Percussionist Mika Kallio’s fourth solo album, Gong Odyssey, was released in June 2022 and received an enthusiastic reception. The album, which is one of the record cases of the year, features gongs of different sizes, i.e. metallic circular percussion instruments. According to the nature of the gongs, the compositions on the album sway between ambient and improvised music. Kallio boldly throws himself into uncharted territories, conjuring a space of sound, where time ceases to exist.

"Hit Parade of Tears" is an album inspired by the short stories of Japanese author Izumi Suzuki, married to musician Kaoru Abe, who tragically ended her life at the age of 36. Suzuki's wholly original short stories paved the way for the science fiction genre and in many ways predicted the cyberpunk movement. Ikue Mori and Zeena Parkins have created a beautiful and mysterious collection of musical miniatures that reference Suzuki's sensibility with remarkable feeling and compassion. A touching tribute to a powerful creative woman by two powerful creative women.

The first release on Jim O'Rourke's legendary Moikai imprint in over two decades, 'Spectral Evolution' is a defining statement from Portuguese vanguard Rafael Toral, an album of subtly orchestral, jazz-inspired guitar music that's been slowed to a vertiginous crawl. Using his arsenal of hand-made synths to sing like birds around stretched, steel-wound drones, he evokes Bach, Loren Connors, Gavin Bryars and Rhys Chatham on a longform piece full of conventional chord progressions and alchemical sleights of hand that will have you reeling, and no mistake.

solo piece for 3 trumpets, laptop, home-made amplification system and various resonating objects with live and pre-recorded trumpet sounds, field recording, birds, white noise, vibrating metal stuff, saws, toads, sine waves, music, natural and artificial jungle sounds…

Sam Gendel’s COOKUP—a new album comprising interpretations of R&B and soul hits originally released between 1992 and 2004—is out now on Nonesuch Records. As with his 2020 Nonesuch debut, Satin Doll, Gendel recorded COOKUP in his native California with his friends and collaborators Gabe Noel and Philippe Melanson; the trio again adopts an approach of simultaneous synchronized sonic construction/deconstruction of the album’s source material, which this time includes songs by Ginuwine, 112, Aaliyah, All-4-One, Soul 4 Real, Beyoncé, Joe, Erykah Badu, Mario, SWV, and Boyz II Men. Meshell Ndegeocello is featured on vocals for their take on 112's "Anywhere."

"Sound On Stone is an act of love comparable to Alice Coltrane’s completion of tracks she and John had worked on together before his death. The results are profoundly moving, full of beauty and surprise."

Colin Stetson's urgently composed dedication to his father proves that beauty and horror, fear and longing can exist at the same in the sublime of nature, says Guia Cortassa.

Extending their previous collaborations during the time of pandemic, NY electronic improviser Ikue Mori and Japanese improvisers Natsuki Tamura on trumpet and Satoko Fujii on piano developed this extraordinary ea-improv album via file exchange, starting with Fujii's piano improvisations to which Mori & Tamura added their layers, with Mori mixing the final, startling results.

Ellen Bødtker is an innovative artist and composer with a broad repertoire, from classical to contemporary and crossover music. Ellen has performed in most concert halls, stages and festivals in Norway, and visited many parts of the world with her harp. She is a harpist with distinctive features and is one of Scandinavias leading harp soloists.

Ambient goes country and David Bowie and Brian Eno share a tune with John Coltrane in slide guitar maestro Geir Sundstol’s astonishing cinematic travelogue.

Nicky Skopelitis: guitar; Bill Laswell: bass; Graham Haynes: cornet; Amina Claudine Myers: Hammond B3; Hamid Drake: drums; Aïyb Dieng: percussion. Recorded at Fabrik, Hamburg, Germany, Wednesday, April 22, 1998.

Caribbean-Belgian composer, producer and musician Nala Sinephro fuses meditative sounds, jazz sensibilities, folk and field recordings. Her musical practice is rooted in the study of frequency and geometry and guided by the premise that sound moves matter.

Norwegian trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær made his small mark on fans and critics alike in the United States with his fine pair of ECM recordings. After a couple of years working in Europe, he returned to the release scene in the U.S. with An American Compilation in June of 2006. That disc was a selection of tracks from this album, his remix disc, and live cuts of tunes from the ECM period. In fact, ER is being issued simultaneously with Streamer, the live CD.