''The best Italian band playing Irish music. A real surprise for those who thinks that Latins cannot play jigs, reels, hornpipes, in pure Irish style. After many travel and sessions in Ireland, their instrumental dextery and fresh compositive vein are ...

Jean-Pierre Larouche : Guitar
Nathanaël Labrèche : Guitar
Julien Daoust : Drums
Hugo Veilleux : Drums
Vincent Savary : Bass

"...a hyper-caffeinated...all-out assault with...interlocking polyrhythms, frequent time changes, and dense riffing....Thumbs way up." – Avant Music News...

“The title track starts with a written structure that eventually leads to an unaccompanied bass solo which reminds these ears that, as much as I enjoy Bisio with pianist Matthew Shipp, a greater appreciation of his technique and writing comes across when he steps away from the individualistic pianist. The music is grounded, not free and wild, but that nevertheless generates close listening. Sometimes Knuffke and Bisio play in an in-between place which doesn't feel like the bass is echoing the cornet...

Michael Bisio: bass, compositions
Karl Berger: vibes, compositions
Mat Maneri: viola
Whit Dickey: drums

The Michael Bisio Quartet is a new kindred-spirit assembly featuring the veteran bassist alongside Mat Maneri (viola), Karl Berger (vibraphone) and Whit Dickey (drums). Their melodiously alluring debut album, MBefore, features the four virtuoso improvisers communing on a set of original compositions by Bisio & Berger, plus a free-minded take on the standard “I Fall in Love Too.

“In seven tracks, all credited to both of them, the players keep their ears on each other, exploring the sonic possibilities of their instruments and how they can interact. Those familiar with either musician might expect some untamed frenzy, and Bisio and Shipp definitely deliver dark and stormy textures. Bisio utilizes his bow for intense scraping and howling in ‘Decay,’ where Shipp begins by plucking his piano strings and ends with heavy handwork in the lower register. But the bassist also reveals...

This 1987 album, which as far as I know, was the first album released by Iva Bittova, was released in Czechoslovakia at a time when hearing and getting music from "BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN" was not easy but sometimes possible...

Originals, Janacek, Moravian folks songs & more, performed with string quartet, girls choir, clarinets & percussion.

Iva's debut solo work on ECM doesn't really break any new ground, it merely cements what she does so well - weirdly beautiful (or beautifully weird!), often sparse, sometimes overflowing works, for her extraordinary voice and violin work all rooted in...

This actually isn't a Iva Bittova release per se - it's by composer Vladimir Godar, but some of you are Iva fans and none of you (probably) are Vladimir fans, so commerce wins over truth. Godar is a contemporary composer who writes nicely melodic moder...

"Iva Bittova newest release with the Prague Philharmonia is a sweeping and sonically ample project featuring older and newer compositions from Bittova's repertoire arranged for symphony orchestra. These include pieces created in tandem with Pavel Fajt...

“This recording, first published more than 2 decades ago and not distributed internationally, features Bartok's work for two violins performed by two violinists and singers with deep background in Eastern European Folk Tradition.”

It’s great to see this charming and semi-straight classical and semi-personalized oddball release resurface two decades after we imported a tiny amount from the Czech Republic! Bela Bartok's 44 Duos For Violin, + a few added improvisations that fit in really well by...

A nice little box with a deluxe book, with Iva & Vladimir's acoustic guitar. Includes additional performances from Tom Cora on some cuts.

Despite having initially made her name as a solo artist performing on violin and voice, and in duet performances with Pavel Fajt, Iva's been working more and more with larger ensembles, and this is no exception. This ambitious album has her working wi...

"Björkenheim has been well regarded since his 1980s work...but his recent releases have been particularly memorable." – Stereophile

Guitarist and composer Raoul Björkenheim emerged from Finland in the 80s with...

Raoul Björkenheim electric 6 & 12 string guitars
Jori Huhtala doublebass
Pauli Lyytinen saxes and wood flute
Markku Ounaskari drums

“I always felt there’s something special about having a band. An all-star session can be good too, but the thing I’m missing nowadays in jazz is really good bands playing together tightly, turning on a dime together, and especially improvising together.” – Raoul Björkenheim...

"I...was stunned by his Hendrix meets late era Coltrane approach." – Guitar Moderne

"Despite the boilingly hot drive...influenced by Cream, Lifetime, the Jimi Hendrix Experience (and perhaps more notionally the Pete Cosey/Reggie Lucas version of the Miles Davis group), there's a lyrical side to the guitarist’s playing as well...Excellent." – Point Of Departure

"...out jazz with lots of sass and vigor...recalls the thornier side of the ECM Records catalog, especially...

This is a reissue of the Finnish lp-only first release by this great rock/avant/fusion guitarist and his band Krakatau, and includes two bonus tracks. The record features a unique blend of heavy guitarwork combined with dual, wailing Coleman and Ayler-...

Ketil Bjørnstad piano
Tore Brunborg tenor saxophone
Jon Christensen drums

Lyrical and typically beautiful ECM release. If you like 'the sound', this has it in spades!

"Ketil Bjørnstad and Jon Christensen have been musical...

This excellent release of electric music from Mali combines hunter's lute, griot guitar and percussion, and the over-all sound is much heavier than I was expecting and at times really rocks it HARD. Highly recommended to fans of rock from Africa.

"For this second album, BKO perpetuates the meeting, hitherto unpublished, between the music of the griots and that of the hunters. This project, more electric, is the result of a work elaborated during the many tours of the quintet, in Europe, Africa...

"Black Cube Marriage is an ensemble consisting of legendary Chicago-based cornetist and sound manipulator Rob Mazurek (Tortoise, Exploding Star Orchestra, Isotope 217), members of his Brazilian connection São Paulo Underground, Austin-based freeform unit Marriage, and special guests Jonathan Horne (guitar, saxophone) and Steve Jansen (tapes, guitar).
Formed after shows in late 2015, this 11-person ensemble creates waves of sound that can best be described as cathartic. Astral Cube draws from...

“"Stripped down and dirty punk rock and roll that will suffice for the perfect soundtrack to a whiskey filled night of mischief. Youthful and deep dyed garage rock taken to the next level!” "Atlanta's Black Lips! play basic garage-rock with considerable abandon, sacrificing elements like technical expertise or playing in tune without the least trepidation. An' it sounds great! G-rock is a sound foundation anyway usually built outta catchy chord progressions, propulsive beats and is repetitious enough to...

“Over the course of 20 years, German artist Black To Comm aka Marc Richter has pushed the limits of and merged the aesthetics of art, conceptual installations and music, coming in a wave of innovation alongside his peers Pita, Fennesz, Felicia Atkinson and later Sarah Davachi to name a few. His list of collaborations and commissions is long and impressive. Through it all Richter as Black to Comm has challenged assumptions, explored identity and confronted the concept of authorship itself. Black to Comm’s...

This band continues in sound and spirit to his post-rock leaning 'jazz' outfit, Alas No Axis, but with different players and a bit of a different result. Still, if you are a fan of ANA, you'll love this.
Oskar Guojonsson : Tenor Saxophone
Elias Stemeseder: Keyboards
Chris Tordini: Electric Bass
Jim Black: Drums & Sampler

"Malamute is Jim Black’s latest gathering of like-minded musical souls. The band toured Europe for the first time in May 2015 performing sketches of the musi

Jim Black: Drums, Composition
Elias Stemeseder: Piano
Thomas Morgan: Bass
"Since the nineties, the drummer and bandleader Jim Black has been one of the most influential figures of progressive jazz. On his Intakt Records debut, Jim Black plays with the acclaimed young pianist Elias Stemeseder and highly in-demand New York bass player Thomas Morgan contemporary jazz with distinctive arrangements, complex rhythms and expressive improvisations.
Hank Shteamer writes in the linernotes...

Dan Blacksberg - Trombone, prepared trombone (track 4), resonating piano (track 8)

"Dan Blacksberg’s Psychic/Body Sound System takes a gutsy leap into a set of otherworldly sub-bass drones, fiery free jazz declamations, and melancholic sonic stories. This fully improvised album, recorded live with no effects or overdubs shows Blacksberg wielding his trombone like a seer across varied sonic environments, real and imagined. Woven together by poetic fictionalizations by Alex Smith and stunning...