From the Cafe OTO website, including samples: “”Long-time collaborators and iconoclastic improvisers, drummer Eddie Prévost and saxophonist John Butcher, met at All Hallows Church, in High Laver, Essex in 2023, using the natural ambience of the space to capture these three improvisations, Prévost playing primarily on a drum kit and Continue Reading
Improvised Music
Dollar Brand, Don Cherry, Carlos Ward – Third World-Underground
From our friends at Wewantsounds – yet another gem, this time featuring legends Dollar Brand, Don Cherry, and Carlos Ward. From the label’s Bandcamp site: “Wewantsounds is honoured to announce the first-ever international release of the legendary collaboration between Abdullah Ibrahim (Dollar Brand) and Don Cherry, featuring Carlos Ward. Following Continue Reading
Andreij Rublev & Zot Lukta – Limestone
Free improvisers Andreij Rublev & Zot Lukta bring together no-input mixers, clarinets, electronics, PVC tubes and even the stone-walled room the duo recorded in. Quite a fun listen.
Attila Gyárfás, Bálint Bolcsó – TABBIS
From Attila Gyárfás’ Bandcamp site: “TABBIS is an hommage to Mihály Babits, one of the most influential Hungarian poets of the first half of the 20th century. We chose nine of his poems that resonated with us the most and we used them as sources of inspiration while recording the Continue Reading
Jeff Gburek + Eryk Nowacki – Small Fires
Yet another sublime release by fellow expatriate Jeff Gburek: “Our title Small Fires derives from the practice among certain Indigenous American people of making small fires periodically, often enough to prevent the build-up of fallen wood that could fuel large forest fires. It is also said that one makes a Continue Reading
Autonomаton – Collected not lost 2015-2025 vol.1: drone and teknoiz
From our friends at Mahorka Records: “”Collected not lost” is a decade of Autonomaton’s work, outside of LPs and EPs, collected. The music was released in the period from 2015 to the end of 2025. It’s done mostly through dubbing and overdubbing sound approaches. Both computer and hardware were used. Continue Reading
Devin Gray feat. Andrea Parkins & Frank Gratkowski – Hz of Gold
This is the second album in the past few weeks I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing that features percussionist Devin Gray, and the two musicians he collaborates with on this disc are legendary: Andrea Parkins- electronics, accordion & wurlitzer Frank Gratkowski- saxophones, flutes, & clarinets Devin Gray – drums & Continue Reading
Nikolay Smagliev & Dr.Jazz – Tailagan
I had some dear friends who were members of the Siberian jazz scene many years ago. Names like Roman Stolyar, Sergei Belichenko and others produced music equal-to or better than their contemporaries in Moscow and St. Petersburg for a while. Nikolay Smagliev & Dr.Jazz seem to be keeping in that Continue Reading
Bneleti (ბნელეთი) – Bneleti (ბნელეთი)
We have brutal experimental music on offer by an American who has integrated himself into the Tbilisi experimental music scene. From the Bneleti Bandcamp site: “Bneleti (ბნელეთი), named after a pre-Christian Georgian word that translates to “Land of Darkness,” is a project by Ben Wheeler. His first full-length, self-titled album Continue Reading
Margarida Garcia and Manuel Mota – Domestic Scene
The latest release by two of Lisbon, Portugal’s top improvisers, Margarida Garcia and Manuel Mota, sounds less like experimental music and more like the soundtrack to a minimalist horror film. It’s intensely oppressive (yes, that’s a compliment) and creates an uncomfortable, eerie atmosphere, but I found it hard to stop Continue Reading