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Marco Barroso’s LUME (“fire” in English, but in truth the acronym of Lisbon Underground Music Ensemble) comes back with a reformulated alignment of musicians and a new collection of compositions challenging the jazz big band format with a chamber ensemble feeling and lots of funk-rock grooves. The coordinates are the same as before in this third opus, but they come in “Las Californias” both refreshed and matured. It seems a paradox, but as the most Anarchist of proverbs declare: paradoxes are liberating...

"Joan La Barbara is a long recognized pioneer of extended vocal techniques and champion of new music. She emerged from the New York Downtown scene to perform in the ensembles of Steve Reich and Philip Glass, including the premiere of Glass' "Einstein on the Beach." Composer/Vocalist Joan La Barbara has created a rich body of experimental works, many initially produced on analog tape. This collection includes a first release of the award- winning CYCLONE plus two LP reissues offered here remixed to her...

"Featuring the velvety vocals of Jennifer Charles and the imaginative arrangements of Oren Bloedow, this is an original blend of pop, funk and rock. Their first Tzadik CD, La Mar Enfortuna is a sensuous and lyrical interpretation of traditional Sephardic

This is an almighty drone release from a Swiss band. If you love “Outside The Dream Syndicate”, you won’t believe this one, as hurdy-gurdy and bagpipes buzz and drone on top of simple rhythms. YOW!

“Four slabs of impossibly heavy medieval folk-drone (or whatever, the specific genres are secondary here. First and foremost, this is sheer weight in auditory form). The length and repetition of these compositions produces a mesmerizing & hypnotic effect that will barrage and pound you into nothingness..

“Sleepy LaBeef is a giant of a man, with a booming baritone voice and a deep, rumbling guitar tone to match his size, and his live shows are legendary, non-stop country rockabilly romps, full of good-humored energy. The recordings he did for a reconstituted Sun Records in the 1970s, the best of which are collected here, come as close as we're likely to get to capturing the hurricane force and feel of one of his shows. Track after track catches fire and roars off, and there are plenty of highlights here...

French jazz/rock performed on guitar, keyboards, Warr guitar, bass, drums and vocals, who have ties to Moving Gelatine Plates.

"Laborator is a trio of multi-instrumentalists from the latest incarnation of Moving Gelatine Plates, one of the...

"Eight pieces like eight flashbacks to a bygone daily sonic life. A nostalgia-prone stroll down obsolescence lane. Eight pieces like eight memories and stories, true or fictional, happy or sad, in Technicolor or smell-o-rama. The pieces include:...

Includes Joane Hetu, M.F. Cote, Jean Derome, Pierre Tanguay, Martin Ttrault & others.

Purely improvised music from keyboardist Labrosse & turntablist Tetreault. "Labrosse has given up referencial phrases and works only with abstract elements, while Tetreault has abandoned the use of lps & turned to the turntables intrinsic sound potenti...

A record based on improvisation, interactive listening & exploration. Using a hybrid set of elec. & acoustic percussion controlling a DAT deck, Cte is both rhythmical & melodic. Labrosse responds on sampling keyboard, creating melodies, only to break &...

"'Porcupine Tree meets Pholas Dactylus?' Well, that's how their label Lizard Records describes them! Labirinto di Specchi (Labyrinth of Mirrors) is a band from Siena who've been around since about 2005. "Hanblecheya" is their proper full-length debut...

This is the first-ever collection of music by renowned British sculptor, filmmaker, composer, performer and cult icon, Bruce Lacey, who, among other things, appeared in The Beatles' Help! (1965) and had a song written about him by Fairport Convention....

All previously unreleased duets recorded between 1982-94, & featuring the soprano sax master with Derek Bailey, Bobby Few, George Lewis, Steve Potts, Roswell Rudd, Masahiko Togashi, Mal Waldron & others.

"The first in a series of recordings from Steve Lacy's cassette archive- authorized by Irene Aebi. When Steve Lacy passed away in June, 2004, he left behind an archive of more than 300 private recordings – mostly cassette tapes of concerts dating from...

Steve Lacy: Soprano Saxophone.

"The people who heard Steve Lacy’s final solo performance in 2003 at the “Unerhört” Festival in Zurich will not have forgotten the experience. This rollercoaster of emotions. It didn’t just go under the skin...

Solo soprano sax works. ''Recorded at his home in Paris from February to April 1998, Sands is Steve Lacy's most personal and remarkable solo document, and explores a wide variety of musical and dramatic subjects. Portraits of close friends Barney Wilen...

Steve Lacy, soprano saxophone and Japanese bird whistle Steve Potts, alto and soprano saxophone Irene Aebi, cello, violin, voice, bells Kent Carter, bass Oliver Johnson, drums Originally released in 1979 as a double-LP on Hat Hut, Stamps was Steve Lacy’s first for the legendary Swiss label, and it remains one of the strongest statements of what he termed the “scratchy seventies.”
With the classic lineup of Lacy’s soprano saxophone, Steve Potts on soprano and alto sax, Irene Aebi on cello...

A classic ESP release, recorded in concert October 8, 1966 in Buenos Aires, Argentina with a good band, all of whom would go on to some renown and all getting their first international recognition here: Enrico Rava-trumpet, Johnny Dyani-bass and Louis Moholo-drums.
This is one of Lacy's very first free albums under his own name and consists of two long improvisations. Somewhat unusually for ESP, the sonics are very clear and open and you can hear everything that's going on here!

Steve Lacy-soprano sax
Charles Davis-baritone sax
John Ore-bass
Roy Haynes-drums

This 1961 recording, his third under his own name, is absolutely one of the great 60s Lacy recordings and is a ‘free-bop’ classic.
This is one of the large number of totally fantastic jazz albums that were released by Candid during their short lived lifetime in 1960/1961 and is the first time this has been reissued from the original masters. Hugely personally recommended!

“What could possibly happen when two ultimate masters of soprano saxophone square off for their only recording of duets? Chirps is the only place to find out.
Steve Lacy -- the one who planted the flag for soprano saxophone in the ground of modern jazz, who established its iconic status, who devoted himself to the axe with monkish devotion, who brought shakuhachi breath and stairstep melody into its upper-register antics.
Evan Parker -- arguably the one who pushed the instrument the furthest...

Steve Lacy, soprano saxophone
Steve Potts, alto saxophone
Irene Aebi, voice
"Soprano saxophonist Lacy wrote the suite of tunes for Tips to feature the aphorisms of painter Georges Braque, as sung by Irene Aebi. Together with his right-hand-man, alto saxophonist Potts, he and Aebi recorded these 14 anthemic tracks in Paris in 1979, and the young hat Hut label issued them on a now-rare LP. The music allowed Lacy to extend and deepen his longstanding interest in setting text to music, and at the

“Laddio Bolocko was a noise rock band from New York City, formed in 1996 by members of Panicsville and the Dazzling Killmen. Their sound has drawn comparisons to experimental rock groups such as This Heat and Can and free jazz musicians like Albert Ayler. The band favored limited releases, offering only small pressings of their original albums."-Wikipedia

"Double-disc which collects all out of print recorded material by NYC group Laddio Bolocko. Drew St. Ivany (guitar) and Ben Armstrong (bass)..

This is the second "Lady With" release by the keyboardist of Ghost Rhythms. It is a larger ensemble than Ghost Rhythms and maybe a bit more 'modern classical' than Ghost Rhythms, but if you like Ghost Rhythms, you will like this much muchly! Highly recommended.
"This album is about infinity and finiteness. The CD comes with beautiful drawings and text by Guillaume Aventurin and Xavier Gélard."
Sarah Baroux : voices
Maxime Berton : soprano & tenor saxophone, bass clarinet...

“Something of a follow-up to 1994's Gift of the Tortoise, Songs from a Zulu Farm is another Ladysmith Black Mabazo children's album, on which the nine-member South African male choir led by Joseph Shabalala sings traditional songs relating to children, specifically back home on the farm. Since the singing is in Zulu for the most part, the focus on nature, children, and animals may not be immediately apparent to an English speaker, who will hear the disc as a typical collection of a cappella singing, with...

"On Modern Lore, Julian Lage's second studio recording with his trio, the composer and guitarist focuses on the groove, building his melodies and solos around the work of the prodigious rhythm section of double bassist Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wollesen. Modern Lore finds Lage playfully flipping the script he followed on his acclaimed 2016 Mack Avenue debut, Arclight.
"Last time it was specifically a combination of the electric guitar being a lead voice interacting with those pre-bebop songs...

“The duo of Julian Lage and Gyan Riley is now legendary. Featuring a high level of virtuosity tempered by elegance, love, respect and impeccable taste, their work with Zorn has produced a variety of masterpieces—a magical set of Bagatelles, the sweet midnight music of Midsummer Moons and the rocking new band Insurrection. Here they pour their soulful mastery into ten compositions from The Book Beri’ah and their magical interplay is at its most telepathic as they work every possible variation out of these...

"Commissioned by the Lisbon Architecture Triennale 2007, “Espaço” is more than a wonderful jazz piano trio record. Architecture is the motive sustaining this geometric but organic music: the idea of regular and irregular structures, continuous and...

''Venosta & Mariani have long been concerned with manipulating & reconfiguring found musical objects, often using ethnic musics as source material. Rather than find music in the field, they have employed brilliant Flamenco guitarist Lagos. Eleven guita...

"This is an exciting display of 6 string prowess that really isn't classical, yet will inevitably become a classic. It is an amazing tour de force worthy of the California Guitar Trio. The efforst here focus on composers and players who are heroes to...

Very specially priced double album of non-laptop electronic music. "Lainhart's music rings true to the spirit of possibility that once defined electronic music. It brings with it a sense of past, present and future that transcends time, technology and ...

Rachel Anne Warren - vocals, keys
Jonathan Badger - acoustic and electric guitars, oud, mellotron, piano, vocals, balalaika, concussions
Really great, edgy, electro-pop duo project from the under-recognized Jonathan Badger (who I knew, of course) and Rachel (a really fine singer from Baltimore who I didn't know before this project)

"Lake Mallory is the musical hybrid born of the wildly diverse sensibilities of Jonathan Badger (Cuneiform, MT6, High Horse) and Rachel Anne Warren...

"Recorded in sound demonstration quality this is the documentary of Greg Lake’s last tour, recorded on November 28, 2012 in a sold out Teatro Municipale in Piacenza. It was a very special, magical evening, as Greg remembered in his outstanding autobiography, Lucky Man. The concert was a triumph and eventually on January 9, 2016 the trustees of Conservatorio Nicolini of Piacenza gave Greg Lake the first honorary degree ever given by a Conservatorio.
This is a wonderful record, bringing the “Songs...

Oliver Lake Alto Saxophone / Christian Weber Bass / Dieter Ulrich Drums.

"The recordings presented here by Lake, Weber and Ulrich, are convincing for different reasons. They show the three musicians in an intensive exchange, jumping across...

Oliver Lake: Saxophone
William Parker: Bass
"The album 'To Roy' dedicated to trumpeter Roy Campbell, who died in 2014, is the first collaboration between saxophonist Oliver Lake and double bass player William Parker – two important pioneers...

''Bun-Ching Lam's extended composition '...Like Water' is an evocative and imaginative work, as sensuous as its title. A native of Macau, now living in NYC, Lam has studied composition with Roger Reynolds, Pauline Oliveros, and Robert Erickson, and has...

''For her second Tzadik CD, Lam has assembled some of the greatest traditional music performers of China and matched them with some of NY's most creative instrumentalists in creating a beautiful and lyrical meeting of western art music and Chinese trou...

Susana Santos Silva, trumpet, electronics / Gonçalo Almeida, double bass, effects and loops / Greg Smith, drums.

"The particularly dynamic and inventive Portuguese jazz scene has a new front with the trio Lama. Curiously enough, the project was..

Chris Speed, tenor saxophone and clarinet / Susana Santos Silva, trumpet and flugelhorn / Gonçalo Almeida, double bass, effects and loops / Greg Smith drums and electronics.

"The exquisite, chamber-like, electro-acoustic jazz played by the...

Joachim Badenhorst clarinet and bass clarinet
Susana Santos Silva trumpet
Gonçalo Almeida double bass, keys, effects and loops
Greg Smith drums and electronics

"No other title could be more certain to describe the music played by this transnational band lead by the Portuguese double bassist and composer Gonçalo Almeida and having Joachim Badenhorst (once again, like on the previous “The Elephant’s Journey”) as special guest. In fact, everything is in permanent inner mutation alo

Joachim Badenhorst clarinet and bass clarinet / Susana Santos Silva trumpet and flugelhorn / Gonçalo Almeida double bass, effects and loops / Greg Smith drums and electronics.

"Maybe the most composition oriented of all the projects lead by...

"Remixed and remastered for the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Andrew Lamb’s New Orleans Suite is a testament to the continued power and relevance of jazz, pouring out a wide range of emotions for listeners: shock, anger, sadness, and hope...

“Denis Lambert and Craig Nuttycombe joined forces in Hollywood at the end of 1967, and went on to create some of the most haunting and touching acoustic music of the era. Initially signed to Elektra, and then A&M, they taped many demos before finally making their classic debut at the turn of the decade. This superb set gathers 30 tracks that didn't make it onto either of their LPs, as well as offering detailed background notes, rare photos, and an introduction from Craig Nuttycombe.” ...

"The New Yorker critic Whitney Balliett once said her tiny wisp of a voice "would scarcely reach the second storey of a doll's house", while jazz critic Leonard Feather described it as "a voice in a million". Blossom Dearie pursued a singular career...

"This recording is a collection of 11 spontaneously improvised pieces using Lambert drawings as graphic scores, each seeking to combine visual and musical expression into a single, cohesive language. Named after the trips to Los Angeles and Pernes...

"Alex Lameira is a guitar player from São Paulo, Brasil, and this is his first record, recorded with his quartet (guitar, piano, bass, drums). This is the result of Alex and drummer André Souto taking part in some work-shops conducted by Itiberê Zwarg (Hermeto Pascoal’s bass player & leader of Itibere Orquestra Familia), where Hermeto's "Musica Universal" concept is taught and exposed among younger generations of musicians.

Besides the core quartet, Itiberê joins in playing several instruments...

Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø trombone
Kjetil Jerve piano
Andreas Wildhagen drums and percussion
Sofia Jernberg voice

"With the instrumentation drums, piano and trombone, Lana trio is unique in Norwegian measures and rare everywhere else. The trio plays intuitive and uncompromising improvisations, resulting in music ranging from everything to almost nothing. Since their reformation in 2012, Lana Trio have played extensively throughout Europe and further afield, including two tours of...

“A new edition of the wonderful 1976 album ‘Marscape’ by Jack Lancaster And Robin Lumley, taken from newly discovered master tapes.
This excellent album was recorded and released in 1976 and was composed and conceived to mark the landing on Mars of Nasa’s Viking 2 Explorer in September of that year.
For the sessions, saxophonist and woodwind player Jack Lancaster and keyboard player Robin Lumley were joined by John Goodsall on guitars, Percy Jones on bass and Phil Collins on drums.
The...

“LAND OF CHOCOLATE is a 4-piece project that includes Jonn Buzby of FINNEUS GAUGE, and Jordan Perlson of ECHOLYN. This project originally started after Jonn, tired of playing drums, decided to write some songs on keyboards for a future solo project. After finding 3 other musicians interested in his compositions, the "solo idea" quickly turned into a band effort.
"Unikorn on a Cob" consists of 10 tracks that average about 6-minutes each. The vocals, which really stand out here, seem influenced by...

Jonn Buzby / keyboards, vocals
John Covach / guitars (1,3,4,6,12)
Brian O'Neill / guitars (2,5,7-11)
Gerald Wilson / bass
Wesley Hare / drums

Land of Chocolate is the project of vocalist / keyboardist Jonn Buzby, brother of Chris Buzby of Echolyn. The band presents a very assured, modern progressive rock, with impressive vocals; overall, this makes me think of a more edgy Echolyn or maybe a less demented Bubblemath [another band who took a long time between two of their albums!