"Empiricism in the west" is a revelation, two amazing wind players - saxophonist, clarinetist and flautist Vinny Golia and saxophonist Urs Leimgruber - in a series of free improvising duos pushing their instruments into unusual and captivating territories.
The aim of this luxurious collaboration is to obtain a synergy of the sounds of all the instruments, keeping in mind all that the technique involves: circular breathing, search for dissonances, multiphonics, exaltation of acoustic dynamics...

“Out and unusual compositions from drummer Ben Hall and his sextet with Mick Dobday on electric piano & organ, Anthony Levin DEcanini on electronics, Ronnie Zawadi on percussion, John Dierker on reeds, Mike Khoury on viola & violin, and joined by Joe Morris on guitar, for 6 "Spines", free compositions using odd compositional structures leading to superb solo and group playing. Each Spine presents a unique sonic world, from aggressive playing to abstract and sonically fascinating interludes, with...

“Mary Halvorson is involved in so many side projects it's hard to pick a favorite ; until now. Sifter, her trio with Kirk Knuffke (cornet) and Matt Wilson (drums), has created one of the most inviting discs of the year with its self-titled debut. The compositions are concise. The themes are hummable. The solos never venture too far from home, and yet conversely it's a highly adventurous recording.
This album is loaded with surprises, as on ‘Back and Forth,’ where the main theme goes up and...

“In the Sea’s eponymous new album for Relative Pitch features just a string trio, allowing the players to settle into a chamberlike collision of approaches. Double bassist Nicolas Caloia and violinist Joshua Zubot bring brio and care to Honsinger’s pieces, which draw from classical music, Italian folk, and his aforementioned slapstick aesthetic, loads of nonsensical singing alternately limning pretty melodies and harnessing pure chaos.
Improvisation and attuned interplay between the players define...

Hermione Johnson - solo prepared piano

“Auckland-based Hermione Johnson’s Tremble evokes the sound of a large Indonesian gamelan orchestra via the insertion of small chopstick-shaped rods at diverse angles, establishing different timbral zones, contraposed in imbricated, polyphonic textures. On “See My Permanent Face” she sets chime and gong tones against a cyclic pattern suggestive of a carillon of bells, later adding a fast moving harp sound and low muted strings. Many pieces employ like...

“Happy Jazz gathers the results of a studio gig in the fall of last year, but in usual Relative Pitch fashion additional details are few and ultimately secondary to the deliberate and distinctive nearly 80-minutes of music-making on offer.
The album title isn’t exactly an intuitive appellation describing the structured sounds the three players conjure together, but it does seem a fair summation of their shared mood from moment to moment in each other’s company. As with the scant annotative...

Joe Morris (guitar)
Tomeka Reid (cello)
Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet
Kyoko Kitamura (voice)

“Geometry of Distance is the sophomore album by Geometry. This recording follows their debut album, Geometry of Caves, released in 2018 from Relative Pitch Records. Seth Colter Walls of The New York Times called the quartet's first album a "vibrant new recording", Stereo Gum's Phil Freeman described it as "hardcore improvised music" and Dusted Magazine wrote, "The foursome behind the fifty-minutes.

“Two of the most fascinating musicians of the free improvisation scene are Ingrid Laubrock on sax and Tom Rainey on drums, partners in life and partners in music. Their musical universe is something special, one of resonance and emphasis, of intimate immediacy and deep restraint, rather than effects and spectacular outbursts.
Or to put it differently, the rawness of the duo setting is softened by the lyricism and accuracy of the playing. Laubrock's tone is warm and round as usual, while Rainey's...

“This is a very intimate record; the recording makes it so. Recorded and mixed by Andy Taub, mastered by Weasel Walter, no less. Closely miked sax, Laubrock’s slightly hollow, dry tone, even austere, on the way to haunting. What you hear is breath, space, muted tonguing, a hint of the room echo, a squawk here, a gently laid tone there, a very personal saxophone. Rainey’s brushes are sweet, just enough, not too much. His cymbal touches and rim hits are measured, chasing after Laubrock, occasionally...

“Contrabassist Joélle Leandre and West Coast woodwind player Phillip Greenlief work out 11 different compositions between their two respective instruments and voices on That Overt Desire of Object. The flexibility and space that each provides the other seems to be reflected in the line note comments about the negative effects of greed. The title is a variation of the Luis Bu±uel movie That Obscure Object of Desire (1977), with a playing field that appears a bit more level when compared to the bassist's...

Robbie Lee - sopranino saxophone, tuning forks with live electronics

“Robbie Lee is an improviser and sound creator in New York City, performing on an eclectic range of instruments, across the fringes of creative music in many scenes. On Prismatist he plays only two things: sopranino saxophone and tuning forks with live electronics. They are like two currents alternating through the album, a double helix of contrasting extremities. The sopranino, even higher than the soprano saxophone, twists...

Christian Lillinger-drums
Tobias Delius-tenor sax & clarinet

“In conversations Delius often mumbles, he sometimes gets lost in anacoluthons, just to use very elaborate and eloquent constructions in the next sentences. Lillinger, on the other hand, is someone who talks very rapidly, his sentences ricochet through the air. He throws in ideas, interrupts his thoughts, turns in another direction, just to be absolutely precise within a second. As a drummer his style is incredibly inventive and...

“The best free improvisation ensembles generally carry three characteristics: tremendous mastery by the individual instrumentalists, sympathetic listening, and instinctual timing. This quartet displays all three on this fantastic recording released by Relative Pitch. The group is comprised of Brandon Lopez (Brandon Lopez Trio, Xivaros, The Mess, Nate Wooley Quartet) on Contrabass, Matt Nelson (Battle Trance, GRID, tUnE-yArDs) on Tenor Saxophone, Andria Nicodemou (Leap of Faith, London Improvisers...

Ramon Lopez – drums
Mark Feldman – violin

“One of the most prominent violin players, Mark Feldman, meets one of the most creative and innovative drummers, Ramon Lopez. The results of this magic encounter consists of seven tunes. Seven pearls of contemporary improvisation, where the synergy and energy, abstraction and melodic concept, lyricism and powerful expression unite forming a gigantic superposition.”-Maciej Lewenstein.

“This offering could be depicted as a pulsating mist of near static incandescent vapor. Spiral Reflector starts things off with Lubelskis briskly bowed violin drone taking the fore, backed by Naces subtle volume swells and amplifier manipulation. Mazed finds the duo further probing at the veil. The modulated drones interweave in an unsteady interplay of dipping intonation that is both fascinating and disorienting. In Re/Fract/Ed Nace provides a subtle underpinning of persistent tremolo to Lubelskis gruff...

Clara Weil : vocals
Olivia Scemama : bass
Tom Malmendier : drums

“Vocals, bass, drums, Masked Pickle is three singular "voices" who express their ideas in a unique way, follow their flow but also like to break it, deconstruct the easy path of the sound by yelling, whispering, blowing, bawling, roaring, scraping, declaiming, knocking.”

Magda Mayas - piano, composition
Angharad Davies - violin
Anthea Caddy - cello
Aimée Theriot - cello
Rhodri Davies - harp
Zeena Parkins - harp
Michael Thieke - clarinet
Christine Abdelnour - saxophone

“Magda Mayas composed this piece for an octet comprised of a who's who of the avant-garde. The score consists of 12 photos taken over an hour or so, observing the merging waters of the Rhône and the Arve rivers, the artificial wall dividing them, the earthy,

Keir Neuringer-sax
Rafal Mazur-bass guitar

“The aptly named release Diachronic Paths by the free improvising duo of Keir Neuringer and Rafal Mazur continues the transformation discourses of their evolving musical language. One that is based on their dialogue of discovery.
Keir Neuringer, a Philadelphia-based saxophonist lived in Krak≤w and The Hague for a time and established a strong relationship with the Polish bassist Rafal Mazur.
Each piece presented here is an enervating...

Ava Mendoza – guitar

“Ava Mendoza plays these songs. She makes them sing. Her technique is impeccable, but her playing is astonishingly expressive. She doesn't just bend blue notes; she wads them up into a ball and throws them up against a wall. She manipulates raw lightning, giving us a sound that is fluorescent and powerful enough to leave a trace of ozone in the air. Mendoza knows what she does better than almost anyone else on the planet, which is tell stories with her guitar.”

“I must confess this is my first exposure to Crothers' music. What is most attractive to me is the obscurity of her antecedents. With words, Crother's makes sure you know of her debt to Tristano. Sonically, there is additional debt to Cecil Taylor, Thelonious Monk and Andrew Hill. Certainly you'll hear others, though probably not any one clamouring atop the other. Whoever you hear, you will hear them assimilated by a consummate musician and wonderfully able operator of the instrument....

“'Blues for Katie' opens with Greene's simple figures and simpler variations allowing Moondoc space to breathe. No pyrotechnics in his blues, this is straight soul, almost dipping into a sound like southern gospel. It's a lovely opener and one that Moondoc lends to Greene for a quick solo with a few snapped strings before he closes the spiritual.
'Spiritual Melody (Swing Low, Deep River, Wade In the Water)' carries the gospel sound a bit further - no surprise, given the title. This is a more isolated..

“Using a multitude of extended picking techniques, moods, atmospheres, hell, even fully fleshed out novels were seemingly created in an instant. Some that he showed us early on were revisited, only twisted and turned inside out creating yet further ideas. My experience to all this was one of surrender, letting go and finally full engulfment into the sonic maelstrom. Spanish themes occasionally popped their heads up only to be quickly supplanted by what sounded like a vicious bowing technique of a...

The album, recorded in 2001 in Cologne, Germany, is a tremendous soundscape that focuses on the micro: dings of the glockenspiel, muted thud of prepared piano, hiss of electronics, and scrapes of percussion, played in service to the macro musical arch.
The cast is an eye-catcher: Sylvie Courvoisier on piano, prepared piano, Tony Oxley providing percussion, Bill Laswell on bass, field recordings, electronics, Miroslav Tadic on guitars, Pat Thomas on cassette player, electronics, electric keyboard....

“There are obvious factors that set these two free improvisers apart. Courvoisier's approach is more steeped in contemporary classical music. But this does not prevent them from overcoming their differences and finding common ground. In fact, thry don't even need any time to size each other up. The pianist's blunt attack is immediately on display, and the saxophonist is quick yo put his screechy warbled tenor lines against her heavy and potent clusters and runs.
Patker's generous sound on the tenor...

“'Triplicates' is a series of improvisations between Zeena, playing her singular electric harp, and Jon Leideker, aka Wobbly, performing on mobile phones, tablets, booper, and mixer. Their outputs are routed to a series of simple listening devices, machines designed to sing along with the melodies they believe themselves to hearing, although they are often fascinatingly wrong.
It quickly becomes difficult to determine the boundaries of each participant’s contribution: acoustic source, electronic....