Lament in Three Parts was improvised and recorded on April 31st in the quiet bunker-esque venue, Ausland, just 20 doors down from where I live in Berlin. Additional processes and editing were completed on May 2nd 2020. Special thanks to Cafe Oto, Billy Steiger, Petter Eldh and Sophie Fetokaki for their valuable part in the making of this release. Download bundle also includes artwork by Billy Steiger, and a foreword by Sophie Fetokaki. "...What is it about the telling that provides comfort or consolation? Perhaps it's partly in the curative power of naming, an act that can bring our experience into relief and ward off the depressive forces of nothingness, formlessness, and monstrous plasticity. There are also other forms of telling that are not lexical, and our too-easy separation of sound and speech, music and words, belies the existence of something deeply healing and transformational that grounds and unifies them both." - From the foreword, Thoughts for Lucy, by Sophie Fetokaki - read the full text here (pdf). www.lucyrailton.comwww.sophiefetokaki.comwww.billysteiger.com

Agnes Hvizdalek's abstracted vocal works experiment with textures and tones that teeter the line between both human and non-human sound. Here, her voice meets the cold humming sounds of single-room domesticity, as if all her surroundings are being held in frozen motion. Occasionally her voice is met with a single reflective piano softly floating in the air. The spareness (or lack) of sounds around her lets her voice take centre stage and unfold in all its complex fragility, unearthing the sort of personal subjectivity that's hard to describe in a crisis. Towards the end we hear the sound of the world outside, sounds of other humans, and the snapshot of the real world again. --- Agnes Hvizdalek / voice --- Cover design by Oli Barrett Recorded at HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts. Mixed and mastered by Daniel Lercher

Digital download version of this recording originally issued as a one-sided limited edition 12" made available as part of a fundraiser for Cafe OTO to acquire some new equipment. Thurston Moore / Guitar Alex Ward / Clarinet, Amplifier Recorded 20 March 2012 at Cafe OTO by John Chantler & Jonny McHugh. Mixed by Alex Ward, Vinyl cut by Nick @ Curved. Cover image courtesy of Matti Braun.

Pleased to present the full recording of Pat Thomas' moving tribute to Duke Ellington on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of his birth. According to Thomas, Ellington "never stopped discovering, never played the same tune in exactly the same way twice", and the same could be said here. The tunes are all there, but they emerge unpredictably, warped and hammered through the body of the piano in Pats own way. The second set was an hour long, with Pat rolling through 'Rockin’ in Rhythm', 'Isfahan' and 'In a Sentimental Mood' in a collage of heavy harmonics, serious swing and a wicked appreciation for exploration. An absolute pleasure to be in the room for this one, and tremendously happy to share the recording.  "Deconstructing and reconstructing as part of the interpretative process is second nature to Thomas. The obvious is kept at his arm’s length so from tangential start points, unforgettable melodies would creep back to plant flags firmly in the ground." - London Jazz News Tracklisting: 1.Prelude to a KissSolitudeTake the ColtraneSophisticated LadySatin DollSerenade to Sweden 2.Rockin’ in RhythmMood IndigoIsfahanIn a Sentimental MoodI Got It Bad and That Ain’t GoodHeavenDo Nothing Till You Hear From MeDay DreamCome SundayCaravan Cover art by Billy Steiger.

Huge thanks to David Shrigley for this donation! David Shrigley Shut Up (2018) Edition of 125 4 colour screenprint on Somerset Tub Sized 410gsm paper. 76 x 56 cm (29.9 x 22 in) Signed, numbered and dated by the artist on the reverse Please note that whilst postage costs are included in the price of this item, we may be unable to send this out until we re-open. Please email us at info@cafeoto.co.uk if you have any queries, otherwise we will drop you a line after purchase to arrange delivery when possible.

One of the final Incus releases and one that was written up in The Penguin Guide to Jazz as ‘an essential document of modern music’. Otoroku is proud to release the first ever vinyl re-issue of Evan Parker’s legendary recording The Snake Decides. Featuring 4  solos recorded in 1986 in St. Paul's Church, Oxford by the late Michael Gerzon. The Snake Decides is a groundbreaking example how far the language of a particular instrument can be taken. From Brian Morton’s liner new notes: “The Snake Decides attracts a certain array of adjectives - intense, radical, fearsome, hypnotic, virtuosic – and occasionally allows a more ambitious reviewer to avoid platitude by talking more specifically about 32nd harmonics, circular breathing, multiphonics and Gerson's exact choice and placement of microphones. But this misses a point, too. Listening to this record, either for the first or the fortieth time, is an arousing experience.” Remastered by Giuseppe Ielasi and housed in a reverse board sleeve with new liner notes by Brian Morton this is the ultimate document of one of the most important recordings in all of Parker’s extensive and exploratory catalogue. Edition of 500 copies.