unique audio environment that use predictable rhythmic elements against capricious approaches, giving his playing a personal style fueled by resonance and natural feedback; an album that balances chaotic and structured environments in riveting ways.

Gelber Lilac, or Yellow Lilac, is the electro-acoustic trio trio of Yves Arques (Tricentric) on objects & electronics, Joao Camoes (Open Field String Trio) on viola, and Luise Volkmann (Autochrom) on saxophone, presenting a romantic still life in improvisational colors and extended techniques, recorded live at La Petite Maison, in Paris in 2016.

Beginning in 1995 in Seattle, audio explorers Jeph Jerman & David Knotts explore lo-fi approaches using cassettes, mini-cassettes, dictaphones, various assortments of homemade instruments & collected materials, this 2020 cassette including recordings of mouth, stone, wood, glass, metal, paper, plastic, radio, and input from a number of contributors.

Using percussion, cymbals, various objects, computer and sound sculptures made by Bruno Girardi, Italian percussionist Lucio Bonaldo, known for the group L'imbroglio, presents a set of recordings performed live and direct, captured between 2018 & 2019, including a Sonorization of a literary passage taken from "Traviso" by Alberto Cellotto, and "Altken", an overdubbed work.

Three connected journeys in drifting tones, unidentifiable and sometimes aberrant intersections and melodically abstract guitar work, composed by guitarist Lance Austin Olsen and performed with guitarist Barry Chabala, using layers of sound like an audio version of a colour field painting, emulating a field of seeds waiting for changing conditions to allow them to emerge.

While on vacation in Rome in 2018, NY percussionist Carlo Costa took his portable recorder inside a grain silo in the countryside north of the city, eschewing traditional percussion for found bricks, pipes, rocks and branches found nearby, recording in the resonance of the silo with the sounds of cicadas and other ambiance permeating the silo as he unfolds this engrossing, thoughtfully paced improvisation.

Initiating like a jet shaking the sky, the trio of Kevin Corcoran on percussion & objects, Giacomo Salis on percussion, objects & field recordings and Paolo Sanna on percussion & objects create otherworldly sonic environments that project collapsing and ringing events above often turbulent foundations, creating side-long journeys that engage through mysterious and surmisable sound.

With all the tongue-in-cheek aspects of Dutch improvisers, the piano trio of Michiel Scheen on piano, Raoul van der Weide on bass, crackle box & sound objects and George Hadow on drums, all hailing from a superb pedigree of European Free Improv involvement, show their connection through comprehensible playing with a wonderful sense of humor in their approach to delightfully smart playing.

The debut of the Amsterdam-based trio of Argentinian pianist Nicolas Chientaroli and saxophonist & clarinetist Ada Rave with Dutch bassist Raoul van der Weide, all three using preparations, objects and voice to extend their unique approach to instant composition, heard in eight succinct, animated and sometimes eccentric dialogs recorded at BIMHuis.

Exploring the sonic and visual territory of water, centering on concepts of metamorphoses and breathing underwater, pianist Joshua White and trumpeter & flugelhorn player Steph Richards also employ resonating water vessels and percussion as they present three fluid and introspectively fathomed works in multiple movements: "Sacred Sea"; "Sequoia"; and "Northern Lights".

One of Corbett vs. Dempsey's Black Cross Solo Sessions, Joe McPhees approaches his album recorded during pandemic lockdown in his home through tenor sax, voice, water, objects and field recordings, the center of the album a cycle of compositions by Charles Mingus, alongside works by Carla Bley and influences by Joni Mitchell, and a virtual symphony of saxes on the title track.

Sonic exploration and studio composition from Kobe, Japan-based, Canadian sound artist Tim Olive, using amplified objects, cast-off electronics and home made instruments including metal teeth, tuning forks, clockwork motors, electromagnets, cassette playback heads and magnetic pickups, recording each and layering them in the studio to create corrosively captivating aural journeys.

A live album at the Cafe de Paris in 2019, and the recording debut of the international quartet Diaphane of Frantz Loriot on viola, Raphael Loher on piano, Carl Ludwig Hübsch on tuba and Carlo Costa on percussion, heard here in an extended and fully free improvisation using unusual techniques and objects to extend the pallet of their acoustic instruments.

Composer and pianist Magnus Granberg developed this delicately introspective work as a collaboration between his Skogen ensemble and cellist Leo Svensson Sander & harpist Stina Hellberg Agback, concerning the development of art in times of crisis, using Messiaen's "Quatuor pour la fin de temps" (Quartet for the End of Time) as a basis, and brought into focus by actual pandemic.