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"The new 2 cd magnum opus by If, Bwana (Al Margolis) has been almost 3 years in the making. It is the first time he has composed works (usually with prerecorded sounds) specifically for another ensemble. Gilmore's Girls, Ringing (Ano)the(r) Bell, and...

"It is a nice initiative to issue a double-CD with the art of sound. We've seen this from our French friends (François Bayle, Marc Favre, Pierre Henry and others), who aren't bashful about poetic sound sensualism-and here we are with a good American...

"Consisting of 3 compositions, Tripping India is the 3rd If, Bwana release on Pogus. On this recording If, Bwana is joined by, among others, Paul Marotta (Styrenes/Electric Eels/Mirrors) on 3 Out of 4 Ain't Bad, a conceptual work for 3 different...

"Agartha, the debut full-length album by Japanese producer Wata Igarashi, is a mysterious, divine thing. Named for the mythical secret kingdom, understood as a complex maze of underground tunnels, perhaps designed by Martians who colonised the Earth tens of thousands of years ago, it’s a similarly mystical, perhaps even cosmic trip – but this time, exploring an inner, deeply personal cosmos. Beautifully detailed and bustling with rich incident, it takes Igarashi’s music to new places, which still...


"In 1972, the Stooges were near the point of collapse when David Bowie's management team, MainMan, took a chance on the band at Bowie's behest. By this point, guitarist Ron Asheton and bassist Dave Alexander had been edged out of the picture, and James Williamson had signed on as Iggy's new guitar mangler; Asheton rejoined the band shortly before recording commenced on Raw Power, but was forced to play second fiddle to Williamson as bassist. By most accounts, tensions were high during the recording of....

Very interesting Norwegian album that I was turned onto the group by their flautist, Ketil Einarsen, who often is able to tell me about interesting things happening in Norway! Thank you Ketil!
By the way, despite them saying that their inspirations are Ornette, Zorn, Sonic Youth and the Softs, they don't sound ANYTHING like any of those bands! Kinda low key, but pretty energetic and Hanne is a fine singer.

"Ignore started out as a free jazz trio led by guitar player and composer Gaute...

"The experimental guitar-driven musician collective, iH8 Camera (='i hate camera') from Antwerp, Belgium was formed by 2004, around the nucleus of the Love Substitutes. iH8 Camera performs rarely but frequently live and in changing line-ups and Trip In...

"Blue Sun is the debut album of the prog-band THE IKAN METHOD, and it is a progressive rock album inspired by the big groups of the new-prog 80s and 90s (in particular Marillion and IQ) Then pieces full of melodies, with intertwining of guitars and keyboards supported by a solid rhythmic base, for half sung and for another half composed of instrumental pieces where the instruments are "singing". All the pieces have a melancholy streak and tell, through music and words, of feelings and life experiences...

Kari Ikonen-piano, Moog, Rhodes piano
Ra-Kalam Bob Moses-drums
Mathias Eck-trumpet
Louis Sclavis-clarinet, bass clarinet
"For IKONOSTASIS, Finnish jazz sensation Kari Ikonen has invited his favourite musicians to play compositions that are both experimental and yet strikingly beautiful. The first studio album of this deeply personal project compiles ten of these tracks into an innovative and beguiling work - managing to sound both strangely familiar and yet like nothing you've ever heard

This is a pretty great piano release from a quietly inventive talent. Give a listen; it may surprise you!

“This album could easily have turned top-heavy. After all, here's a record which, in just under 40 minutes, covers anything from arabic scales to Japanese sounds, from free jazz references to concepts by Kari Ikonen's favourite painter Vasiliy Kandinsky. To realise his vision, Ikonen even personally developed a device allowing him to play micro-intervals on his piano. And yet, things turned...

Lemme tell you something; no one is more excited about a new album by this group than me. A couple of years ago, I saw this group who I was completely unfamiliar with); the Finnish group Karikko, led by pianist Kari Ikonen. This new one straddles a bit...

"Kari Ikonen is not afraid of the light. His 'ultra-positive' afro-pop-jazz project Trio Toffa is living proof of that. Lately, however, his Finnish background seems to have drawn him to the wintertime and darker moods of the soul. Wind Frost & Radiation is a search for his roots, a quest for the Nordic qualities in music. Spaces of biting cold and horror, of inhumanity and transience - these are the fundamentals of the Ikonen Trio's third studio album. The contrast with the sensual late-night-jazz of...

"The new album "Everything I Love" pays homage to some of the composers that have influenced Nikki's playing and created her own unique style. They include guitarist John Abercrombie, songwriters George and Ira Gershwin and Cole Porter. But it...

“#entrainments is the latest album from bassist and composer James Ilgenfritz. The album features his European quartet, consisting of Köln-based saxophonist Angelika Niescier and cellist Nathan Bontrager, and Zürich-based percussionist Gerry Hemingway. #entrainments presents the first documentation of Ilgenfritz's new series of #entrainments compositions, which draw primarily on jazz, contemporary classical, and conceptual art practices. This system of compositions de-couples structure and intuition in...

“YOU SCREAM A RAPID LANGUAGE collects recent solo & small-group compositions by bassist/composer James Ilgenfritz. Terminal Affirmative (2014) pounds out maximalist speed metal shredding for violin & double-pedal bass drum; Apophenia III: The Index (2016) uses the experimental fiction of J. G. Ballard (with violin, prepared piano, & two-handed tapping on electric guitar playes through a talk box); Apophenia IV: A Bell In Every Finger (2018) uses the late Steve Dalachinsky’s poetry about avant-garde...


Ill Wicker are a Swedish band combining new weird Sweden with acid folk and beyond. Think Comus. Think Incredible String Band. Think Espers. Think Alec K. Redfearn and The Eyesores.
Kinda beautiful and kinda creepy at the same time!

"...this remarkable six piece from Gothenburg burn with such fire and intensity that it's almost as if they stumbled upon their own dark forest magic in a hermetically sealed universe parallel to that in which Comus and The Incredible String Band once existed...

"Illàchime Quartet is an instrumental ensemble based in Naples (Italy) that joins electronics and acoustic instruments. It gathers sounds and noises from the surroundings as well as scattered fragments of acoustic memories, which form the texture for...

Mary Halvorson (guitar)
Tomas Fujiwara (drums)
Benoit Delbecq (piano, piano prepare)
Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet, flugelhorn)

This is 3/8ths of the great Living By Lanterns + Benoit! "Experimental and accessible music, a name revolutionary and royal. Four individuals, one ensemble!"

Tomas Fujiwara - drums
Taylor Ho Bynum - cornet, flugelhorn
Mary Halvorson - guitar
Benoît Delbecq - piano

“Unclosing is the latest recording by Illegal Crowns, a collective quartet that brings together the long-time collaborative trio of guitarist Mary Halvorson, drummer Tomas Fujiwara, and cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, with the French pianist Benoît Delbecq.
All four artists are critically recognized as leading figures in contemporary music, and being a true collective (much

"Ian Jones has a knack for teaming up with quality singers. His past associations in various bands have set the bar high. I’d wager that Illuminae has arguably given that bar more than just a gentle nudge. More like a hefty shoulder charge from an uncompromising Italian defender. Nevermind the fact that the contributors include Steve Hackett (we”ll try to avoid putting ex-Genesis), John Helliwell (Supertramp), Troy Donockley (Nightwish), Craig Blundell (Steven Wilson and Steve Hackett band), Luke Machin....

"The Japanese jazz scene is finally getting the attention it deserves. Long written off as just a scene filled with copycats of American and European artists, jazz fans around the world are now discovering that there was some amazing music being...

This is a rare as hell, Japanese-only release, originally released in 1975 on the audiophile Three Blind Mice label.

This features piano and electric keyboards, guitar (by Kazumi Watanabe), bass, drums, and percussion. There are four tracks...

Joe McPhee pocket trumpet & tenor saxophone
Pascal Niggenkemper double bass
Ståle Liavik Solberg drums and percussion

"A living legend of the open-form kind of jazz he plays since the Sixties, Joe McPhee is one of the most requested players of several musical fronts besides jazz, from Pauline Oliveros’ “deep listening” approach to new music to the free rock coalition formed by The Thing and Cato Salsa Experience (he played the music of Led Zeppelin with them), going through a...

Zanzibar is an island with an extremely varied musical culture; African, Arabic, Oriental, European. This six piece ensemble offer some idea of the astonishing richness of their musical heritage. The CD includes a 10 minute video for your MAC or PC com...

Personel: Alípio C. Neto (ts), Els Vandeweyer (vib), Jean-Marc Charmier (t), João Hasselberg (b), Rui Gonçalves (d)

"If you still think jazz is an American music, think again. This is jazz indeed, and none of the artists involved was born on the...

"Immersion are Malka Spigel and Colin Newman. Although best known for their work with Minimal Compact and Wire, the duo’s work as Immersion provides an outlet for their ongoing fascination in crafting enthralling, unique musical soundscapes. Sleepless is a suite of ten distinctive, unpredictable instrumentals that effortlessly encapsulate a range of emotions and energies.
It follows 2016’s Analogue Creatures Living on An Island, which saw the duo return to the studio after a lengthy hiatus. On...

“Impetus Group is Dirk Serries' big band formation. The band name naturally refers to the Latin meaning: urgency, driving force, but even more spiritually to the moving language and strength of each musician in the ensemble to realize this free improvisational music. Impetus group is also a tribute to the improvisation scene of the sixties and seventies, more specifically the London scene led by guitarist Derek Bailey with his Company group. The album title describes exactly what the music brings to the...

"The Implicate Order “At Seixal” is the recording of a memorable concert in Auditório do Forum Cultural do Seixal, home of one of the most important Jazz Festivals in Portugal. It is also a landmark in the collaboration between Portuguese and American...

"This transatlantic jazz supergroup featuring Steve Swallow, Steve Rodby, Adam Nussbaum, Mike Walker and Gwilym Simcock returns with a highly anticipated second album of honest, joyful and humorous improvised music. Expect strong melodies and thrilling gr

"Let’s Get Deluxe, the third album on Basho Records from transatlantic contemporary jazz supergroup The Impossible Gentlemen, captures a substantial but organic evolution in the group’s sound. Co-leaders Mike Walker and Gwilym Simcock consciously moved to broaden the instrumental palette at the earliest stages of the writing process, using melodies and counter melodies to create an intricate narrative.

By the time the group came to recording, the music had already been thoroughly road-tested on...

"Imagine guitarist Pat Metheny's trio masterpiece, Day Trip (Nonesuch, 2007), add a pianist of commensurate genius, and you are banging on the disc's front door. It is that good."—Chris May, All About Jazz...

"Impulsive Machinations is comprised of Thollem Electric on distorted Fender Rhodes, and kinetic drummer Sara Lund, the duo's sound is monolithic, rollicking and forceful- the sum of Thollem's coiling, fluid lines and Sara's thunderous backbeats made...

"In Gowan Ring is one of those bands that I first read about a long time ago in the Soleilmoon catalog. That was back during my "World Serpent" phase, when I was first getting to know the works of David Tibet, Douglas P, Steven Stapleton, et al. Now....

"In Lingua Mortua's sophomore effort, Salon des Refusés, has been a long time coming. So it's no wonder it's a perfectionist's dream of a metal album. Featuring the absolute cream of the crop of musicians hand-picked both from the metal, prog and avant...

Valentin Ceccaldi-cello
Theo Ceccaldi-violin
Sylvain Darrifourcq-drums, percussion, zither
This very unique trio were the surprise killers of Rock In Opposition 2017. Is it avant-progressive rock? modern classical? jazz? Yes. I suppose it is. It's also really good and surprising!

"French drummer-percussionist Sylvain Darrifourcq describes Axel Erotic, his trio In Love With's debut album, as "the curves of the desire imprisoned somewhere, in a space with an implacably rectilin

Valentin Ceccaldi-cello
Theo Ceccaldi-violin
Sylvain Darrifourcq-drums, percussion, zither
This very unique trio were the surprise killers of Rock In Opposition 2017 and this is their second CD.
Is it avant-progressive rock? modern classical? jazz? Yes. I suppose it is.

“Strongly influenced by Faulkner’s and Beckett’s novels, where various timeframes and subjectivities unfold in a disorderly manner, almost in a barely comprehensive language ; this music has been composed...

"This is the second full-length release from In The Country, a Norwegian-based piano trio led by pianist Morten Qvenild (Susanna and the Magical Orchestra, Shining, Damp), along with bass player Roger Arntzen and drummer Pål Hulsken. Since their debut...

"Ambitious, epic and grand in scale, In The Country's previous album Whiteout was an artistic triumph. Always a very powerful and exciting live act, it was only natural that a concert album should come at this stage of their career, after three studio...

"Ambitious, epic and grand in scale, the third album by Norway's piano trio In The Country could very well be their magnum opus. Most of the music was performed and written as a thank you, as is the tradition, after leader Morten Qvenild (Susanna and...

The 3rd album by this ethnic/spacemusic/psychedelic band, who have ties to Ensemble Nimbus. Some nice vocal harmonies (well sung in English) on this in addition to the psychedelic world blend. 'Middle-east flavoured psychedelia' may be the label for th...

Freaks? check! Creative? check! Influencial? check! Utterly uncommercial, even in their most popular heyday? check! The one 60's band who is probably the single largest influence on the new folk or "new weird America" scene? check and double check! Thi...

Freaks? check! Creative? check! Influencial? check! Utterly uncommercial, even in their most popular heyday? check! The one 60's band who is probably the single largest influence on the new folk or "new weird America" scene? check and double check! Thi...

Freaks? check! Creative? check! Influencial? check! Utterly uncommercial, even in their most popular heyday? check! The one 60's band who is probably the single largest influence on the new folk or "new weird America" scene? check and double check! [BGO]

Here are the five albums that launched a hundred US freak folk bands: The Incredible String Band, The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion, The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, Wee Tam and The Big Huge.

Freaks? check! Creative? check! Influencial? check! Utterly uncommercial, even in their most popular heyday? check! The one 60's band who is probably the single largest influence on the new folk or "new weird America" scene? check and double check!...

"These 14 demos were recorded in early 1967 shortly before the making of the ISB's second album, The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion (though the liner notes speculate that "God Dog" might date from later than the other tracks). Only six of...

“The Incredible String Band, a psychedelic folk band formed by Clive Palmer, Robin Williamson and Mike Heron in Scotland in 1966. The band built a considerable following, especially in the British counterculture, notably with their albums The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion, The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, and Wee Tam and the Big Huge.
They became pioneers in psychedelic folk and, through integrating a wide variety of traditional music forms and instruments, in the development of world...

Freaks? check! Creative? check! Influencial? check! The one 60's band who is probably the single largest influence on the new folk or "new weird America" scene? check and double check! "Disc one, The Chelsea Sessions, 1967, is a collection of recently ...