Tzadik

Composer, DJ, engineer and producer Raz Mesinai was born in Jerusalem and raised in New York City. His compositions blend electronics, beats and dub effects with acoustic instruments in creating an esoteric musical tapestry filled with new sonorities a...

Raz Mesinai is one of the most exciting of the younger generation of electronica musicians. His newest project is an electro-acoustic journey, an entire album devoted to the exploration of goatskins. Subtle rhythmic modulations, a mysterious narra- t...

"Sound alchemists Raz Mesinai and Jonathan Uliel Saldanha descend far below the earth’s surface into some of the oldest, and darkest underground tunnels in Europe. By using sound as a road map, they travel through the tunnels in search of what they...

"Ever curious, courageous and endlessly creative, virtuoso guitarist and musical mastermind Pat Metheny takes on John Zorn’s Masada songbook to create some of the most soulful and adventurous sounds yet heard in the Book of Angels series. Turn up the...

''One of the most versatile masters of the koto, Michiyo Yagi has performed in rock bands, jazz groups, movie soundtracks, classical ensembles, noise improvisations and of course Japanese traditional and folk groups. Here, using both orthodox and unort...

''Otomo Yoshihide (turntables) and Tenko (vocals) are two of the most internationally acclaimed performers to emerge from the Tokyo underground, and have worked with some of the best musicians from around the world. Collaborating together in bands, imp...

"Since the late 1980's, Carla Kihlstedt and Satoko Fuji have been at the forefront of New Music, performing, recording and touring in Big Bands, rock groups, jazz bands, classical ensembles and improvisational units all over the world. They now get...

"An unprecedented collection of recordings charting the earliest years of one of the world’s most innovative and exciting renaissance women—composer, singer, performer, film director, visual artist and auteur Meredith Monk. Hand selected by Meredith...

"This DVD presents a rare and powerful solo performance by one of the most important and original artists in the world. Recorded in 1980 at a studio out on Long Island, Meredith is in full voice, relaxed and creatively inspired by a small audience of...

"Under The Pipal Tree is the debut album by now-legendary Japanese experimental rock band, MONO. Released in 2001 on avant-garde icon John Zorn's Tzadik label, Under The Pipal Tree showcased a young Japanese quartet whose wide range of influences – most notably Sonic Youth, Mogwai, The Velvet Underground, and Neil Young's Crazy Horse – were on ferocious and ambitious display. Though MONO would eventually become known for their expert marriage of metal and classical genres, Under The Pipal Tree...

Mono is a young instrumental band from Tokyo austere and intensetheir music is simple, beautiful and incredibly direct. Sheets of sound, lyricism, wailing guitars and pounding rhythms evolve slowly, morphing into a ritual of noise and ecstasy. What the...

''Composer, theorist, inventor of musical instruments, and one of the most colorful characters of the 20th century music, Partch (1901-1974) broke with Western tradition and forged a new music based on a more primal, corporeal integration of the elemen...

''Living in NY since 1975, Moorefield recorded and touredas a drummer with numerous rock bands and avant garde ensembles, including the Swans, Glenn Branca, Bill Laswell, Elliott Sharp, and Damage. The music on this disc is a reflection of his recent i...

''Ikue Mori's electric percussion is quite simply some of the most original and exciting work happening in electronic music today. For her third Tzadik release, Ikue has assembled a varied collection of her most interesting tracks originally recorded f...

"One of the pioneers of laptop electronics, Ikue Mori has been breaking new ground on the musical frontier for three decades. From her early days in the landmark No Wave band DNA, to her years as a regular in the downtown improvisation community and...

''A legend on the NY music scene, she has played regularly with theworld's top improvisers since 1979, as well as in the groups DNA, Tohban Djan, Death Praxis, Fukuko, Worlds of Love and Death Ambient. Mori has developed a personal and innovative techn...

''Mori has developed a personal and innovative technique of playing samplers triggered by adapted drum machines. Hex Kitchen, which includes the soundtrack to Abigail Child's 8 Million Way to Die, features both Mori solos and performances with an all s...

"A winner of electronic music awards in Europe and the United States, Ikue Mori is one of the most respected composers working in the growing field of laptop electronics. A dedicated and passionate perfectionist, she has created a completely unique and...

"Ikue Mori continues to be one of the most respected and original voices in the laptop electronic music scene. Distinct and personal, her sounds are immediately recognizable as her own. For the past several years she has been incorporating visual...

''Eleven new earsplitting, brain-twisting electronic compositions by downtown legend Ikue Mori, one of the most respected composers in the contemporary electronica community. Labyrinth, her second CD of solo music for Tzadik, is a multi-faceted collect...

Laptop pioneer and downtown cult figure, Ikue Mori is one of the most important musicians working in the field of electronics. Her highly unique sound world is known and respected by musicians everywhere. This newest solo recording, created expressly f...

"Universally acclaimed as a pioneer in live laptop electronics, Ikue’s signature style is still uniquely her own and has influenced two generations of laptop performers. Her new band project Obelisk is a super-band featuring three of the most acclaimed and original players in the Downtown scene—Okkyung Lee, Jim Black and Sylvie Courvoisier. Ikue’s startling compositions blend gorgeous melodies with hypnotic rhythms and evocative soundscapes. Strange and beautiful music from a legendary master of laptop...

''Ikue Mori's career in music reaches back to 1978 asdrummer/co-founder/co-composer of the seminal punk/no-wave band DNA. In the 80s she became involved in the blossoming downtown scene, improvising with Bill Frisell, Christian Marclay, John Zorn, Tom ...

"Tracing The Magic is Ikue Mori’s most varied and fabulous CD to date and it is an absolute masterpiece! Seven pieces, each inspired by (and dedicated to) women artists whose powerful vision and creativity drove them to continue creating well into their ’80s and ’90s: Joan Jonas, Louise Bourgeois, Agnes Martin, Judit Reigl, Leonora Carrington, and Jakucho Sekuchi. The ensemble lineups feature some of the most exciting musicians working today and include friends new and old. Moody, lyrical, textural, and...

“Laptop wizard Ikue Mori, master keyboardist Brian Marsella and classical percussion virtuoso Sae Hashimoto are Archipelago X, a dynamic new trio born during the 2020 pandemic. Recording at their home studios and exchanging tracks back and forth for months, the music is detailed, evocative and dramatically mysterious, blending electronica, classical, ambient, film soundtrack, pop and jazz into a remarkably original aggregate. Inspiring and engaging music by this fabulous trio of Downtown musical masters...

"Tzadik is proud to present this historic meeting of four major figures in the new music pantheon, each a master improviser and groundbreaking instrumentalist in their own right. Their work together is symbiotic, telepathic—the music powerful and...

First release from this excellent instrumental Japanese power trio. They are one of the best of the current Japanese rock bands, combining various experimental rock styles in a entertaining and engaging manner. Recommended! [Tzadik]

Four pieces of electronic madness by one of the certifiable outsiders of the New York downtown scene, who is now residing in San Francisco. A multi-instrumentalist and visionary composer in the world of intuitive and counter-intuitive music known for y...

Complex instrumentals from an exciting new band from Tokyo blending rock, jazz and flamenco. Combining the precision of This Heat and the improvisational edge of Massacre, these three young musicians have fashioned a clean new sound out of the classic ...

"One of the most beautiful of all Book of Angels ensembles, Mycale is an evocative a cappella vocal quartet featuring four of the most creative voices in New Music. In their second CD release they are tighter than ever and approach the Masada music...

Their third CD for Tzadik captures them in front of an inspiring audience, live in Boston. Exciting compositions both old and new, and a charming Jewish take on the music of Erik Satie, Job is another brilliant musical statement by one of the most impo...

''From adventurous originals to surprising reinterpretations of traditional Jewish classics, Boston-based Naftule's Dream has created an instrumental music of passion and intensity. Fiery improvisation weaves in and out of complex arrangements in a sty...

''Boston-based Naftule's Dream continues to be one of the most exciting bands exploring new Jewish music. This second collection of their newest compositions throws rock and free improvisation into the mix. Produced by Bill Laswell...another important ...

''Following the astounding Melt Zonk Rewire, Tzadik is reissuing the out-of-print first album by San Francisco's New Klezmer Trio. Masks And Faces is a modern Jewish classic, presenting avant garde reinterpretations of traditional tunes and new composi...

''The second album by the CA-based New Klezmer Trio presents avant-garde reinterpretations of traditional tunes and new compositions expanding the Klezmer tradition.'' With Ben Goldberg - clarinet, Dan Seamans - bass, Kenny Wollesen - drums. [Tzadik]

''This long-awaited third CD by the legendary New Klezmer Trio is pure pleasure. Their first two CDs, released in 1990 and 1995 respectively have long been Tzadik favorites, combining elements of jazz and improvisation with the Jewish tradition in ways...

Another vivacious all girl band from Kansai, an area in Southern Japan that has been the home of some of the most exciting new rock bands of the past several decades (Boredoms, Afrirampo, OOIOO, Omoide Hatoba). Featuring the distinctive singer from Lim...

"Ni Hao!'s long awaited second release features more delightful music from this powerful rock unit out of Kansai. Now a duo, the music continues the direction of the first release with virtuosic short pieces filled with stop and start precision...

"Born in Japan and a resident of New York since 2001, Aya Nishina is a very special and beautiful spirit whose work touches upon nature, spirituality and the deepest human emotions. Five years in the making "Flora" is a brilliant suite of pieces for...

"Aaron Novik is a remarkable clarinetist/composer/illustrator who is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His latest project features some of the greatest musicians out of the Bay Area music scene, including Fred Frith, Ben Goldberg and Carla Kihlstedt...

"Founding member of the Rova Sax Quartet, Larry Ochs has worked with many of the greatest musicians in Creative Music—Steve Lacy, Fred Frith, Wadada Leo Smith, Terry Riley, George Lewis, John Zorn, Derek Bailey and countless others. His newest ensemble is an update on the classic New York Contemporary Five and features Larry’s Shepp-tinged tenor sax along with some of the best young players out of New York’s Downtown scene. Ochs is particularly excited by both the ensemble sound and the music here, a...

Miles Okazaka – guitar
Trevor Dunn – bass
Dan Weiss – drums
John Zorn – alto sax (8, 9)

“A power trio of contemporary masters unlike any other! Miles Okazaki, Trevor Dunn and Dan Weiss are among the very best of a new generation of musicians working in the nexus of jazz, rock, noise, composition, improvisation and more. All dedicated students of the esoteric, they come together here as Hive Mind, a collective trio, to perform some of the wildest freewheeling improvisations around...

Two scored works by this young composer/improviser/producers, these pieces generally develop very slowly & pain-stakingly, but are not tranquil. [Tzadik]

Bringing together John Zorn, Bill Laswell and Mick Harris, three of the most voracious and energetic musical minds in new music, PainKiller was one of the most intense live bands ever. Here they are captured at their absolute peak. Culminating their le...

Ron Anderson and PAK have been at it for some time and it's great to see their hard work rewarded with a release with Tzadik, which willc certainly bring them some well-deserved attention! A bit crazed and more than a bit great! Highly recommended!...

Guitarist Shane Parish (formerly Perlowin) is a great guitarist, best known for his work with Ahleuchatistas, but I’ve seen him do many other things and also play acoustically as he does here, and he’s one of the greats!
This new release has him exploring old timey music from the American south and poking into the dark nooks and crannies of that music.

“A long time resident of the Appalachian town of Asheville, North Carolina, Shane Parish is the mastermind behind the cutting edge rock band..

"Evan Parker is one of the world's greatest saxophone virtuosos, a revolutionary innovator who has almost single handedly changed the language of the instrument. House Full of Floors is the exciting follow up to his incredible studio composition Time...

"Zeena Parkins is a keyboardist, harpist and composer who has worked closely with Fred Frith, Bjork, Ikue Mori and many others. Her brilliant work for dance has earned her three Bessie Awards, and her own bands have toured the world for over twenty...

''One of the most intriguing and inspiring of Zeena Parkins' long-form compositions, 'Maul' examines the lives and deaths of Jewish gangsters throughout the ages. Utilizing texts in the lost language of Rotwelsch, she weaves a complex tapestry of voice...

''A product of over three years of work, Pan-Acousticon is Zeena Parkins' most important and intriguing work to date, orchestrating sampling noise, classical strings, rock drums and homemade instruments into a new world of color, shape and texture. Co-...