The Rempis Percussion Quartet
Sud Des Alpes
Aerophonic Records
“Only a band with a history this long – that of a family – can get into some wrangling like this live onstage, and still produce something that’s both coherent and compelling. This is a straight up circus feat – a train engineer who reconstructs the locomotive as the train rockets down the line. ”
Ivo Perelman / Matthew Shipp / Joe Morris
Shamanism
Mahakala Music
“"What is noticeable is that every gap - even the tiniest half bar is immediately filled, as if it was a sin to leave any space un-played. At times the strings of piano and guitar meld and form a base upon which Perelman's sax builds and ricochets from but mostly this is three musicians improvising as they should, composing on the spot and producing something quite special." - Sammy Stein credits ”
Ikue Mori & Fred Frith
A Mountain Doesn't Know It's Tall
Intakt Records
“"Frith’s clinical, yet chaotic approach to guitar, along with home-made instruments, “various toys and objects” with all its unusual timbres makes it such an impeccable fit for Mori’s randomized menagerie of bent circuit sounds both tonal and percussive. Often, it’s hard to pull the two apart." -S. Victor Aaron”
claire rousay
loose ends
Catalytic Artist Albums
“Funds from sales of this release will go to Para Mi Gente (msha.ke/paramigente/#about), "a radical mutual aid organization serving the community of San Antonio, TX. We started in May 2020, and have since been working with our houseless community providing necessities and funds for community members. Para Mi Gente es una organización radical de ayuda mutua sirviendo a la comunidad de San Antonio, TX. Comenzamos en mayo de 2020, y desde entonces hemos estado trabajando con nuestra comunidad sin hogar proporcionando necesidades y fondos para los miembros de la comunidad."”
Calle Neumann / Ketil Gutvik / Ingebrigt Håker Flaten / Paal Nilssen-Love
New Dance
PNL
“"In 2019 PNL Records released “Events 1998-1999” - a retrospective box-set of the short-lived but eventually legendary The Quintet from the late 90s. That box-set documented the meeting of two generation of Norwegian improvised free music – the older generation Calle Neumann and Bjørnar Andresen engaging with the new emerging talents of the time - Paal Nilssen-Love, Ketil Gutvik and Eivind Opsvik. Since that time Andresen had passed away, but for the release party of the box-set Neumann once again got together with Gutvik and Nilssen-Love. No longer the new blood, it was now a completely different meeting of musical minds, built on experience that didn’t exist 20 years ago. But it was also clearly a reunion of kindred spirits, people that share something special catching up through music. Of course this could not just be a one-off to promote a release, this had to become something more. And one year later the new line-up, now with Ingebrigt Håker Flaten on double bass (you don’t need two bass-players with Ingebrigt in the band), making the original quintet a quartet. The self-titled debut album documents their live debut at Victoria Jazz Club in Oslo, recorded in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic in July 2020. The band recorded before the gig with the intent of a studio album, but the gig itself was such a special event, that it became clear that the album needed to document that performance in full. Listening to the recording the identity of the musicians is clearly defined, but the music is full of surprises – going from extended full-on blasts to passages of subtle beauty, all delivered with a sense of adventure and humour that only musicians who are completely at ease with each other can deliver. New Dance is a new band for a new decade. It’s also worth noticing that this is Neumann’s first new recording in more than a decade, which is cause for celebration in itself." - PNL ”
Elisabeth Harnik & Michael Zerang
Dream Disobedience
Not Two
“"Austrian pianist Elisabeth Harnik seems to thrive in duo settings. Michael Zerang, a Chicago-based drummer, is with her on Dream Disobedience, a live recording made at Ljubljana, Slovenia in 2019. The conversation, unabated for 35 minutes, is rather subdued, Harnik usually initiating each new topic, alternating traditional approaches with more unusual in-the-box techniques while Zerang eschews straight timekeeping for a more reactive role, adding the musical equivalents of ‘Hmm!’ or ‘Uh huh!’ and other encouragements to keep things flowing. The episodic narrative progresses through short lulls followed by bursts of energy, as if small squalls were blowing through, a grand tempest arriving near the end, one final cloudburst before irenic frog croaks and bird songs return, the pond at peace." - Tom Greenland and The New York City Jazz Record (March 2021)”
Dunmall / Shipp / Morris / Cleaver
The Bright Awakening
RogueArt
“"This recording is a meaningful example of why we all continue to work this way. While we pursue any and all other versions of Free Music that our imaginations allow, the open form collective performance that builds itself on pitch, melody, rhythm, energy and rich, deep expression is an enduring one. We think that this performance adds a new piece to this now classic form. The independence of our playing present here can only happen by knowing the full musical evolution of this idiom of music. It requires an ability to understand how the form presents itself spontaneously in a span of time as short as a second. Identifying structure in sound in the micro to macro sense and deciding how to proceed while doing that is the explanation of our musicianship, our skill set. It requires close listening, the type that remembers what has happened, what is happening, and what can happen throughout the performance. We give out ideas, accept what is offered and allow that with a spirit of agreement held together by a vital force of energy. We ride that energy at different rates of velocity, using different expressions of the pulse, and a myriad of other materials to instigate, provoke, implore, support and encourage each other." - Joe Morris”
