Digital Membership

  • The best of OTO's archive
  • Five downloads each month from OTO Digital and other labels
  • New labels added regularly
  • Discounts on records, books and more from our online store
  • Regular member newsletter
£15 MONTH £150 YEAR BUY FOR FRIEND

OTO Digital makes our archive available to all, combining high-quality live recordings from the Cafe alongside specially commissioned albums. Each recording is professionally mixed and mastered in house, and agreed with the artist. The label aims to reflect the diversity of Cafe OTO’s program, support new artists in getting an early stage release out, or showcase new or previously undocumented work from more established names.

OTO Digital also works closely with small independent labels to sell their releases through our shop. Each label is carefully selected, featuring artists with strong ties to OTO’s programme and some long out of print releases. The result is an extensive, constantly expanding catalogue featuring some of the most exciting new music being released today.

Your membership is invaluable in helping us do what we do; keeping our programme as exciting and far-reaching as possible, allowing us to fund incredible new recordings, and support and develop new artists.

Your membership payments also help to subsidise our free concession memberships [link], helping to ensure that OTO’s programme remains accessible to as many people as possible.

If you would like to support us further, you can opt to increase your monthly or annual membership payments when you sign up. Whatever the amount, your contribution is hugely appreciated.

FAQ

HOW DO THE CREDITS WORK?

We’ll add five credits to your account each month. Each of these credits can be used to download any recordings from the ‘Digital Downloads’ section of our website - including releases on other labels. If you have credits, you'll be given the option to download any of the available titles under the 'BUY' links.

There is no time limit on using your credits whilst you remain a member.

The website will show you how many credits you have left and when they will next refresh.

DO THE ARTISTS GET PAID?

Yes. When you download a recording as part of your digital membership we pay the artist £1. For downloads by non-members we pay the artists 50% of receipts.

WHAT IS THE RECORDING QUALITY LIKE?

All of the live recordings available will be professionally mixed and mastered and approved by the artists. Most recordings are sourced from the high quality multi-track hard disc recorder we installed in May 2013 and all are handled with the same attention to quality that we’ve given our vinyl LP releases.

Recordings are available to download as 320k MP3 / 24-bit FLAC files or 320k MP3 / 16-bit FLAC in the case of some older external labels.

DO YOU OFFER GIFT MEMBERSHIPS?

Gift Memberships are available across all Membership tiers in periods of 3 months, 6 months and a year. When purchasing the gift membership you will receive a pdf voucher with a unique membership code that can either be sent directly to the recipient or saved to be presented at a later date. Gift memberships do not renew.

I’VE LOST THE FILES I DOWNLOADED - CAN I RE-DOWNLOAD?

All of the album you’ve downloaded can be found on your profile page (log in to the Cafe OTO website and then click on your name in the top right of the screen) where you can re-download the files again at any point.

We would like to acknowledge Sound and Music and The Hub’s ‘Joining the Dots’ project for their support in the development of our digital membership offer.

Latest Downloads

Otoroku is proud to present a prodigious, captivating album of solo guitar improvisations from Basque musician, Joseba Irazoki. Ranging across 23 tracks, the two parts of the album act almost as fractal mirrors; each reflecting the other in myriad ways, teasing out fresh threads and intricacies with each listen. Gitarra Lekeitioak (Onomatopeikoa II) follows on from Irazoki's 2017 Gitarra Onomatopeikoa release, and that album's sense of untethered, questing curiosity is not only carried over but expanded upon even further here. Combining a fully committed approach to the guitar with an almost egoless lightness of touch, Gitarra Lekeitioak (Onomatopeikoa II) builds upon the already impressively scopious range of Gitarra Onomatopeikoa to dizzying effect. From the gated tone-and-noise and abrasive melodies of opener RO 276, to the driving, mesmeric thrust of 3KO; the yearning, twilight refrains of 396267, to the delicate, harmonic patter of MU; the acoustic virtuosity of CHESHIRE HOTEL to the semi-scrambled electronic ‘duet’ of OSOL, Irazoki makes full use of an impressively broad palette. Yet nothing feels forced, nothing is for show – there’s just a sense of open-hearted generosity. In lesser hands such a whirlwind tour of style and form might risk failing to get its hooks in deep enough, yet not only does Irazoki have the imaginative scope to tackle these varying approaches to the instrument, he has the technical chops to pull it off. Each composition seems to have an openness of intent that is utterly disarming; all cards are on the table and nothing is held back, resulting in a creative tour de force that builds, piece by piece, to a unifying cohesiveness that makes the whole far greater than the sum of its parts. Featuring contributions from long-time OTO favourites Rhodri Davies and Raphael Roginski, Gitarra Lekeitioak (Onomatopeikoa II) is nevertheless unmistakably a work of singular craft and vision. -- "I recorded this album between November 2023 and May 2024 in the studio of Eztegara's house. Iñigo Irazoki has done the mixing at Atala studios. This album is the continuation of "Gitarra Onomatopeikoa" that I released in 2017. I have continued to look for new paths with the guitar trying to work on my own voice, using "instant composition" formula. All the music has been created by me, except for the "Hotel Hor Cheshire", composed by Sazem. In two pieces I have been accompanied by the Polish guitarist Raphael Roginski and the Welsh harpist Rhodri Davies. The cover has been made by Ramón Zabalegi. Thanks to everyone who has helped me making the album." - Joseba Irazoki, October 2024, in tribute to Mikel Laboa.

Pleased to present a beautiful, otherworldly set from France-born, London-based violin and viola player, Agathe Max, recorded at OTO in August 2024. Beginning with tentatively scattered pizzicato notes that fall like a fine rain about the room, it isn’t long before an elegiac solo line emerges, weaving a bittersweet reverie of loss and longing. Fragments of voice and birdsong combine with the strings to expansive effect and soon you find yourself far from the confines of a concrete-floored room in East London. As the set progresses, Max’s poignant, yearning playing style is filtered and reflected back upon itself, sometimes as an equally melodic partner, and sometimes twisted and modulated into something much more uncanny. Layers of bowed notes entwine with tumbling electronics to create an enveloping bed of dreamy phantasy. Through it all, staggered, loping percussion paces the sonic landscape, as much to provide an anchor through the soaring string work as it is a rhythmic device. A feeling of weightlessness abounds throughout this set - a pervasive timelessness that makes the sense of bewilderment all the stronger when, after 20 minutes or so the spell breaks and you find yourself back in the room. Thankfully, Max has one last, loftily ascending coda to offer though; as legato strings swoop and glide in ever rising patterns, a driving rhythm roots us to the earth and it is all we can do to gaze up at the spiralling airs disappearing away into the ether. -- Recorded by Kevin ShoemakerMixed and mastered by Oli BarrettCover by Oli Barrett

“Ideas about exploratory behavior, Neuro Music and Transcultural Music have been the basis for many of my works over the last 20 years. Exploratorium is an album of some of those works and a space of exploration. Indeed, all the works on this album are examples of Neuro Music, which is the fundamental connection point across these compositions.” 
— Gene Coleman, from the CD bookletGene Coleman is a composer, musician and video director, who has created over 70 works for various instrumentation and media. Central to his work is the inventive use of sound, image and time, and the desire to create experiences that expand our understanding of the world. Since 2001 he has explored the global transformation of culture and music's relationship with video, science and architecture.Gene has been developing a series of works around concepts of Neuro Music and Transcultural Music, some of which are collected for the first time on Exploratorium, which is also the first album exclusively dedicated to Gene’s compositions.Gene defines Neuro Music as “an area of research and creation based on the study and application of models and concepts from Auditory Neuroscience, as a form of musical composition. … The Neuro compositional methods I have developed are modeled on the auditory pathway of the brain … including the three mechanical stages of hearing (outer, middle and inner ear functions), the auditory nerves and the various stages of auditory information processing, ending in the neocortex and so-called frontal networks.”Neuro Music concepts are explored across various works on the album, including string quartet, and pieces which combine voice, electronics, shamisen and/or ensemble.Gene defines Transcultural Music as “an area of research and composition based on the integration of music from different cultures and traditions”, and has been exploring how musical styles and traditions might meet and combine in new ways for over 20 years. Models of Neuro and Transcultural Musics have been combined in the longest piece on the album, Across Time (Transonic Symphony #1), which explores new possibilities for what a symphony can be in the 21st century and features musicians from many different places and traditions. The musicians featured on the album:-- RITORNO: The Hemmi Quartet.-- Kokhlos I: Nicholas Isherwood, Adam Vidiksis.-- Kokhlos IV: CumTempora Ensemble (coordinated by Virginia Guidi), Adam Vidiksis.-- Vidrone: Sansuzu Tsuruzawa, Toshimaru Nakamura.-- Across Time (Transonic Symphony #1): Transonic Orchestra, Directed by Gene Coleman: Shinjoo Cho, Ko Ishikawa, Sansuzu Tsuruzawa, Thomas Kraines, Naoko Kikuchi, Otomo Yoshihide, Sachiko M., Jonah Rosenberg, Yasutaka Hemmi, Marino Nagira, Yuta Tsubonouchi, Yasunori Onishi, Marcus Weiss, Jean-Michel Goury, Pierre-Stephane Meuge, Serge Bertocchi, Aya Motohashi, Sasamoto Takeshi.The album also foregrounds Gene’s integration of material from the writer Lance Olsen’s novel Dreamlives of Debris.This is Gene’s second album on the False Walls label: Storobo Imp., a set of improvisations with Uchihashi Kazuhisa, was released in 2004. --- Mastering by Stephan MathieuProduced by CJ Mitchell and Gene ColemanDesign by David Caines 6-panel gatefold sleeve, with 24 page booklet and CD sleeveBooklet includes sleeve notes by Gene ColemanAll Compositions, 2023 Gene Coleman / Lontano Music (ASCAP)

Founded in 1997 by Cyril Secq and Yvan Ros as a guitar/drums duo, Astrïd subsequently expanded and settled around the violin player Vanina Andreani (1998), followed by the clarinet player Guillaume Wickel (2005). The core of the group is based in Nantes, France.Astrïd’s instrumental and expansive music has been inspired by improvised music, folk, post-rock and jazz, as well as by classical and contemporary composers, from Ravel to Arvo Pärt. Their work has been released across a number of albums on various labels, including Gizeh Records, Monotype Records and Rune Grammofon. Collaboration with other musicians informed Astrïd’s joint release with Rachel Grimes, Through the Sparkle (2017), and Cyril Secq has released duo albums with Sylvain Chauveau and Orla Wren.Astrïd’s album Always Digging The Same Hole includes five pieces, each of which patiently and delicately charts its course through different dynamics and moods. The album foregrounds the group’s live performance, close listening and interplay, resulting in atmospheres which are hauntingly suspended and poetically suggestive.The CD packaging was conceived by visual artist Peter Liversidge across a 6-panel gatefold sleeve, 16 page CD booklet and CD sleeve. Peter’s work was developed in response to the album, and is centred around a series of photographs, some including the band. In addition to his work for galleries and publications, Peter has also worked with a number of musicians, including album cover designs and stage projections for Low.Band member Guillaume Wickel sadly died in 2022, and Always Digging The Same Hole is dedicated to him.

Ark Hive of A Live is a set of recordings by Andrew Poppy, along with a 128 page PDF, including writing by Andrew Poppy, an introduction by Paul Morley, other writing by Leah Kardos, Nik Bärtsch and Rose English and archival photographs. Andrew Poppy developed Ark Hive of A Live as a place for unreleased music from the 80s 90s 00s and 10s. ‘Live’ in the title indicates these works originated in public performance as opposed to the recording studio — however, these live recordings have been processed, and while they remember their original acoustic vibration are now transformed, transplanted and almost the same. Ark Hive of A Live isn’t a box set ‘best of’ or mini series. Each disc has been ordered to play like an album, with an indelible ‘suite-like’ order, even if many of the pieces were written at different times and with different production details. Volumes 1 to 4 are focused respectively on: the orchestra with a soloist; a collection of vocal pieces, for ensemble or orchestra; music written for independent ensembles; and the contrast between acoustic music and music which creatively exploits electrical and electronic technology. The Ark Hive is an ironic meditation on the archive. It brings together element of biography and materials from a lifetime of creative endeavour in sonic, language and visual forms. Tracks, writings, performance photographs and scores: 1+1+1+1 = Ark Hive. The project holds it all together with some irony, because it is aware of the absurdity of the enterprise but plows ahead relentlessly anyway --- Performers include: 
Andrew Poppy, Sustaining Ensemble, Noszferatu, Crash Ensemble, CoMA Ensemble, Roger Heaton Group, John Harle, Simon Haram, Darragh Morgan, Tania Chen, Kädy Plaas, Margaret Cameron, Ashley Slater, Peter Sidholm, BBC Concert Orchestra, ROH Garden Venture Ensemble, Estonian Male Choir, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. The live recordings in Ark Hive of A Live are connected with various images and writings collected in the PDF, which contains the following:— An introduction by Paul Morley, who helped release Andrew’s first albums on ZTT Records in the 1980s.— Invited writing by Leah Kardos, Nik Bärtsch and Rose English, responding to different aspects of the Ark Hive collection.— Writing by Andrew: introducing and reflecting on the Ark Hive project; overviews of each of the four volumes of music; writing on each composition, including programme notes, lyrics, poems, prose poems, librettos, performing instructions; and thoughts on his life and work as a composer, performer and creative artist.— The Image Ark: 38 photographic images, with complementary text by Andrew and credits/captions.— Discography Backwards: writing by Andrew, reflecting on each of his album releases.— Discography Forwards: summarising compositions and musician credits. --- “Freely drawing from the sounds of contemporary classical, experimental, jazz and pop music, and moving confidently between forms and formats, from concert music to pop records, operas and oratorios, dance and film soundtracks, Andrew Poppy’s diverse oeuvre resists easy categorisation … An elegantly generous (or stubborn), genre-indifferent (or should that be style-inclusive?) approach that flies in the face of putrefying compositional tradition, and any rules or anxieties over low vs highbrow, tonal vs textural, serious vs popular, acoustic vs electroacoustic; artfully dodging conspicuous intellectualism and side-stepping the class-political airs of contemporary classicism. Poppy’s denial of boundaries not only frees his music to be what it wants to be, it gives his music freedom to explore the uncanny territories and tensions that live in the in-between. Replacing polarities with multiplicities.” — Leah Kardos, from the Ark Hive of A Live book --- Music by Andrew PoppyWriting by Andrew Poppy, Paul Morley, Leah Kardos, Nik Bärtsch and Rose EnglishMastered by Stephan MathieuDesign by David Caines

Wildly exhilarating solo drum kit performance from Crystabel Efemena Riley. Recorded on the first night of Incapacitants residency at OTO in September, Riley presents an absolutely no-holds-barred set that delves deep into the textural and timbral qualities of the instrument. Though recorded on a single drum kit, multiple mic placements take the sound and reshape it in unexpected ways. This multi-strand approach to amplification becomes an integral part of the kit, with Riley using pedals to control the volume and balance of the various channels. Distorted toms roll and shudder, snare hits peak with such an intensity that at times it sounds as if the drum could be filled with gravel, and densely overlapping rhythms whirl and contort with an unflagging propulsive momentum. Through it all, deep, resonant bass synths surge and swell; at times the percussive battery subsides to be leave an enveloping wash of bass tones in isolation, and you can almost imagine that you are nestled deep inside the drum kit itself, looking (and listening) out. This is a fully committed performance that, as a listener you cannot help but to be fully within - as disorientating as it is all-encompassing. No matter, let yourself be swept away in its eddies and flows and you will find yourself in a profoundly different place than where you started. --  Recorded by Billy SteigerMixed and mastered by Oli Barrett