Though I will be leaving China in a week from yesterday, I will not stop exploring what the country has to offer musically. From traditional and pop music to jazz, classical and avant-garde, there’s something for every taste here, and it’s generally done quite well. From the Ftarri Bandcamp site: Continue Reading
Improvised Music
Manop Nakornchai – นวล อัลบั้ม (Naul)
I was listening to the Swiss industrial music band The Young Gods perform their interpretation of Terry Riley’s “In C” when I decided to put on this album. Since it comes from Australia’s most interesting guitar improvisation label, Ramble Records, I expected it to be good, but I didn’t anticipate Continue Reading
Amirhossein Nazemzade , Ehsan Shayanfard – Mourners Project
Here are two new names from the improvisational music scene in Tehran, Iran, worth keeping an eye on – Amirhossein Nazemzade and Ehsan Shayanfard. From their Bandcamp site: “Winter 2025 On a melancholic evening in a house in central Tehran, we performed an hour and fifteen minutes of improvisation with Continue Reading
eardrops – nightfall over concrete
Listening to some of the early masters of electroacoustic music and musique-concrète, it seemed that the goal of the music was to imitate the real world, and certainly, the masters like Pierre Henry, Pierre Schaeffer and François Bayle did so elegantly. Now, in 2025, we have incredibly good digital recording Continue Reading
Jane in Ether – Oneiric
Jane In Ether is a trio composed of Miako Klein on recorders, Magda Mayas on piano, and Biliana Voutchkova on violin, who also utilizes her voice as an instrument. Their improvisational skills are remarkable, reminiscent at times of a more contemporary AMM or MEV. The sounds they create have an organic quality that swells and recedes Continue Reading
Sarah Hopkins & Alan Lamb – Sky Song
Until a few days ago, I was unaware of Sarah Hopkins and her remarkable work. She is regarded as a master in improvising with the cello and overtone singing, creating incredible soundscapes with her voice and instruments. In her recent album, she collaborated with the late Alan Lamb, known for Continue Reading
Anthony Braxton – Quartet (Bristol) 1985
One of America’s foremost saxophonists, Anthony Braxton, collaborates with Marilyn Crispell on piano, Mark Dresser on double bass, and Gerry Hemingway on percussion. This music is as free as it gets, but has a slight film-noir soundtrack feel in parts. Impressive.
Helena Espvall / Ernesto Diaz-Infante / Marjorie Sturm – A Shadowed Fulguration
Thanks ever so much to Ernesto Diaz-Infante for alerting me to his latest release with percussionist and Nepalese flute player Marjorie Sturm (his spouse, if I am not mistaken) and cellist Helena Espvall. Musically, there is a gritty, lo-fi feel to the recordings, with the guitar sounding more like a Continue Reading
Hervé Perez and John Garner – Bell of Evening Skies
This has to be one of the first albums where the Shakuhachi plays a large role in improvised music that I’ve come across. From the duo’s Bandcamp site: “This album is the first encounter between improvisers John Garner and Hervé Perez. We came across each other’s work through the jazz Continue Reading
Jeff Gburek – Madhuwanti
Madhuwanti is a collection of guitar instrumentals played sublimely by Jeff Gburek. The title name itself comes from Hindustani music and can read about further here. The playing is as honey-like as the title implies. How, you ask? Let the good man explain further at his Bandcamp site: “Madhu means Continue Reading