This album is a remarkable collection. It has the ear, flair and tone of Ian Rawes as a storyteller, and through the salt spray of Winterton beach I can see him beaming." Chris Watson, for Caught by the River Persistence of Sound presents a posthumous album of field recordings from The London Sound Survey. ‘From Dusk Till Dawn' is a sound-journey through the dark in East Anglia, UK. It roams across the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk to places whose sounds have a precarious existence outside the crowded realities of modern everyday life.Before his death in 2021, Ian Rawes had been making recordings across East Anglia, notably at Lakenheath Fen, an RSPB reserve on the Norfolk/Suffolk border. Like many of Ian’s projects, there was a tight logic to this collection. They chart the journey of natural sounds from dusk until dawn. The extraordinary sound of massed birdsong, the wind thrumming against an abandoned pumping station, the sound of common seals. "A bittern called from time to time, sounding like someone blowing over the wide top of an old milk bottle. A distant machine tone came from somewhere to the south-east: perhaps from an agribusiness factory. It continued into the small hours."At around half past four in the morning I struggled out of my sleeping bag and began to walk east, carrying my bulky wooden mic baffle on its tripod. A small wood drew close and there was a brief pinpoint of light among the tree trunks. I stopped then moved on: the light was obscured. Birds hadn't stopped calling all night but now the intensity and variety of cries and songs was growing."I set the tripod down on a path running between the wood to the north and the reed-beds of New Fen to the south. The pre-amp and recorder were switched on. I listened briefly through headphones and swivelled the baffle this way and that before noticing how the flights of ducks and geese seemed to go from east to west. I set the baffle and its pair of mics to face south, then went to sit on a tree stump about forty yards away. For a short while everything felt unfamiliar while the dawn chorus took over my thoughts, as though suddenly immersed in a remote past."This collection is a tribute to Ian’s matchless ability to capture completely immersive, distinct environments. His recordings are valuable markers of change. They have the power to take you out of everyday life, to slow the heart-rate, and to really listen.

“No, without listening at doors, the ear captures noises here and there and unexpected sounds without choice, but remains attentive to the messages of each one picked up over the years. It gathers surprises and impressions, bringing them together in a simple mix. In waking up these ear memories again, which were mostly recorded on magnetic tapes, I am very happy about the collaboration of Eiko Ishibashi and Jim O'Rourke in playing on this mix tape.” Brunhild Ferrari

Edited with introduction by Lawrence Kumpf. Paperback, 8.5 x 11 in., 490 pp, 28 bw Blank Form Editions, April 2026 The most comprehensive compilation of the sound artist's working documents for her unrealized media-opera tour de force Written in the early 1980s by American sound art pioneer Maryanne Amacher (1938–2009), Intelligent Life follows the employees of Supreme Connections LLC, a music entertainment corporation navigating a future in which artificial intelligence generates music faster than composers can. Anticipating an industry-wide downturn, Supreme Connections president Aplisa Kandel seeks advanced technologies that will revolutionize the act of listening, narrating to the audience as she does so. Though the untimely deaths of the opera's would-be patrons prevented Amacher from realizing the work in its intended forms—a serialized radio broadcast and television simulcast—she continued designing "treatments" for the opera for much of her career.This publication makes the most complete presentation of these working documents—including episodic scripts, notes on the use of LaserDisc and an illustrated storyboard for the pilot—available to the public for the first time, and evinces Amacher's prescient ideas about perception, listening and composition.

The Dutch drummer and multi-instrumentalist Han Bennink has had a colossal impact and influence in the fields of free jazz and improvised music - not just as a percussionist but also as an organiser, designer and visual artist. Bennink trained at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterda and was strongly influenced by the anti-art of Dada. Out of what he calls 'a kind of involvement with things', Bennink reuses seemingly worthless objects from his immediate environment, such as broken drum skins and sticks. They are given a second life in his sculptures and installations. For his drawings and collages, Bennink draws on his personal memories and intuition. Birds and airplanes often return in these, symbols of the same freedom that he personifies during his performances. His artwork graces the covers of several corner stone recordings released on FMP, ICP, Incus, hat ART, psi and more. "It simply has to be beautiful and preferably appeal to an emotion as well. In [Bennink's] case that emotion doesn't have to be very dramatic or deeply hidden. You could rather call his art, his visual art anyway, light-footed, the way poems by Rutget Copland and Hans Verhagen can be." - Hans Sizoo, Jazzwereld nr 16.  Reprint of the now classic OTO tote, designed by Han Bennink and screenprinted onto a heavyweight canvas. Available in natural or black.  100% Cotton Canvas - 270gsm (8oz/yd²)Can be carried by hand or over the shoulder39 x 42 x 13 Double sided print - back says Cafe OTO - Han Bennink Photo by Corral

Francesca Ogbuachi is a Photographer, Writer, Storyteller and music maker from time to time, although she is unable to read music notes. She is Italian, born to Nigerian parents, and her way of speaking and saying things that she usually wouldn't be able to say is predominantly through Photography, Writing, Videography and playing the piano, which has been a very significant part of, not only her way of working ever since it came back in the picture, but especially of her life. Francesca’s work is all analogue choosing film over digital often using Super 8 for her film work and preferring hours on the dark room over sitting at s computer. One of her inspirations, if not my main one, is everyday people and their way of being unpredictable, which is the whole premise of my writing, and something that is also translating in what she plays, which still baffles her.

Screenprinted on thick, quality paper printed by Tartaruga. Design by Maja Larsson / Organ studio. We're delighted to present a four-day residency with one of the greatest living UK-based improvisers - Pat Thomas. Criminally unheralded, Pat is a fearless and uncompromising player who – despite coming from a background of free improvisation and new music – can feel as close to the worlds of noise and experimental music. His performances range in approach and texture from fearsome cacophony that can sound like a piano having its guts ripped out, with Pat thumping discordant clusters of keys with his fists or rattling the exterior wooden frame; to delicately soothing passages where his fingers glide over the keys, creating microscopic tones and resonant melodies that can hold an entire sonic landscape. The residency coincides with the release of Pat's new LP - The Elephant Clock of Al Jazari - on our own in-house OTOROKU label, which comprises four typically genre-defying and sonically dexterous pieces from one of the UK's most extraordinary pianists. "I can't quite think of anyone else who sounds quite like this: it is in a class of its own." - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery "Thomas runs the gamut of techniques, splashing clusters, weaving contrapuntal lines and building elaborate structures from the inside out. Despite their variety, they share a fundamental quality – they truly sound like spur of the moment creations, not the final draft of ideas mulled over for weeks, if not months on end." - Bill Shoemaker, Point of Departure

The 4LP boxset version holds nearly all the music performed over the two nights, minus 5 minutes we were forced to cut to fit the music onto 4 discs. It will arrive in a handcovered and screenprint boxset, limited to 250 copies and will include a full booklet of photographs from the residency by Dawid Laskowski. Please note the artwork may differ slightly from the mock up.  Your order will be packed with care and delivered via a tracked service.  The 2LP version is an edit of the music played on both nights. It will arrive as a gatefold 12" printed in reverse board outersleeves and will include a pull out with photographs from the residency by Dawid Laskowski. The 2CD version contains both sets from both nights. The discs will be housed in a digipak on reverse board and will include photographs from the residency by Dawid Laskowski. It is a huge honour to publish Peter Brotzmann’s final concerts on OTOROKU. When we invited Peter to do a residency at Cafe OTO back in February 2023 we had no idea these would be his last ever shows and he played with such power it would have been hard for anyone present to believe he would never play publicly again. Recorded over two nights this grouping of Jason Adasiewicz on vibraphone, John Edwards on bass and Steve Noble on drums feels especially resonant and personal to Cafe OTO. The first time Peter performed at the venue back in 2010 it was in a trio with John and Steve, (released as The Worse The Better kick starting our in-house record label) so it feels fitting that the last shows he ever played here should also have that trio at its core. The quartet last played together at OTO back in 2013, (released as Mental Shake on OTOROKU), and Brotzmann humbly opened the return of the group saying, "it's a pleasure to be back” before launching straight into a long blast on the alto sax, swiftly met by the relentless energy and engagement of Adasiewicz, Edwards and Noble. There are moments of tenderness to Brotzmann’s playing that feels specific to this small group - one that cuts across three generations - and in a space that’s come to feel like home. Of course, there is dizzying, forceful, singleminded playing, but even amongst a relentless chorus of cymbal splashes and busy vibraphone clusters the lyrical, spacious moments are savoured and held onto. As he remarked after at the end of the group's first visit to OTO, “the Quartet is, for us, a great adventure.” Peter clearly wanted to play to the end. Did he know these might be his last shows? We will never know. What is clear is he wanted to go out in style and on his terms. For anyone in the room at the time or listening to these recordings it’s clear he achieved that. It was Peter’s wish that these recordings should be made public and he was due to finalise the cover design on the week he passed away. We would like to thank Peter’s family for working with us to fulfil Peter’s wishes to release this material but more than anything we would like to thank Peter for all the extraordinary memories, his generosity and all he has given the music. On a personal level for us, like so many, he meant a huge amount and we miss him deeply. --- Peter Brotzmann / reeds John Edwards / double bass Steve Noble / drums Jason Adasiewicz / vibraphone  --- Recorded live at Cafe OTO by Billy Steiger on 10th and 11th February 2023. Mixed by James Dunn. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielesi. Photos by Dawid Laskowski. Pressed in the UK by Vinyl Press. Artwork by Peter Brötzmann. Design by Untiet.

Play Monk arrives in a gatefold, reverse board 2CD designed by Maja Larrson. Cover photograph of Thelonius Monk at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco in 1968 by Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter. Inside photographs of حمد [Ahmed] by Stefan Lacandler. Recorded and mixed by Benedic Lamdin on Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd March, 2025 at Fish Factory Studios, London. Mastered by Andreas LUPO Lubich. Produced by Seymour Wright/OTOROKU. After 6 albums re-imagining the work of Ahmed Abdul-Malik, أحمد [Ahmed] turn to the material of Malik’s bandmate Thelonious Monk in the group's ongoing search for future music.  Before going on to develop his own groundbreaking approach to jazz, Ahmed Abdul-Malik worked in Thelonious Monk’s late 1950’s quartets - appearing on seminal Monk recordings: Thelonious In Action (1958) and Misterioso (1958), and the more recently unearthed Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall (2005). Abdul-Malik and Monk share a critical engagement with time - specifically in challenging its linear trajectory and offering sites and modes of synthesis and rupture instead. In their music, fragments of time are scattered and re-arranged in the present, an idea central too to the project of أحمد [Ahmed]. Over several decades, all four members of أحمد [Ahmed] have engaged with Monk’s standards in various individual and collective ways, but Play Monk, recorded in the same three-day London studio sessions as Sama’a (Audition), is the first released documentation of the group's versions of Monk’s music which began with a spontaneous interpretation of ‘Evidence’ in Novara, Italy, 2023.   Across 2CDs, أحمد [Ahmed] atomize Monk’s ‘standards’ - transforming each composition into a shifting quantum time artifact. The melodic, harmonic, rhythmic and spatial gestures of each piece become complex vernacular forms, creating a dialogue in time and a (red)shifting lens through which to view our material present. Into the fissures of Monk’s form, أحمد [Ahmed]  pour their own play - colliding and dancing with Duke Ellington, Cecil Taylor, Caribbean diasporic music, European improvisation and Jah Shaka in their pursuit of future music. “Monk’s music is not played so much as grasped, condensed and catapulted through the vagaries of time,” writes Fielding Hope. “Monk famously used to dance in circles. In flight from the numerical bind, أحمد [Ahmed] make music that sounds like it could float on forever.”

LP is out-of-printCD includes two short duo sets originally available as digital-only bonus tracks. Download available as 320k MP3 or 24bit FLAC. This recording gathers all of the music from the final night of Otomo and Sachiko's first residency in 2009 which saw the pair joined by the long running trio of Evan Parker, John Edwards and Tony Marsh and special guest John Butcher. Butcher played duos with both Otomo and Sachiko and joined the quintet for a rousing sextet: stunning twin saxophone interplay, the unparalleled open-ness of the Marsh/Edwards rhythm pairing, Sachiko's deft high frequency interventions and Otomo's guitar at the centre - moving between abrasive textural invention and suggestive single note runs of ever-shifting melody. REVIEWS "As for indicating a place in the curiously sculpted bridges between improvised music and sound art, well, the simple singularity of these daring and committed performances should bear out their significance." Clifford Allen, Tiny Mix Tapes "This Quintet/Sextet album is recorded beautifully and it needed to be to capture all the nuance involved ... These are musicians at the top of their craft." Free Jazz Blog "...fresh and inspired. The recording stands as a finely-honed classic of classically approached free improvisation: the players dance and flow smoothly and effortlessly with and around the sounds of their partners." - Henry Kuntz Point of Departure Review

Tracklisting: A1 The Solar Model - 13:51A2 The Laws of Motion - 03:28A3 For George Saliba - 03:42B1 The Oud of Ziryab - 04:46 B2 For Ibn Al Nafis - 04:17 B3 For Mansa Musa - 03:44 B4 The Birds are Singing - 06:01  Pat Thomas returns to OTOROKU for his fourth collection of solo piano improvisations, this time recorded in a studio setting at London’s Fish Factory.  For 25 years now, beginning with Nur (Emanem) and continuing through Al-Khwarizmi Variations (Fataka), The Elephant Clock of Al-Jazari (OTOROKU), and now The Solar Model of Ibn Al-Shatir, Pat Thomas has drawn on the Arabic world for titles for his solo piano work - specifically the long-standing Islamic tradition of astronomical invention. For Thomas, the work of the polymaths he dedicates his music to has been sidelined by Eurocentrism, just as the Arabic origin of “jass” and the scalar, intervallic and polyphonic contributions made by Arab musicians have been routinely overlooked. Islamic innovation is at the heart of Thomas’ solo projects and draws a direct link between his Sufi faith and a totally unique style of playing. Each of his solo piano records is a dedication - not just to the innovators Thomas names but to the beauty of the universe in all its complexities.    Starting standing up with one hand inside the piano and one on the keys, ‘The Solar Model’ begins with single staccato bass notes appearing like chondrites in the darkness, occasionally tumbling towards a rhythm and then falling out of it. Metallic string work starts to pull towards an unseen centre and eventually notes from the upper registers appear, clear and light. With both hands drawn to the keys, Thomas builds towards scintillating beauty, carried through “The Laws of Motion” and propelling us towards the A-side closer, “For George Saliba”. Notes fall rapidly, colliding to form a crowded core with a warped sort of bebop in its middle - distinctive Pat with a nod to the Duke’s groove. The whole landscape of the A side swings with this one movement, until its energy is spent on one last sweeping rotation.  On the B-side, “The Oud of Ziryab” notes to the instrument maker who added a 5th pair of strings to the Oud. The single bass notes of the first side are swapped for clusters, bursting together and decaying in space. Making use of the sustain pedal and the silence of a studio setting, it’s one of the most open, lush recordings of Thomas at the piano we’ve heard - more Muhal Richard Abrams than Monk, the lower end thundering under rapid, crystalline blues.  “For Mansa Musa” brings back a swing instantly recognisable as Pat, with a huge euphoric lift halfway that crowns the record but the album’s end title “The Birds are Singing” is more celestial, more chromatic - a reminder that the spiritual matters just as much as the physical for Thomas. --- Released in an edition of 500 LPs and 500 CDsRecorded at the Fish Factory, London on Wednesday 6th March, 2024 by Benedic LamdinMixed by Benedic Lamdin Mastered by Giuseppe Ielesi Photographs by Abby Thomas Pressed at Vinyl Press UK

Tracklisting: 1. Aoshi 2. Dany Boya 3. Ankotsubaki Gaiden 4. Taria 5. Kamome 6. Furusato 7. Narayamabushiko 8. Maronie 9. Shiroi Inu"Japanese bluesman Kan Mikami is nothing less than an unalloyed force of nature. A skin-shredding blast of frozen wind from the poor, rural north of Japan that he calls home. In the late 1960s, like thousands of other Japanese young people Mikami made his way to Tokyo in search of a life different from that of his parents. Since then he has forcefully carved out a space for himself in the culture as a modernist poet, a raging folk singer, an author, a actor, an engaging TV personality, and one of Japan’s most uniquely powerful performers. For most of Mikami’s career as a singer, he has performed solo. Just him and his electric guitar against the world, creating jagged A-minor vamps to drive along the surreal wisdom of his lyrics. But he’s equally at home in more demanding improvisational contexts such as those provided here by John Edwards on bass and Alex Neilson on drums. Their dense propulsive textures seem to spur on Mikami, his voice arcing powerfully into fragmented spaces, his guitar darting, colliding, shedding jagged and angular splinters of sound. A pulsing, raging maelstrom of serrated-edged energy. Gruff, rough, honest and very, very real." - Alan Cummings --- Kan Mikami / vocals, guitar John Edwards / bass Alex Neilson / percussion --- Recorded live at Cafe OTO on 3rd April 2013 by James Dunn. Mixed by John Chantler. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi

2023 repress of the OTOROKU re-issue of the legendary English free improvisation LP 'The Topography of The Lungs' by Evan Parker, Derek Bailey and Han Bennink. This was Evan Parker’s first recording as a "leader" and was the first release on Incus, the label Parker founded with guitarist Derek Bailey and drummer Tony Oxley. This re-issue has been produced from an original vinyl pressing from Evan's archives - carefully transcribed and restored by Andreas [LUPO] Lubich at Calyx in Berlin and features the original liner notes from Parker along with updated notes penned in 2014. "To talk further of the music we play is difficult. It’s criteria for success exist, but are elusive and indefinable beyond the intuitive level. We operate without rules (pre-composed material) or well-defined code of behaviour (fixed tempi, tonalities, serial structures etc.), and yet are able to distinguish success from failure." - From Evan Parker’s original liner notes (1970) This pressing of The Topography of The Lungs comes in a limited edition of 500 copies.

A masterfully expressive solo Oud set from improviser and composer, Kareem Samara, recorded at Cafe OTO in February 2026 as part of a bill with Abdullah Miniawy Trio. Starting with a deceptively stark cluster of notes, Samara lays out his palette before leading us on. Gentle, probing motifs are intertwined with lyrical flourishes, conjuring a quiet, irresistible momentum. He weaves these threads together in an intricate, spiralling pattern whose lines seem to shift and recombine with every subsequent listen. There is a generosity to Samara's approach; nothing is hidden or overly adorned. He moves unhurriedly from one facet of the Oud to the next, presenting each in turn with a transparency that cannot help but draw you in. But, like a clear body of water, it takes a little while to adjust to this clarity before you can perceive the layers of depth below. When you do, you realise that there's a whole other world here, stretching out beneath the surface. Two thirds of the way into the set, the expanse of this world stretches out further still, with a sudden trilling of high-pitched notes, sounding like nothing so much as a flock of Blaise Bontems' singing-bird automata. But in this "birdsong" we can also hear echoes of the Oud and its amplification, both; its sound expanded and refracted into something new. So deftly does Samara incorporate the technological augmentation of the instrument that it's almost a shock when the unprocessed Oud is reintroduced. But it is immediately apparent that this is a dialogue not only between the instrument and itself, but with past and present also. In such a way Samara honours the traditions of the instrument whilst also giving us a brief glimpse of the future. -- Recorded by Billy SteigerMixed and mastered by Oli Barrett

Nearly two hours of kolongo grooves from Ghanian superstar King Ayisoba recorded in September 2014 at Cafe OTO on Ayisoba's second visit here - this time joined by Zea (Arnold De Boer of The Ex) on the song Akolbire, Lion on percussion and Wanlov the Kubolor who adds vocals and percussion to a couple of the songs.  -- Recorded Friday 26 September 2014 at Cafe OTO by Shaun Crook. Mixed by James Dunn. Mastered by Andreas [LUPO] Lubich at Calyx. Photo by Dawid Laskowski.

A vital, utterly cathartic set from the trio of Camila Nebbia (saxophone), Andrew Lisle (drums) and Caius Williams (double bass) recorded at OTO in April 2025. Convened as a group at short notice, after pianist Kit Downes had to pull out of the original line-up alongside Camila Nebbia and Andrew Lisle, the trio nevertheless display the kind of instant symbiosis that feels honed over many years. Nebbia’s playing doesn’t let up for a second, showcasing her astonishing range on the saxophone from deeply sonorous exhalations, to delicate textural work, to a full-throated caterwauling that pins you back in your seat. Andrew Lisle’s highly dextrous, intricate drumming spans the whole gamut from skirring, scampering percussive clusters to the kind of forceful, unruly assail that borders on the rambunctious. And beneath it all, Caius Williams demonstrates exactly why he’s one of the most in demand bassists working today; crafting seeking, probing lines that provide the foundations whilst tipping the entire structure above off into new directions at the same time. The three of them cover a huge amount of ground, ricocheting from skittering downhill runs to a sort to bruising melodicism, to the kind of gleeful clatter that would have had Ayler sitting up. When all three get going it’s the kind of jubilant cacophony that can’t help but lift you off your feet, and in places it really swings, albeit the kind of swing that might require a swift trip to the chiropractor afterwards. The sheer, unbridled energy on display here might sometimes leave you gasping for breath, but this is no one-note onslaught. At times the trio pull it down so low you could almost here a Kernel bottle-top drop, with scattered harmonic notes weaving in and out of a raft of sighing, sloughing cymbals, the bass drawing out the atmospherics from down low. By the end, it's clear that the three of them have left nothing in the tank. Here's hoping it's not long before we see them back here. -- Recorded by Rory SalterMixed and mastered by Andrew Lisle

Free to download for one and all – if you're a member the download will not remove a credit. Oh Xmas Tree (trad)Jingle Bells (trad)Snow (Newman)Let it Snow (Styne / Cahn)Blood On The Snow (Gilfedder/ Wells)Black Xmas (Wells)Frozen Vaults (Wells)In The Bleak Midwinter (trad)Snowed In (Gilfedder / Wells)Hark The Herald Angels Sing (trad)Oh Come All Ye Faithful (trad)Winter Wonderland (Bernard / Smith) The NJTOS are, on this recording and in order of appearance;Bill Wells, Kate Sugden, Isobel Campbell, Aby Vulliamy, Lorna Gilfedder, Chris Geddes, Gerard Black & Audrey Bizouerne. Jingle Bells is performed by Göteborgs Indiekör conducted by Niclas Pettersson and arranged by Carl Magnus Juliusson, Fredrik Lindberg & Erik Karlsson from an arrangement by the NJTOS.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWWiAJgxUUI Blood on the Snow was released as a track on ‘Bill Wells Presents Lorna Gilfedder’ which is available on 7e.p.https://7eptokyo.bandcamp.com/ Apart from Frozen Vaults, all the other tracks are previously unreleased. The NJTOS Christmas Album is available on Karaoke Kalkhttps://karaokekalk.bandcamp.com/ Snowflake cover image by Jad Fair.Come all ye faithful! Just one more to round out the year, and we couldn’t be happier with this one. Back in 2010, Counterflows head honcho Alasdair Campbell asked composer and multi-instrumentalist Bill Wells to curate and arrange a ‘black xmas’ gig at the Tolbooth in Stirling. Of the tunes Wells arranged, most were released as The National Jazz Trio Of Scotland's Christmas Album (Karaoke Kalk), featuring members of Francois & the Atlas Mountains, Golden Grrls and The One Ensemble. Speaking to Bill recently, it turns out that there are a number of previously unreleased tunes, radio sessions and alternate mixes from the time around the record. After a touch of Bill's magic mixing, we're lucky to have an 'alternate' The National Jazz Trio of Scotland Christmas Album to share with you - all of which (with the exception of Frozen Vaults) are so far unreleased. Of course, you'll recognise these tunes of old, but the bright, crisp meloncholy that Wells and the extraordinary voices of Isobel Campbell, Aby Vulliamy and Lorna Gilfedder bestow upon each green bough of 'Oh Christmas Tree' might just put tears in your eyes as you blearily look into a bauble this year.  Classic cockle warmers 'Hark The Herald Angels Sing' and 'Oh Come All Ye Faithful' have been given a cool version of the Wells / Wilson treatment - it's the Beach Boy's Bus on it's way to a Faroe Islands - its frozen lakes iced and glassy yet incredibly warm and inviting. And yet, in the middle of it all, on Wells' original 'Blood on the Snow', one voice asks, 'what will they do back home / how will they deal with it / when will they get the news / that you didn't make it?', stopping the merriment in its tracks and tuning it's listener to the silence of snow. It's delicate, fragile stuff, direct and unflinching in its delivery.

2. otta - tonsättarcentrum123456789 (18:40) otta’s performance unfurled like a conversation with the piano, building on motifs and altering the layout of the preparations inside the piano to suit each individual exploration. Preparations that otta utilised include Athen Kardashian & Nina Mhach Durban’s ‘I never held emotion in the palm of my hand’ (a keyring holding locker keys, a plastic surfboard and dolphin and a small Lotto game, used as a rattle and to dangle over and between the strings), Alia Hamaoui’s peachskin velvet I & II (plastic name tags with pewter cast peach pips attached), Natalya Marconi Falconer’s Between Debris and Thing (an aluminium cast of a fennel husk), and one part of Pheobe riley Law’s shape placing (a unique morph of steel and rubber coating, laser cut into interesting flat shapes). Ellis Berwick’s Electreight (a bike bell sat on its own inverted base) is often returned to by otta as a flourish to mark beginnings and ends of different phrases. A large section of the performance involved bringing Joe Moss’ vibrating Loot Box up to one of the stereo microphones hanging above her head to create a consistent buzzing, whilst she continued to improvise on the piano below. The playful performance felt like an evolving improvised dialogue with the materials at hand, with otta adapting to the effects the preparations made to each refrain. 3. Gentle Stranger - just enough dirt (22:18)  Gentle Stranger’s performance differed from the other two in that there were three musicians or “six hands”  playing on the piano, with Alex McKenzie taking over the high end melodic section of the piano, Josh Barfoot  staying towards the lower end, controlling the majority of the percussive rhythm section of the piece, and Tom  Hardwick-Allan using extended piano techniques, singing and moving the preparations around the inside of the  piano whilst the other two played the keys. Hardwick-Allan began the performance on a tiny red toy piano  (prepared with Olivia Albanell’s Fat Wasp and Ellis Berwick’s Piammer) a metre or so stage left of the grand. The  two pianos were connected by a group phone call that echoed and fed back inside the body of the piano, with  Barfoot and McKenzie’s phones sat inside Hayett Belarbi-McCarthy’s Dear Obsolescence (antique silk) & Verity  Coward’s Wodge (a fake wodge of £20 notes) respectively. The phones were the first of many objects the trio  secretly brought to Cafe OTO that broke the rules for Preparations initially laid out by Joseph Bradley Hill. The  objects included a megaphone, a metronome, a cassette tape and mini-amplifier, an electronic mouse deterrer  and, technically, Hardwick-Allan’s shoes which fell off as Barfoot and McKenzie carried him from one side of the  piano to the other, dropping him onto the piano keys in the process. The performance moves through roughly  eight stages using these objects and the 23 already inside, with each section a different take on the prepared  piano’s possibilities. The performance reaches its end with a wail by Hardwick-Allan into the resonant body of  the piano (the sustain held down by a weight placed their earlier), followed by a ‘wedding song’ sung through a  megaphone from underneath the piano. Hardwick-Allan’s first touch of a key on the grand piano then became  the performance’s last. Three live performances from the third iteration of Late Works’ prepared piano event, Preparations, that took place at a sold out Cafe OTO on 23rd June 2025. For the event, 23 artists were asked to create a sculpture / ‘preparation’ each for the grand piano (shown on album cover above). Three pianists/groups  then had to construct individual live performances with the adaptable unit of preparations. Featuring artist and multi-instrumentalist Stanley Welch, singer and producer otta and experimental ‘post-clown’ trio Gentle Stranger, the playful live album shifts from a vaudevillian theatricality (Welch) to a motif-driven dialogue (otta) to dynamic, rule-bending episodes (Gentle Stranger), together demonstrating the diverse musical range of the  prepared piano. For this third iteration of Preparations, the pianists performed on the grand piano with preparations made by artists/musicians Olivia Albanell, Fan Bangyu, Hayett Belarbi-Mccarthy, Ellis Berwick, Zoe de Caluwé, Patrick Cole, Verity Coward, Mandeep Dillon, Natalya Marconini Falconer, Alia Hamaoui, Ellen Poppy Hill, Joseph Bradley Hill, Athen Kardashian & Nina Mhach Durban, Pheobe riley Law, Vita Lerche, Joe Moss, Eleni Papazoglou, Alexandra Phillips, Gillies Adamson Semple, Thirza Smith & Dominic Watson. The concept (by Joseph Bradley Hill) looks to the piano as an exhibition space, inviting the pianists to activate the sculptures as musical instruments/noise objects. The artists were given two main instructions: the preparation must sit comfortably on an open palm and not damage the piano in any way. Other constraints were organised with Cafe OTO based on their piano, which included using non-perishable materials. The pianists were given one hour each with the piano to work out how they would prepare it for the performance, and were encouraged to use as many of the sculptures as possible. The open nature of the event allows the audience to approach the piano in between sets and explore the effects every sculpture had on the piano for themselves. You can find out more about the rules at www.lateworks.co.uk/preparations 1 - Stanley Welch - Mothers, Dogs and Clowns (27:34) Stanley Welch’s set opened and closed with a tribute to David Bowie, or more specifically Bowie’s nose, the subject of Dominic Watson’s preparation David Bowie (Market Square, Aylesbury) (a pewter cast of the nose of a David Bowie statue). Welch then continued playing almost non-stop through the nearly 30 minute set, shifting through section after section of percussive, theatrical, almost vaudevillian sounds. Throughout, Welch used Joseph Bradley Hill’s Roller (With Hidden Paolozzi) to dampen the bass strings, and the main preparations that punctuated the performance were the lid of Joe Moss’ Loot Box slamming open and shut, and Vita Lerche’s Piano Bell sliding along the strings. A brief whistling interlude added to one of the more romantic refrains in the centre of the piece, and as Welch rattled towards the end, works by Vita Lerche, Gillies Adamson Semple, Patrick Cole, Eleni Papazoglou and Zoe de Caluwé were shifted onto the bass strings to provide him with a dense padding that converted to a loud thumping noise he used to great effect (and to close his performance).

Softcover, 272 pages27cm x 21cmISBN 978-1-03693-585-6OTOHON, 2026 "The discarded syntax of the office, parcels of food on paper and cardboard: all are mummified in photographic stasis in the book you hold in your hand. But still, at this moment, they are also rotting somewhere. There is no end to this: through words and music, sound and visuals, Adam Bohman always brings home the bacon,  his textures manifesting a world you thought had disappeared." - Sophie Sleigh-Johnson   Adam Bohman has been operating on the outer fringes of underground music for over forty years. Working with home-built instruments, found objects, tape cut-ups, collages and graphic scores, his music transmutes the quotidian bric-a-brac of English life into sound - incorporating elements of music concretè and sound poetry alongside free improvisation. Much lesser known however, is Bohman’s visual output. Since the mid 1970’s, Bohman has used pencil, pastel, crayon and ink to conjure creatures and demons, sepia-saddened prospectors and smoked-out cowboys onto sugar paper and repurposed card. His later work uses biro and sellotape to cake together collages of takeaway menus, tinned food and the photocopied litter of the workplace. This is the first collection of Bohman’s artworks in print, bringing together just some of the thousands of drawings, collages and concert posters that collectively represent over half a century's worth of scrawing, scraping, gluing and smudging images into being. From drawings made in adolescence to recent collages, ‘Drawings, Collages, Paintings’ collects Adam’s artwork alongside an interview and an essay by Sophie Sleigh-Johnson in an attempt to bring attention and understanding to the work of one of England's most important underground artists.

The book arrives as signed and numbered 24 page staple bound booklet, printed in black and white on Keaykolour 100% recycled paper. Printed by Aldgate Press. Thanks to Max Bondi for his advice. Written during a bout of illness that prevented Foster from playing and performing music, Kneel to Heal is the first illustrated chapbook from musician Josephine Foster and a grateful offering to the restorative power of nature. Across 24 pages, Foster muses upon the simple joys of just being in the world, her figures traversing a landscape of words and imagery that is both playful and deeply felt. There is an uncluttered simplicity to Foster's art, at once charming and profound; a sense of calm and openness reflective of her feeling during its making "of being drawn profoundly into and toward silence" Conjuring the easy fluidity of Shel Silverstein, or the dreamlike, transportive scenes of Marc Chagal, Foster's brushwork digs deep into the soil whilst looking up to the stars. There are no weighty proclamations, no authoritative conclusions, just a shared wonder and a sense of time unfurling alongside the book's creation that offers solace both in its giving and its receiving. The joys of the natural world may be fleeting but Foster seems to suggest that there is no cause for despondency in this, merely an acceptance that this is how reality is. Nevertheless, "what emerges from the mystery.. and that real reality.. will heal".

First publication of new pieces by composer and musician Mica Levi titled ‘star star star’. The collection debuts 7 new works developed over the recent months by Mica and a working group of performers during a residency at Oto. Using written text instructions, speech rhythm techniques and visual cues, these pieces are open to players with no previous musical experience and incorporate elements such as spoken word, light and movement. ‘star star star’ puts the emphasis on the player and the group, whether that be on stage or at home, and shares a DIY spirit of openness and possibility.

     Released in print by Cafe OTO (OTOHAN01) and as a download by CURL (CURL015). 
 Produced by Cafe OTO and Qu Junktions.     24ppA5Staple boundPrinted on pastel blue 80gsm paper Mica Levi is a musician and composer born in Guildford and living in South East London. They use programming software, written notation and improvisation to produce music and are currently a member of the groups CURL, Good Sad Happy Bad and Tirzah.

Edition of 100 four-colour screenprints. Print adapted from Chen Tiemei's design for our 2025 OTO Billboard in Dalston, showing some of the highlights you can look forward to here in 2026! Printed on heavyweight Takeo Satogami Mouse Gray 198gsm paper by www.tartaruga.co.ukSize: 59cm x 29 cm

Printed on the Stanley / Stella Creator 2.0 tee -- nice unisex cut on fairwear black organic cotton. Set-in sleeve1x1 rib at neck collarInside back neck tape in self fabricTwin needle topstitch at sleeve cuff and hem CompositionShell: Single Jersey, 100% Cotton - Organic Combed Ring Spun / Heather Haze: 70% Organic Cotton - 30% Recycled Cotton, Combed Ring Spun, Fabric washedWe have collaborated with long term Cafe OTO friend Han Bennink to design the first ever OTO t-shirt. These are made on good quality fair trade Stanley/Stella tees - more info under the design detail.  The Dutch drummer and multi-instrumentalist Han Bennink has had a colossal impact and influence in the fields of free jazz and improvised music - not just as a percussionist but also as an organiser, designer and visual artist. Bennink trained at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterda and was strongly influenced by the anti-art of Dada. Out of what he calls 'a kind of involvement with things', Bennink reuses seemingly worthless objects from his immediate environment, such as broken drum skins and sticks. They are given a second life in his sculptures and installations. For his drawings and collages, Bennink draws on his personal memories and intuition. Birds and airplanes often return in these, symbols of the same freedom that he personifies during his performances. His artwork graces the covers of several corner stone recordings released on FMP, ICP, Incus, hat ART, psi and more. "It simply has to be beautiful and preferably appeal to an emotion as well. In [Bennink's] case that emotion doesn't have to be very dramatic or deeply hidden. You could rather call his art, his visual art anyway, light-footed, the way poems by Rutget Copland and Hans Verhagen can be." - Hans Sizoo, Jazzwereld nr 16. Photo by Corral

The Dutch drummer and multi-instrumentalist Han Bennink has had a colossal impact and influence in the fields of free jazz and improvised music - not just as a percussionist but also as an organiser, designer and visual artist. Bennink trained at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterda and was strongly influenced by the anti-art of Dada. Out of what he calls 'a kind of involvement with things', Bennink reuses seemingly worthless objects from his immediate environment, such as broken drum skins and sticks. They are given a second life in his sculptures and installations. For his drawings and collages, Bennink draws on his personal memories and intuition. Birds and airplanes often return in these, symbols of the same freedom that he personifies during his performances. His artwork graces the covers of several corner stone recordings released on FMP, ICP, Incus, hat ART, psi and more. "It simply has to be beautiful and preferably appeal to an emotion as well. In [Bennink's] case that emotion doesn't have to be very dramatic or deeply hidden. You could rather call his art, his visual art anyway, light-footed, the way poems by Rutget Copland and Hans Verhagen can be." - Hans Sizoo, Jazzwereld nr 16.  Reprint of the now classic OTO tote, designed by Han Bennink and screenprinted onto a heavyweight canvas. Available in natural or black.  100% Cotton Canvas - 270gsm (8oz/yd²)Can be carried by hand or over the shoulder39 x 42 x 13 Double sided print - back says Cafe OTO - Han Bennink Photo by Corral

Limited run of very special Chen Tiemei (Old Heaven Books) designed tea towels, in collaboration with Dusty Ballz - purrfect for serving dinner and managing spillages. Screenprinted using Chen Tiemei's design from our 2025 OTO Billboard in Dalston, showing some of the highlights you can look forward to here in 2026! 5oz heavyweight 100% cotton tea towel w/ hanging loop. Printed in the UK. Please place any Christmas orders by 10am on the 19th December to ensure delivery by Christmas - Royal Mail have advised us that is the last day for the 48 hour tracked service. We will be open for collection / last minute shopping through to 5pm on 22nd December, and then we'll close until the 27th.

NEW OTO tote, designed by Han Bennink and screenprinted onto a heavyweight canvas. Available in natural or black. Only done 100 each of these!  100% heavy cotton canvas10oz / 283gsm canvas420mm x 370mm x 110mm / 16.5in x 14.5in x 4.3inLong Handles: 600mm / 24in

NEW OTO tote, designed by Han Bennink and screenprinted onto a heavyweight canvas. Available in natural or black. Only done 100 each of these!  100% heavy cotton canvas10oz / 283gsm canvas420mm x 370mm x 110mm / 16.5in x 14.5in x 4.3inLong Handles: 600mm / 24in

The 4LP boxset version holds nearly all the music performed over the two nights, minus 5 minutes we were forced to cut to fit the music onto 4 discs. It will arrive in a handcovered and screenprint boxset, limited to 250 copies and will include a full booklet of photographs from the residency by Dawid Laskowski. Please note the artwork may differ slightly from the mock up.  Your order will be packed with care and delivered via a tracked service.  The 2LP version is an edit of the music played on both nights. It will arrive as a gatefold 12" printed in reverse board outersleeves and will include a pull out with photographs from the residency by Dawid Laskowski. The 2CD version contains both sets from both nights. The discs will be housed in a digipak on reverse board and will include photographs from the residency by Dawid Laskowski. It is a huge honour to publish Peter Brotzmann’s final concerts on OTOROKU. When we invited Peter to do a residency at Cafe OTO back in February 2023 we had no idea these would be his last ever shows and he played with such power it would have been hard for anyone present to believe he would never play publicly again. Recorded over two nights this grouping of Jason Adasiewicz on vibraphone, John Edwards on bass and Steve Noble on drums feels especially resonant and personal to Cafe OTO. The first time Peter performed at the venue back in 2010 it was in a trio with John and Steve, (released as The Worse The Better kick starting our in-house record label) so it feels fitting that the last shows he ever played here should also have that trio at its core. The quartet last played together at OTO back in 2013, (released as Mental Shake on OTOROKU), and Brotzmann humbly opened the return of the group saying, "it's a pleasure to be back” before launching straight into a long blast on the alto sax, swiftly met by the relentless energy and engagement of Adasiewicz, Edwards and Noble. There are moments of tenderness to Brotzmann’s playing that feels specific to this small group - one that cuts across three generations - and in a space that’s come to feel like home. Of course, there is dizzying, forceful, singleminded playing, but even amongst a relentless chorus of cymbal splashes and busy vibraphone clusters the lyrical, spacious moments are savoured and held onto. As he remarked after at the end of the group's first visit to OTO, “the Quartet is, for us, a great adventure.” Peter clearly wanted to play to the end. Did he know these might be his last shows? We will never know. What is clear is he wanted to go out in style and on his terms. For anyone in the room at the time or listening to these recordings it’s clear he achieved that. It was Peter’s wish that these recordings should be made public and he was due to finalise the cover design on the week he passed away. We would like to thank Peter’s family for working with us to fulfil Peter’s wishes to release this material but more than anything we would like to thank Peter for all the extraordinary memories, his generosity and all he has given the music. On a personal level for us, like so many, he meant a huge amount and we miss him deeply. --- Peter Brotzmann / reeds John Edwards / double bass Steve Noble / drums Jason Adasiewicz / vibraphone  --- Recorded live at Cafe OTO by Billy Steiger on 10th and 11th February 2023. Mixed by James Dunn. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielesi. Photos by Dawid Laskowski. Pressed in the UK by Vinyl Press. Artwork by Peter Brötzmann. Design by Untiet.

By the early '70s, Milford Graves had more or less stopped gigging. Having learned his lesson the hard way in multiple-night runs like a legendary Slugs' residency with Albert Ayler, he knew that the level of energy that he put out during a performance would be difficult to sustain over the long haul. A concert was a kind of absolute ritual for him, after which he would be totally spent, emotionally and physically. Graves rarely left anything on the table. Any musical performance was an opportunity to present an amalgamated version of all the things he had learned. He was an innovator and a teacher at his core, and the concert venue was one of his first classroom settings. In March 1976, Verna Gillis invited Graves to perform on WBAI's Free Music Store radio show. For the date, he chose to present a trio lineup which he had been occasionally playing – featuring two saxophonists who were dedicated to the drummer's vision. Hugh Glover is almost exclusively known for his work with Graves, while Arthur Doyle would gain exposure later for an obscure record that he made two years later, Alabama Feeling, which would become a highly collectable item among free jazz enthusiasts. Originally released in 1977, Bäbi remains one of Graves' most seminal recordings. The music played by the trio was ecstatic. Extreme energy music, buoyant and joyful. It relied on Graves' new way of approaching the drum kit, in which he had opened up the bottoms of his skin-slackened toms and eliminated the snare. Graves' art was always unblemished by commercial interests, and this album is its finest mission statement. First-time vinyl reissue. Sourced from the original master tapes.

Beautiful gatefold LP with original artwork by rubber stamp maker 'Nervous' Stephen Fowler. Each image was individually carved from a block of rubber and the prints then added to the artwork. The artwork was inspired by the theme of the album - Daniel Defoe's Diary of a Plague Year - and the images based on 17th century ballad broadside images. For many years Evan Parker, one of the greatest post-Coltrane saxophonists, has played a monthly gig at the London club The Vortex. These gigs in part illustrate Evan’s close ties with the fragile ecosystem of clubs that support the jazz world; the small venues that allow an intimate and powerful connection between the artist and audience that is at the heart of jazz creativity. Evan called these events his ‘jazz’ gigs, the knowing hyphenation an indication of the problematic use of the J word, an acceptance of the Vortex as a ‘jazz’ club, and a nod to his origins in jazz history. I took a friend there one time and it seemed to me that the trio’s performance (Evan, John Edwards and the great and sadly departed Tony Marsh) came close to seeing Coltrane or Ayler playing at the 5 Spot or one of the other legendary New York venues. When we asked Evan if he would record an album for Cadillac, it was this aspect of his multifaceted talents that we had in mind. The quartet you hear on this album (with Paul Lytton, John Edwards and Alexander Hawkins) came together for a gig at the Vortex in Evan’s regular slot on June 20th 2019, and what a fine gig it was! Then the next day we relocated to the beautiful barn-like studio of Rimshot, deep in the Kent countryside to record the album. The location, close to Evan’s home, had other resonances which Chris Searle has described in his sleevenote. The subsequent (and over long) process of mastering and producing the album coincided with the first Covid lockdown and the coincidence of Evan and I both reading Defoe's "Journal of the Plague Year", which provided context and some track titles. This put me in mind of Stephen Fowler’s brilliant rubber stamp artwork, and he has created a visual representation that expresses many of the themes of the album.

OTOROKU is proud to present the first vinyl reissue of Blue Notes for Mongezi, one of the most passionate celebrations of a life in music ever laid to tape. Recorded in late 1975 by Blue Notes, then reduced to a quartet - Dudu Pukwana on  alto sax, whistle, percussion, and vocals; Johnny Dyani on bass, bells, and vocals; Louis Moholo-Moholo on drums, percussion, and vocals; and Chris McGregor on piano, and percussion - and issued the following year by Ogun, the album is a kairos; the first commercial release by one of free jazz’s seminal ensembles, captured them 13 years after their founding - at the height of their powers - delivering an explosive dirge dedicated to Mongezi Feza, their former bandmate and friend.  Blue Notes were founded in Cape Town in 1962 and stand among the most important ensembles in the history of jazz. Artistically brilliant and groundbreaking - gathering, within a few short years, a devoted following that included Don Cherry, Steve Lacy, Abdullah Ibrahim, Dexter Gordon, Kenny Drew,Keith Tippett, Evan Parker, John Stevens, and numerous others - they were also the first widely visible multiracial band in South Africa. As a mixed race band under South African apartheid; this group of friends and like-minded artists - Chris McGregor, Mongezi Feza, Dudu Pukwana, Nikele Moyake, Johnny Dyani and Louis Moholo-Moholo -  existed within a context that viewed their mere existence as a dangerous and subversive act. In 1964, as the pressure mounted, they joined an exodus of musicians leaving for Europe, eventually settling in London during the following year. Sadly, not long after arriving and facing continued economic peril, the group buckled. Johnny Dyani left to join Don Cherry’s band. Moholo-Moholo and Dyani followed suit and joined Steve Lacy on tour, and the remaining members morphed into a number of ensembles that eventually grew to become Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath. In late 1975 however, Mongezi Feza - in the midst of a fruitful period collaborating with Dudu Pukwana, Johnny Dyani, and Okay Temiz - suddenly passed away at the age of thirty from pneumonia. Nine days later, on the 23rd December, following the memorial service to their friend, Pukwana, Dyani, McGregor, and Moholo-Moholo gathered in a rehearsal room in London and set out to play. Fittingly, no discussion took place before or during the session. The music was left to say it all.   The resulting double LP coalesced into four long-form movements that occupy a side each, collectively unleashing an onslaught of free jazz fire, fluidly covering a remarkable range of moods and tactical approaches across it’s length. For anyone encountering the Blue Notes for the first time, the album must have felt like being blindsided by a brick, adding a profound sense of credence to Moholo-Moholo’s belief that free improvisation was intrinsically linked to the Pan-African temperament. In the band’s hands, the idiom sounds like nothing else and exactly as it should.  A frenzied funeral dirge, a cry, and catharsis, the record rises and falls between playful and joyous movements of deconstructed song, rhythmic and vocal tribalism, and churning, instrumental free expression. It indicates not only a possible future for musical expression - as all truly avant-garde music does - but also the very roots of music itself, illuminating, through abstraction, the far-flung, ancient roots currently carried by the New Orleans “first line” march to the grave. It is a decidedly African vision of free jazz, coalescing as a collective expression of celebration and loss on a cold London day. It is a masterpiece unfolding in real time - out on a limb and laden with risk - created by four of the most talented voices the idiom has known.   --- DUDU PUKWANA / alto sax, whistle, percussion, vocals CHRIS McGREGOR / piano, percussion LOUIS MOHOLO / drums, percussion, vocals JOHNNY DYANI / bass, bell, vocals and most of the words --- This 2022 re-issue has been made with permission and in association with Ogun records. Transferred from the original masters and featuring an exact reproduction of the original artwork. Remastered by Giuseppe Ilelasi and packaged in a high gloss sleeve. All music by the Blue Notes. All music published by Ogun Publishing Co. Cover design by Ogun.  Front cover photograph and photograph of Mongezi Feza by Geroge Hallet. Blue Notes photograph by Jurg. Back cover photograph by George Hallet and Peter Sinclair. Xhosa translation by Z. Pallo Jordan. Produced by Keith Beal and Chris McGregor. Ogun Recording would like to thank John Martyn for his assistance in making this album possible. Reissue for OTOROKU produced by Abby Thomas. Transferred from the original masters by Shaun Crook at Lockdown Studios. Remastered by Giuseppe Ielasi. Layout for reissue by Maja Larrson.

OTOROKU is proud to present the first vinyl reissue of Blue Notes for Johnny - a defining statement by one of the greatest ensembles in the history of jazz. Recorded in mid-1987 by Blue Notes - then reduced to the trio of Dudu Pukwana on alto sax, Louis Moholo-Moholo on drums and Chris McGregor on piano - it encounters the band 25 years after their founding embarking on an inward meditation through collective music making dedicated to Johnny Dyani, their former bandmate and friend.  Blue Notes were founded in Cape Town in 1962, and stand among the most important ensembles in the history of jazz. Artistically brilliant and groundbreaking - gathering, within a few short years, a devoted following that included Don Cherry, Steve Lacy, Abdullah Ibrahim, Dexter Gordon, Kenny Drew, Keith Tippett, Evan Parker, John Stevens and numerous others - they were also the first widely visible multiracial band in South Africa. As a mixed race band under apartheid, this group of friends and like-minded artists - Chris McGregor, Mongezi Feza, Dudu Pukwana, Nikele Moyake, Johnny Dyani and Louis Moholo-Moholo -  existed within a context that viewed their mere existence as a dangerous and subversive act. In 1964 they joined an exodus of musicians leaving for Europe and eventually settled in London the following year. Sadly, not long after arriving and facing continued economic peril, the group buckled. Johnny Dyani left to join Don Cherry’s band. Moholo-Moholo and Dyani followed suit and joined Steve Lacy on tour, and the remaining members morphed into a number of ensembles that eventually grew to become Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath.    Following the death of Mongezi Feza in 1975 the remaining members of the group had come back together to record Blue Notes For Mongezi, reigniting a sporadic period of activity over the coming years. Following the untimely passing of Johnny Dyani in late 1986, the last three members of the original line-up - McGregor, Pukwana and Moholo-Moholo - reformed to pay tribute to yet another of their fallen brothers.  Blue Notes for Johnny, the group’s second musical memorial to a band member, incorporates a considerably broader range of touchstone and practices than its predecessor, nodding toward the band’s foundations in be-bop and post-bop without abandoning where they had journeyed along the way. Internalising equal elements of hard-bop, modalism, and free improvisation, it is a startling creative statement, imbued with a tension that renders an equally radical and sophisticated challenge; a furious tide - slow in pace and it slow to reveal itself - masquerading in gentler forms.  A celebration and a memorial. Joyous and tragic. A real time resurrection of personal experience, Blue Notes for Johnny dodges, dances, and transforms across its two sides, refusing to be nailed down. As the trio pushes against each other, bristling tonal and rhythmic collisions leave the impression that something is bound to explode, without ever fully letting go.  Blue Notes for Johnny’s memorialisation is unwittingly doubled by capturing the final time that the Blue Notes would come together in the studio. Both Dudu Pukwana and Chris McGregor would pass away three years later in 1990, leaving Moholo-Moholo - who continues to carve a groundbreaking trajectory across the world of jazz - as the last surviving member. The album remains as a journey between an imaged future and the beginning of it all. Six friends meeting and communing through sound. Six friends who had triumphed against the odds, becoming some of the greatest creative voices of their generation. Six friends who were five, then four, and then three, before they were done. Friends who never failed, in whatever form, to come together and play. It is a story begun 60 years ago that remains just as prescient today. --- DUDU PUKWANA / alto sax CHRIS McGREGOR / piano LOUIS MOHOLO / drums  --- This 2022 re-issue has been made with permission and in association with Ogun records. Transferred from the original masters and featuring an exact reproduction of the original artwork. Remastered by Giuseppe Ielasi. All music by the Blue Notes. All music published by Ogun Publishing Co. Cover design by Ogun.

A major work in François Bayle’s repertoire, Jeîta ou murmure des eaux provides a journey and an immersion into a world of unleashed energies, with the Jeîta cave serving both as a backdrop and a particle accelerator. Here, the cave indeed stands for the concrete source of the composer’s inspiration as much as the mind space where metamorphoses occur. By combining such figurative spaces and immaterial sound projections, François Bayle evokes another subject, an inhabitant of the multiple and symbolic cave: the listening subject, who always reveals himself, implicitly, at the heart of François Bayle’s musical concerns and the path he has always defended: the acousmatic approach. LP housed in printed inner and outersleeve• Embossed outer sleeve• First pressing of 1000 copies

runhild Ferrari: Errant Ear was composed at the end of 2024 with this feeling of wandering, of strolling in my memories that I was able to capture with my ears, my eyes, my nose, all my sensations, things that my life is made of and that I keep almost like treasures. Here, I feel free to enjoy surprises, to rediscover my memories, to give them new life.I had the pleasure of using sound moments lent to me by Luke Fowler, Chris Watson and Luc Ferrari, and I mixed them with my own recent recordings and some of my archives from the 1970s onwards – albeit sometimes with painful joy.‘Errant Ear’ is a co-commission between Kunst zum Hören ORF Ö1 and Radiophrenia.

‘May Spring Last a Lifetime’ is the first duo release from improvising tenor saxophonists Tom Challenger and Evan Parker. The album emerged after years of informal practice sessions; then, following two live performances, the duo recorded this session at Arco Barco in Ramsgate. The album is Evan Parker’s fifth appearance on the False Walls label.Extracts from the CD booklet conversation between Tom and Evan:Evan: “Duo is the simplest form of group playing. And so it’s the simplest, the purest in a certain sense, and the most challenging. There’s nowhere to hide, really. It’s about the exchange. With two tenor saxophones, they have a shared language as instruments and I think we both have a relationship with the saxophone which is about: what does this thing do, what can it do? And then I’ve learned things from Tom that he has discovered: you can do this and can I approximate that? Can I incorporate that into my language or my relationship with the output of the instrument?”Tom: “I mean, as much as there is just two of us and you can tell there’s two of us, there are moments where there’s no one [laughs], and then there’s moments where there are four or five. This duo has challenged the way that I listen, or the way I don’t listen sometimes. But there are these weird moments where there might be three perceivable, four perceivable things going on, you know, in terms of what you might call a voice.”

This collection features a selection of works composed between 1983 and 2020 in both analogue (until 1996) and digital studios. It is a compendium of various genres, excluding works with lyrics. Created for a sculpture exhibition, dance or theatre performance, remix of a composer friend's work (Francis Dhomont), tribute to a 20th century revolutionary (Claude Debussy) or virtuoso piece for spatialised interpretation on a sound projection console, they all have one thing in common: acousmatic composition and listening.They therefore appeal to the imagination and memory of the attentive listener. Music of Meaning rather than Music of Sound.This album also bears witness to the path travelled over 40 years. While it has evolved alongside the technological capabilities of an electroacoustic studio, the aesthetic choice I made at the age of 33 to embark on the hidden and discreet, but poetic, paths of acousmatics, rather than remaining on the royal road of instrumental composition has remained steadfast.It is clear today that an acousmatic work responds to the paradigms that mark our Western era: illusion or reality? True or false? Original, recreation, or copy? Sensation or logic? Is it real time, immediate, improvised or delayed, reflected and written?

The 4LP boxset version holds nearly all the music performed over the two nights, minus 5 minutes we were forced to cut to fit the music onto 4 discs. It will arrive in a handcovered and screenprint boxset, limited to 250 copies and will include a full booklet of photographs from the residency by Dawid Laskowski. Please note the artwork may differ slightly from the mock up.  Your order will be packed with care and delivered via a tracked service.  The 2LP version is an edit of the music played on both nights. It will arrive as a gatefold 12" printed in reverse board outersleeves and will include a pull out with photographs from the residency by Dawid Laskowski. The 2CD version contains both sets from both nights. The discs will be housed in a digipak on reverse board and will include photographs from the residency by Dawid Laskowski. It is a huge honour to publish Peter Brotzmann’s final concerts on OTOROKU. When we invited Peter to do a residency at Cafe OTO back in February 2023 we had no idea these would be his last ever shows and he played with such power it would have been hard for anyone present to believe he would never play publicly again. Recorded over two nights this grouping of Jason Adasiewicz on vibraphone, John Edwards on bass and Steve Noble on drums feels especially resonant and personal to Cafe OTO. The first time Peter performed at the venue back in 2010 it was in a trio with John and Steve, (released as The Worse The Better kick starting our in-house record label) so it feels fitting that the last shows he ever played here should also have that trio at its core. The quartet last played together at OTO back in 2013, (released as Mental Shake on OTOROKU), and Brotzmann humbly opened the return of the group saying, "it's a pleasure to be back” before launching straight into a long blast on the alto sax, swiftly met by the relentless energy and engagement of Adasiewicz, Edwards and Noble. There are moments of tenderness to Brotzmann’s playing that feels specific to this small group - one that cuts across three generations - and in a space that’s come to feel like home. Of course, there is dizzying, forceful, singleminded playing, but even amongst a relentless chorus of cymbal splashes and busy vibraphone clusters the lyrical, spacious moments are savoured and held onto. As he remarked after at the end of the group's first visit to OTO, “the Quartet is, for us, a great adventure.” Peter clearly wanted to play to the end. Did he know these might be his last shows? We will never know. What is clear is he wanted to go out in style and on his terms. For anyone in the room at the time or listening to these recordings it’s clear he achieved that. It was Peter’s wish that these recordings should be made public and he was due to finalise the cover design on the week he passed away. We would like to thank Peter’s family for working with us to fulfil Peter’s wishes to release this material but more than anything we would like to thank Peter for all the extraordinary memories, his generosity and all he has given the music. On a personal level for us, like so many, he meant a huge amount and we miss him deeply. --- Peter Brotzmann / reeds John Edwards / double bass Steve Noble / drums Jason Adasiewicz / vibraphone  --- Recorded live at Cafe OTO by Billy Steiger on 10th and 11th February 2023. Mixed by James Dunn. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielesi. Photos by Dawid Laskowski. Pressed in the UK by Vinyl Press. Artwork by Peter Brötzmann. Design by Untiet.

/ For Rob Green (1964-2010) “A bydded i’r arth a ryddhawyd drochi ei gorff yn llifoedd y gogledd rhewllyd a pheidio â dihoeni yn acwariwm dŵr distyll yr ardd academaidd.” Kazimir Malevich, O Giwbiaeth a Dyfodolaeth i Swprematiaeth: Y Realaeth Arlunyddol Newydd (1915) “And may the freed bear bathe his body amid the flows of the frozen north and not languish in the aquarium of distilled water in the academic garden.” Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist Manifesto (1916)creditsreleased February 24, 2021 Telyn benglin / Lap harp Telyn benglin, troswr, meicroffon cyffwrdd (Trac 7), pedal trosyriant, pedal sain a dau chwyddseinydd. Lap harp, transducer, contact microphone (track 7), overdrive, volume pedal and two amplifiers. Recordiwyd ar Rhagfyr 11, 2011 yn Tŵr Morden, Newcastle upon Tyne / Recorded on 11th of December 2011 at Morden Tower, Newcastle upon Tyne.Cynhyrchydd gweithredol / Executive producer: Richard Dawson.Recordiwyd a chymysgwyd gan / Recorded and mixed by Phil Begg.Meistrolwyd gan / Mastered by Sam Grant.Dylunio gan / Design by Anna Peaker.Darlun gan / Drawing by Jean-Luc Guionnet. Benthycwyd y teitlau o weithiau / Titles borrowed from the works of Thomas Bernhard, Jorge Luis Borges, Heather Fuller, Elizabeth Price, J H Prynne, Sarah Riggs, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Leslie Scalapino. Rhyddhawyd Wound Response yn gyntaf ar finyl gan Alt Vinyl, av038 (2012).Wound Response was first released on LP with Alt Vinyl, av038 (2012). Diolch i / Thank you to: Paul Kelly, Adam Parkinson, Connie Pickard, Sioned Puw Rowlands, Angharad Closs Stephens and Graham Thrower.Rhodri Davies self reissue of  Wound Response originally released by Alt Vinyl in 2012. Reissued alongside the solo acoustic 'An Air swept Clean Of All Distance', Wound Response is loud, distorted and forms an attempt to work with rhythm and pitches in an open and fluid way. --- Wound Response was first released on LP with Alt Vinyl, av038 (2012) and formed a radical departure for Davies’s solo work. Inspired by the ‘Destruction in Art Symposium’ (1966). Davies used two main techniques: over-articulate the strings (what harpists are taught notto do) and attack the strings with a plectrum, forcing the tuning into new relationships until the strings eventually broke. This is the first time that this album will be released on CD. “Wound Response is a raw recording scored for solo lap harp, overdrive, volume pedal and twin amplifiers. The fuzz is particularly cranky here, giving Rhodri’s obsessively repetitive harp soundings the kinda scorch of solo Masayuki Takayanagi.” - David Keenan, Volcanic Tongue 2012 ---

Music composed by Keith Tippett, arranged by Hilary JefferyLyrics by Julie TippettsThe music on “Green Prism” is rooted in the last of the many commissions Keith wrote in the latter part of his career. The original compositions featured on this album are arrangements drawn from a suite composed by Tippett entitled "Winter's Welcome" in 2018 for the brass ensemble Zinc & Copper, which premiered in Berlin on 17th February 2019. Due to ill health Keith was unable to attend the final rehearsals, which meant the project was never finished as originally envisioned. After Keith passed away in 2020, Jeffery resolved to record everything anew, for multi-track brass - exploring Keith's music from different angles, like the "prism" of the title, diving into the rich harmonies which often sound like distant bells and a far-out brass ensemble. These recordings formed a frame and springboard for improvisations and songs by Julie Tippetts, Paul Dunmall, Tobias Delius, Hilary Jeffery and Eleni Poulou, recorded between August 2024 and August 2025 in Bristol and Berlin.It is quintessentially ‘Keith music’. And it is equally an extension of the unique series of recordings Keith made with his wife Julie, from their earliest days in the 1970s as Ovary Lodge to the four “Couple in Spirit” albums. Julie’s words and vocal performance are central to the powerfully evocative music presented here. “Julie’s voice to me is like an instrument with many different tonal colours and amazing range. Her intonation is fantastic.” Those are the words of Paul Dunmall, another long-time collaborator with Keith and also a key contributor to this album.The creative force behind "Green Prism" is Hilary Jeffery. Like many others across the years, Hilary was inspired by attending Keith’s jazz workshops while he was studying at Dartington College of Arts. He had already met and played with Paul Dunmall. He describes these experiences as “Unforgettable and life changing. Keith, Julie and Paul were very encouraging to me as I was starting out to live and work in the musical multiverse. They were role models for how to live musically in an uncompromising and authentic way which was deeply inspiring and motivating.”This album is at once a tribute to a master of composition in his maturity and a sensitive re-imagining by someone from a new generation, discovering a way to celebrate the spirit of Keith Tippett.“Green Prism” is a recording that will not only engross anyone already familiar with Keith Tippett’s music; it will hopefully bring him to the attention of a new generation of those with mind’s open enough to appreciate the best of contemporary composition.

Softcover, 235pp Wymer Publishing, 2026With Jon Klein and Martin McCarrick now full-blown members, Siouxsie and The Banshees embarks on one of its most creative and ambitious odysseys, culminating in the multidimensional complexities of the 1988 album Peepshow. Both lyrically and musically, the Banshees continue to confound expectation with their progressively sophisticated and erudite artistry, yielding the groundbreaking single ‘Peek-A-Boo’ and propelling the Banshees to number one on the American Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. Live, the Banshees continue to be a breathtaking entity; the theatricality of their stage shows paralleling the grandiosity of their songs. However, the revolving door of personnel changes again threatens to derail the band, this time in the form of their (mis)management, until Tim Collins starts to unpick and stabilise the Banshees’ shambolic financial affairs.Amplifying the strained relations, the first major rupture between founder members Siouxsie and Steven Severin, while on tour, leads to the Banshees’ hiatus between the end of the Peepshow gigs in December 1988 and the release of ‘Kiss Them For Me’ in May 1991, reaching the Modern Rock Tracks number one slot for the second time; a noticeable divergence from their volatile chart fortunes in the UK.There is a resurgence of The Creatures’ activity, and the album Boomerang is released in 1989. At the same time, Severin composes the film score for director Nigel Wingrove’s Visions Of Ecstasy film. Invited to play the inaugural Lollapalooza tour in July and August 1991 alongside bands such as Nine Inch Nails, Jane’s Addiction and Butthole Surfers, the Banshees consolidate their growing popularity in the USA and go down a storm! Convening for two more studio albums, Superstition (1991) and The Rapture (1995), as well as the 1992 Twice Upon A Time: The Singles compilation album, the Banshees go to Hollywood, co-writing the song ‘Face To Face’ with composer Danny Efman for the 1992 Tim Burton-directed film Batman Returns. With tranches of time between activities becoming increasingly prolonged, it begs the question: have Siouxsie and The Banshees, a band that have stayed the course against often insurmountable odds since 1976, finally reached their journey’s end?

Paperback, 260pp Lendal Press, 20261950s New York: a city alive with risk, both artistic and political. Against a backdrop of McCarthyite witch-hunts, the Rosenberg trial and the Korean War, two young outsiders – composer Morton Feldman and painter Philip Guston – form a friendship that will shape the course of their creative lives. Part rivalry, part devotion and part creative necessity, their bond threatens to be both salvation and undoing. As nights stretch into mornings in cramped studios and downtown cafés, the work itself becomes a kind of battleground, where everything – wives, friends, health, reputation and self – is expendable, in search of the next breakthrough. Published for Feldman’s centenary, Feldman in Love is a lyrical, intimate novel about creation and longing, what it truly costs to make great art, and what we ultimately owe to one another when the last note has been played.

Paperback, 390pp Cambridge University Press, 2016Morton Feldman is widely regarded as one of America's greatest composers. His music is famously idiosyncratic, but, in many cases, the way he presented it is also unusual because, in the 1950s and 1960s, he often composed in non-standard musical notations, including a groundbreaking variety on graph paper that facilitated deliberately imprecise specifications of pitch and, at times, other musical parameters. Feldman used this notation, intermittently, over seventeen years, producing numerous graph works that invite analysis as an evolving series. Taking this approach, David Cline marshals a wide range of source materials - many previously unpublished - in clarifying the ideology, organisation and generative history of these graphs and their formative role in the chronicle of post-war music. This assists in pinpointing connections with Feldman's compositions in other formats, works by other composers, notably John Cage, and contemporary currents in painting. Performance practice is examined through analysis of Feldman's non-notated preferences and David Tudor's celebrated interpretations.

Hardback, 320pp Profile Books, 2026  How thirty years of Black music reshaped Britain, from 1989 to the present Shapeshifting, collaborative, endlessly inventive and robustly empowering: Black music has transformed British culture and society, and gifted generations of Black Britons a powerful means to reject misrepresentation and find freedom and joy in sound. From the height of jungle and hip-hop in the 90s to the London uprisings in 2011, the birth of UK trap and the rise of grime superstars like Stormzy, filmmaker and DJ Jesse Bernard examines how Black culture in Britain is moulded by creativity drawn from Lagos and Los Angeles, Sao Paolo and South London. Escaping Babylon takes a deep dive into the history of Black British music to celebrate its richness, heritage and towering legacy.

Foreword by Paul Gilroy Paperback, 310pp Manchester University Press, 2026A bold analysis that exposes the racist policing of Black music. The emergence of UK drill music made headline news, portraying it as a criminal enterprise instead of recognising it as an art form. This new rap subgenre, however, is neither the first nor the only Black music to be targeted this way. Policing the beats rewinds the tape to demonstrate how music has been used as an instrument for policing Black people, from the era of colonial slavery to the present day, revealing the racist legal processes that make crimes out of rhymes. This original and readable book offers the first in-depth account of the policing of Black music in Britain, highlighting the relationship between politics, culture and criminal (in)justice and inviting music lovers, scholars and activists to tune in.

Sofcover, 384pp.  Aum Fidelity/ Centering, New York, 2026 3rd edition, 100 copy runWilliam Parker's Observations presents the most expansive overview of his prolific, diverse, and illuminating writings yet. Drawn from over a 50+ year span (1967-2023), it collects an array of works that include liner notes, remembrances, essays, lyrics, concert programs, book forewords, plays, & transcriptions of recitations. Nearly 400 pages & over 100,000 words, it includes many pieces not previously published or anthologized. In its pages, one can trace the evolution & refinement of core philosophies that Parker came to conceive & embrace from first immersing himself in music, film, poetry, art, & grassroots movements. Liner notes often go far beyond descriptions of the music, providing an outlet to present the broader foundations of his art, visions for a better world, & evocative tales about old friends & colleagues, many of whom are unlikely to be documented in "official" history books. Observations is published on Parker's Centering imprint. The first edition of 50 copies was sold at the 2024 Vision Festival. This second edition, first print run of 100 copies (February 2025), adds a foreword by the late Dr. E. Pelikan Chalto, aka Carl Lombard, an important early influence on WP, who has described him as "a shaman, teacher, painter, poet, & musician ... one of the heaviest spirits on the scene."   William Parker was born in the Bronx, NY, in 1952. At a young age, he realized that art & community would guide his life's path. This led him to move to the Lower East Side of New York City, where he has lived since the early 1970s. Inspirations for his work include peace, compassion, self-determination, nature, freedom, music of Indigenous peoples, and the relationships between improvisation, composition, sound, & silence. These themes & others converge in his concept of Universal Tonality, which he explores as a musician, poet, visual artist, philosopher, historian, organizer, educator, & activist.

A3 poster for Riverloam Trio – the trio of Mikołaj Trzaska, Mark Sanders, Ollie Brice – at OTO in 2014, as part of the 12th Polish Film Festival. From the original listing... “Acclaimed composer, saxophonist and clarinetist, Mikołaj Trzaska appears at Cafe OTO on 10th May for Trzaska Moving Movies, leading an international trio with Mark Sanders (drums) and Ollie Brice (double bass) playing songs from the soundtracks to the outstanding films of Wojciech Smarzowski including Rose, The Dark House, and Traffic Department. Trzaska is one of the most important figures in the Polish jazz scene in the broadest sense. One of the creators of the revolutionary Polish form of jazz called 'Yass', he has been working with Wojciech Smarzowski for many years. His soundtracks have received exceptional recognition, both from fans and from music critics alike. Trzaska has also created music for a number of documentaries, including Iwona Bartólewska’s A Letter to My Son.”

Poster print for the Intersect event that took place across Cafe OTO, The Vortex and Servant Jazz Quarters in December 2013. Design by Paul Abbott. From the original listing... “An extended evening of adventurous music taking place across Servant Jazz Quarters, The Vortex, Cafe OTO and The OTO Project Space. The ticket price gives you a wristband that gets you access to all four venues throughout the day. Line-up includes: Alex Ward Angharad Davies Blue Eyed Hawk Chris Weaver Daichi Yoshikawa Dollyman Fumi Okiji Guillaume Viltard Hannah Marshall Isnaj Dui James Dunn Jennifer Allum Julie Kjær Klavikon Matthew Bourne Oli Brice Oliver Coates Orchestra Elastique Ore Paul Abbott Peter Blundell Phil Julian Rachel Musson Ross Lambert Seymour Wright Strobes Steve Noble Tom Rogerson Woven Entity Yoni Silver”

Edition of 100 four-colour screenprints. Print adapted from Chen Tiemei's design for our 2025 OTO Billboard in Dalston, showing some of the highlights you can look forward to here in 2026! Printed on heavyweight Takeo Satogami Mouse Gray 198gsm paper by www.tartaruga.co.ukSize: 59cm x 29 cm

Limited edition riso done for Dali's residency. 25 white, 25 orange, printed by Good Press on uncoated "Arena Rough Natural" 200gsm and 230gsm Orange. Designed by Oli Barrett.

A2 screenprint for our four-day residency with harpist Rhodri Davies, an artist immersed in the worlds of improvisation, musical experimentation, composition and contemporary classical performance. He plays harp, bray harp, horse-hair harp, electric harp, and builds wind, water, ice, dry ice and fire harp installations and has released eight solo albums. Designed by Sally Pilkington and printed on 175gsm colorplan paper by Tartaruga.

Edition of 200 two colour screenprints.Artwork by Peter Brötzmann.Printed with high quality 175 gsm paper by www.tartaruga.co.ukSize: A2 Artwork by Peter Brötzmann. Design by Untiet.

pre-order, arriving late december / early jan Amazing duo perfromance by Hamid Drake and Piano, recorded at the Shenzhen Jazz Festival in China, during late Cotober of 2019, issued by the always amazing Shenzhen based imprint Old Heaven.  Hamid Drake - 鼓 Drums / 打击乐 Percussion / 框鼓 Frame Drum / 人声 Vocals Pat Thomas - 钢琴 Piano 录制于第九届 OCT-LOFT 国际爵士音乐节，深圳 B10 现场，2019 年 10 月 20 日 Recorded at the 9th OCT-LOFT Jazz Festival, B10 Live, Shenzhen, October 20th, 2019

Pavel Eremeev: drums, electronics & feedbacks, mixing & mastering Artёm Galkin: guitars, bells, shankha, cover art Katya Shirshkova: harmonium on track 4 Wu Yilin: cassette design

A1、B3、B4为马木尔个人作品，B1是阿西木·东希（Əxim Dongxe ule）作曲，B5为塔塔尔民间乐曲改编，其余为哈萨克民间乐曲改编。 Track A1, B3 and B4 are original compositions by Mamer, track B1 is composed by Ashim Dongxeuly, track B5 is a Tatar traditional folk tune, the rest are based on Kazakh traditional folk tunes. “模仿者系列第六场：星空”现场录音，2024年6月19日录制于旧天堂书店。 Live recording from Mamer's solo performance 'The Imitator Series Ⅵ: Sky' on June 19, 2024 at Old Heaven Books.

Live recording from Mamer's solo performance 'The Imitator Series Ⅷ: Dirty' on June 25, 2024 at Old Heaven Books.

Live recording from Mamer's solo performance 'The Imitator Series Ⅺ: Fake Jazz' on July 3, 2024 at Old Heaven Books.

Live recording from Mamer's solo performance 'The Imitator Series V: Underground Factory' on June 18, 2024 at Old Heaven Books.

Staring Into The Sun is the latest ethno-folk cinema classic from Sublime Frequencies. Ethiopia is known to be one of the oldest areas inhabited by humans and presently has over 80 diverse ethnic groups. In 2009, photographer/filmmaker Olivia Wyatt explored 13 different tribes throughout Ethiopia in this visually stunning film on DVD with accompanying 136-page book of Polaroid photographs and audio CD of field recordings. Traveling from the northern highlands to the lower Omo Valley via bush taxi, Isuzu cargo trucks, and by any means possible, Wyatt brings together the worlds of Zar spirit possession, Hamer tribal wedding ceremonies, Borena water well polyphonic singing, wild hyena feedings and bizarre Ethiopian TV segments, presenting an enchanting look at these otherworldly images, stark landscapes and captivating sounds from the horn of Africa. The featured tribes are captured with an unflinching sense of realism and poetic admiration resulting in a visual and aural feast of the senses. 136-page hardcover photography book with one music CD and one film on DVD. 5 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches, landscape format. 117 color photographs and liner notes by Olivia Wyatt. Sublime Frequencies' most elaborate package yet. One-time limited edition pressing of 1,000 copies.

Matchless, 2024  A film by HajduKino productions. Produced, directed, photographed and edited by Stewart Morgan Hajdukiewicz. Audio recordings mastered by Rupert Clervaux for Matchless Recordings and Publishing. Sleeve design Myah Chun Grierson at Studio Cymbal. "Region 0" PAL format BluRay disc. ABN-DVD A BRIGHT NOWHERE – Journeying into Improvisation is an important audio-visual record of a landmark series of four concerts staged in London in 2022 when more than 30 musicians joined improviser, percussionist and animateur Eddie Prévost to mark his 80th birthday. The film takes a close look at improvisers who create music in the moment, free from the authority of a composer, score or conductor. Ranging from profound delicacy to subversive atonality, the “awkward wealth” of this music raises vital questions about artistic freedom, individual responsibility and what it means for people to make music together in the 21st Century. Featuring performances by John Butcher, Sue Lynch, Ute Kanngiesser, Marjolaine Charbin, Nathan Moore, Seymour Wright, Veryan Weston, Alan Wilkinson, John Tilbury and Eddie Prévost amongst others. Plus readings by musician and author David Toop. The film includes the last ever concert by AMM, the pioneering improvising group co-founded by Eddie Prévost in the mid-1960s.

This deluxe CD/DVD is packaged in a heavy duty tip-on style gatefold sleeve with a glued in 12 page accordion style booklet. Sonambients: The Sound Sculpture of Harry Bertoia is a deluxe CD/DVD package containing historic recordings made in Harry Bertoia's Sonambient barn.The DVD, a film titled Sonambients: The Sound Sculpture of Harry Bertoia, by Jeffrey & Miriam Eger, was shot in 1971 and follows Harry Bertoia in performance and interview throughout his Sonambient barn deep in the Pennsylvania woods. This film offers a rare opportunity to follow the artist in practice, listening carefully as he moves contemplatively through his sculptures and gongs. Interview footage offers rare insight into Bertoia's inspiration and process.A separate CD contains four exclusive, recently discovered audio recordings. Included are the two earliest known collaborative tapes from Harry and brother Oreste, morning and evening sessions dated October 12, 1969, as well as a collaboration between the Bertoia brothers and their sister Ave who sings in careful unison with the overtones being produced by the sculptures. With the passing of Oreste Bertoia in 1972, these recordings mark the last meeting of all three Bertoia siblings.A 16-page booklet includes many never before seen production stills shot by Jeffrey Eger. These iconic images capture the essence of the artist in practice. All of this is packaged in a heavy duty, tip-on style, gatefold sleeve printed with metallic inks at Stoughton Printing in California.

2xLP; DVD, libretto, large 16p Booklet in printed cardboard box A music drama composed by Sven-Åke Johansson and Alexander von Schlippenbach, performed and recorded at Hebbel Theater, Berlin, 12.11.1994 In the programme, Johansson describes his observations of construction workers who "spend a good part of their lives – when it rains or snows, while changing clothes and so on – in these so-called construction wagons, usually set up in the immediate vicinity of the construction sites." The drama thus at the core employs an approach very typical of him: observing everyday activities and reinterpreting them artistically. What makes it unique is the combination of art forms: (absurd) theatre, dance, song and free jazz all are equal parts. Never, one of these becomes a simple accompaniment of the other. They alternate and mix, eventually leading to a Babylonian confusion that becomes meaningful in itself. Despite or maybe even because of its uniqueness, this opera is one of Johansson's key works. "... Über Ursache ..." was performed three times between 1986 and 1994. The audio recording of the premiere at the Stuttgart State Opera was released by FMP as a standard double LP in 1989. The 1994 audio and video recordings from the Hebbel Theatre in Berlin are presented here for the first time, packaged as a lavish box set with two LPs, a DVD, a 16-page booklet with photos and liner notes by Johansson, Konrad Heidkamp and Peter Ablinger, plus 20-page libretto – an edition that this spectacular work has deserved for a long time.  Cello – Tristan Honsinger Harp – Anne Le Baron Percussion, Drums – Paul Lovens Piano – Alexander von Schlippenbach Saxophone, Clarinet – Wolfgang Fuchs Saxophone - Dietmar Diesner Vocals – Shelley Hirsch Vocals, Accordion – Sven Åke Johansson Libretto-text by Sven-Åke Johansson & Shelley Hirsch Design by Teresa Iten Cover and Drawings by Sven-Ake Johansson

Recording of Otomo Yoshihide's set at B10 Live, Shenzhen. --- 大友良英 Otomo Yoshihide / 吉他 Guitar / 人声 Vocals --- 录制于2014年4月28日，深圳B10现场. Recorded April 28, 2014 at B10 Live, Shenzhen

Directed by Ludo MichCamera: Ludo Mich & Rufus J. BohezMusic: Arthur and his group ‘Live’Editing: Robbe De HertSound: Jules GorisSubtitles: Jan MatthéOriginal flyer art: Georges ‘mafPrint’ Smits Duration : 14:54 min.Year : 1971English subtitledArthur Is Fantastic is a b/w Fluxus film that portraits Arthur Indenbaum and turns him into a work of art by obliterating the boundaries between art and life. Arthur Indenbaum was the son of an American diamond dealer who had come to Antwerp in the late 1960s to be trained in his father’s business. Soon, however, Arthur found his way into the lively art and music scene of Antwerp of the period where he liked to get high, hang out with friends and play music with his band ‘Live’. At the time Gallery Vacuum was an art space run by artists and musicians Luc Deleu, Filip Francis and George Smits, who were an integral part of Antwerp’s alternative scene. On 6 May 1970 Arthur, with his extraordinarily big physical build and fuzzy hair, was exhibited as a live sculpture in Gallery Vacuum during a one-night show in which Ludo Mich took part as well. Ludo’s film Arthur Is Fantastic not only documents this gallery event but also shows fragments of a day in the life of Arthur: we see him get up, take a shower, smoke his first joint of the day, have a huge breakfast, play the guitar and walk the streets of Antwerp before arriving at Gallery Vacuum. Apart from being a strong and humorous Fluxus work of art this film is in hindsight a loving document of the early 1970s.

‘May Spring Last a Lifetime’ is the first duo release from improvising tenor saxophonists Tom Challenger and Evan Parker. The album emerged after years of informal practice sessions; then, following two live performances, the duo recorded this session at Arco Barco in Ramsgate. The album is Evan Parker’s fifth appearance on the False Walls label.Extracts from the CD booklet conversation between Tom and Evan:Evan: “Duo is the simplest form of group playing. And so it’s the simplest, the purest in a certain sense, and the most challenging. There’s nowhere to hide, really. It’s about the exchange. With two tenor saxophones, they have a shared language as instruments and I think we both have a relationship with the saxophone which is about: what does this thing do, what can it do? And then I’ve learned things from Tom that he has discovered: you can do this and can I approximate that? Can I incorporate that into my language or my relationship with the output of the instrument?”Tom: “I mean, as much as there is just two of us and you can tell there’s two of us, there are moments where there’s no one [laughs], and then there’s moments where there are four or five. This duo has challenged the way that I listen, or the way I don’t listen sometimes. But there are these weird moments where there might be three perceivable, four perceivable things going on, you know, in terms of what you might call a voice.”

Available as 320kbp MP3 or 24bit FLAC  "Pickelhaube is the solo album of one of the most active improvisers and music activists of today. This is the result of an unique and completely analogue recording and reproduction, and brings to you the very full body of a wooden battle ship of an instrument, the contrabass, and the breath of a musical mind." “This is a solo in duet with the current era of silent repression of every mind that’s not in line for the mental pawnshop. In these times, most shallow behaviors are presented as if the deepest of engagements and beliefs. We are dressed up in a fictional all-in-one hat, the helmet and the warhead: Die Pickelhaube. Blow yourself out of your own mind or simply step out of your helmet. And listen.”

Available as a 320k MP3 or 24bit FLAC download.  Tracklisting: 1. What Do We Mean By Coaching? - 0:362. Why Are Some Cricket Coaches Better Than Others? - 4:283. How Will You Learn More Successfully From Your Coach Than By Just Looking And Listening? - 2:464. What Do People Mean When They Say, "He Played Cricket"? - 1:345. What Do We Get From Cricket That We Don't Get From Other Games? - 4:016. If You Want To Succeed At Cricket, What Attitude Should You Adopt Towards The Game? - 1:577. How May Your Parents And Your Employer Help You In Your Cricket Career? - 7:588. What's The Correct Way To Stop A Ball? - 0:369. How Do You Know That You Have Taken Your Eyes Off The Ball When You Attempt To Catch It? - 1:4110. What Movement Helps You When You Are Trying To Run Out A Batsmen? 1:5311. Why Should You Watch The Striker's Bat? - 2:3512. How SHould You Pick Up The Ball And Throw It? - 1:5613. How Do You Know Where To Throw The Ball? - 1:5514. When Should You Throw The Ball At Top Speed? - 2:0715. How Should You Throw It On Other Occasions? - 1:4716. Are You Going To Keep Alive The Spirit Of Cricket? (Bonus Track) - 2:39   "The Young Cricketer plays out like a showreel for Corsano’s miraculous dexterity and virtuosity as a drummer. It’s a set of recordings made during Corsano’s time living in Manchester back in 2006 utilising all manner of objects and apparatus to offset and treat his drumkit, often morphing its sound into something unrecognisable. The Young Cricketer is a beautifully recorded album, with Corsano’s expanded kit occupying a vast stereo field, and every percussive gesture allotted its own distinct place in the mix. Consequently, this is probably the most thorough representation of Corsano’s near peerless drumming yet committed to record and stands as a pretty indispensable document for all lovers of free music and percussive invention. Stunning.” - Julien Héraud  --- Chris Corsano / percussion --- Recorded in Manchester England Feb 1-3, '06 (Except for side a track 2, recorded Jan. 6). Using drums, cymbals, baritone & alto saxophone mouthpieces with plastic tube and/or funnel, and/or shower attachment apparatus, pot lids, lamp base, scotch tape, violin-string-snare-drum contraption, bows, sticks, butter knives, and a superball on a stick, some distortion used on side B when mixing tracks 7 and especially 8, but other than that, no electronics either.

/ For Rob Green (1964-2010) “A bydded i’r arth a ryddhawyd drochi ei gorff yn llifoedd y gogledd rhewllyd a pheidio â dihoeni yn acwariwm dŵr distyll yr ardd academaidd.” Kazimir Malevich, O Giwbiaeth a Dyfodolaeth i Swprematiaeth: Y Realaeth Arlunyddol Newydd (1915) “And may the freed bear bathe his body amid the flows of the frozen north and not languish in the aquarium of distilled water in the academic garden.” Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist Manifesto (1916)creditsreleased February 24, 2021 Telyn benglin / Lap harp Telyn benglin, troswr, meicroffon cyffwrdd (Trac 7), pedal trosyriant, pedal sain a dau chwyddseinydd. Lap harp, transducer, contact microphone (track 7), overdrive, volume pedal and two amplifiers. Recordiwyd ar Rhagfyr 11, 2011 yn Tŵr Morden, Newcastle upon Tyne / Recorded on 11th of December 2011 at Morden Tower, Newcastle upon Tyne.Cynhyrchydd gweithredol / Executive producer: Richard Dawson.Recordiwyd a chymysgwyd gan / Recorded and mixed by Phil Begg.Meistrolwyd gan / Mastered by Sam Grant.Dylunio gan / Design by Anna Peaker.Darlun gan / Drawing by Jean-Luc Guionnet. Benthycwyd y teitlau o weithiau / Titles borrowed from the works of Thomas Bernhard, Jorge Luis Borges, Heather Fuller, Elizabeth Price, J H Prynne, Sarah Riggs, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Leslie Scalapino. Rhyddhawyd Wound Response yn gyntaf ar finyl gan Alt Vinyl, av038 (2012).Wound Response was first released on LP with Alt Vinyl, av038 (2012). Diolch i / Thank you to: Paul Kelly, Adam Parkinson, Connie Pickard, Sioned Puw Rowlands, Angharad Closs Stephens and Graham Thrower.Rhodri Davies self reissue of  Wound Response originally released by Alt Vinyl in 2012. Reissued alongside the solo acoustic 'An Air swept Clean Of All Distance', Wound Response is loud, distorted and forms an attempt to work with rhythm and pitches in an open and fluid way. --- Wound Response was first released on LP with Alt Vinyl, av038 (2012) and formed a radical departure for Davies’s solo work. Inspired by the ‘Destruction in Art Symposium’ (1966). Davies used two main techniques: over-articulate the strings (what harpists are taught notto do) and attack the strings with a plectrum, forcing the tuning into new relationships until the strings eventually broke. This is the first time that this album will be released on CD. “Wound Response is a raw recording scored for solo lap harp, overdrive, volume pedal and twin amplifiers. The fuzz is particularly cranky here, giving Rhodri’s obsessively repetitive harp soundings the kinda scorch of solo Masayuki Takayanagi.” - David Keenan, Volcanic Tongue 2012 ---

For Elliw & Brychan Telyn benglin / Lap harp Recordiwyd ar Ionawr 31, 2014 yn Stiwdios Blank, Newcastle upon Tyne / Recorded on 31st of January 2014 at Blank Studios, Newcastle upon Tyne.Cynhyrchwyr gweithredol / Executive producrs: Richard Dawson, Graham Thrower.Recordiwyd, cymysgwyd a meistrolwyd gan / Recorded, mixed and mastered by Sam Grant.Dylunio gan / Design by Anna Peaker.Darlun gan / Drawing by Jean-Luc Guionnet. Benthycwyd y teitlau o weithiau / Titles borrowed from the works of Carlos Castaneda, Kate Fagan, Alec Finlay, Nathaniel Mackey, Redell Olsen, James Purdy, Sun Ra, Nick Thurston, Sue Tompkins. Rhyddhawyd An Air Swept Clean of All Distance yn gyntaf ar finyl gan Alt Vinyl, av057 (2014) / An Air Swept Clean of All Distance was first released on LP with Alt Vinyl, av057 (2014). Diolch i / Thank you to John Bisset, John Butcher, Angharad Davies, Ann Davies, John Davies, Richard Dawson, Angharad Closs Stephens and Graham Thrower.Rhodri Davies self reissue of fantastic acoustic lap harp solo record. First released on LP with Alt Vinyl, av057 (2014) alongside the amplified 'Wound Response', 'An Air Swept Clean of All Distance' sees the harp tuned to a different set of fixed pitches and played without preperation or distortion.  "...hearing An Air Swept Clean of All Distance I think also of Cy Twombly, burning a path to the ancient classical world through a mess of rough scribble, vivid marks, smears and graffiti. There is a static character to the playing here, rising and falling, arrested and stuttering, rolling and tumbling...returning compulsively to the same passage as if caught in that same tangled web of strings once violently cut, now reconstituted into a set of revenant problems." - David Toop, 2020.  “Davies settles obsessively on tumbling phrases, arpeggios and articulate rhythms, turning them over and over, letting them develop only within strict limits, as though this fine, prolific adventurous musician is freshly discovering a harp that has been there all along.” - Julian Cowley, Wire Magazine, 2014 --- Rhodri Davies / telyn benglin (lap harp) --- I / For Elliw & Brychan Recordiwyd ar Ionawr 31, 2014 yn Stiwdios Blank, Newcastle upon Tyne / Recorded on 31st of January 2014 at Blank Studios, Newcastle upon Tyne. Cynhyrchwyr gweithredol / Executive producrs: Richard Dawson, Graham Thrower. Recordiwyd, cymysgwyd a meistrolwyd gan / Recorded, mixed and mastered by Sam Grant. Dylunio gan / Design by Anna Peaker. Darlun gan / Drawing by Jean-Luc Guionnet. Benthycwyd y teitlau o weithiau / Titles borrowed from the works of Carlos Castaneda, Kate Fagan, Alec Finlay, Nathaniel Mackey, Redell Olsen, James Purdy, Sun Ra, Nick Thurston, Sue Tompkins. Rhyddhawyd An Air Swept Clean of All Distance yn gyntaf ar finyl gan Alt Vinyl, av057 (2014) / An Air Swept Clean of All Distance was first released on LP with Alt Vinyl, av057 (2014). Diolch i / Thank you to John Bisset, John Butcher, Angharad Davies, Ann Davies, John Davies, Richard Dawson, Angharad Closs Stephens and Graham Thrower. AMGEN CD003

COVID-19 FUNDRAISERThis special item has been generously donated to help us to raise funds to see us through this extremely difficult period. As you can imagine we are under huge pressure at the moment and are working flat out to ensure Cafe OTO survives this. The impact of this situation is extremely acute for small venues like ours and we need all the support we can get to pull through.Huge thanks to Tajinder Dhami of Stanther's Ink for very generously offering this item. The purchaser will receive a bespoke, one-minute animation, which could be used as a music video, promotional film, live visual - you name it! You can see some examples of Dhami's work below or more over on his website: http://www.stanthersink.com/ Please note that as this is a special item, we will be in touch after purchase to arrange the animation with you. Tajinder Dhami is an Animation Artist, and Researcher. He is a graduate of animation departments at the National Centre for Computer Animation (Bournemouth) and the Royal College of Art (London). His works are inspired by his investigations into the processes of perception, attention and being. His current projects include the creation of animations driven by neural emotional signals detected via Electroencephalography.

COVID-19 FUNDRAISER This special item has been generously donated to help us to raise funds to see us through this extremely difficult period. As you can imagine we are under huge pressure at the moment and are working flat out to ensure Cafe OTO survives this. The impact of this situation is extremely acute for small venues like ours and we need all the support we can get to pull through.Having just received the test pressings for forthcoming Still House Plants LP 'Fast Edit', bison records promises one signed by the band copy to the winning bidder. 'Fast Edit' is the second Still House Plants LP, due to be released in the future.  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.

COVID-19 FUNDRAISER This special item has been generously donated to help us to raise funds to see us through this extremely difficult period. As you can imagine we are under huge pressure at the moment and are working flat out to ensure Cafe OTO survives this. The impact of this situation is extremely acute for small venues like ours and we need all the support we can get to pull through.A set of two great photographic signed artworks by Marie Roux of O Yama O!1. C-Print of O YAMA O's debut album cover 2. The newspaper - photos on newsprints 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.

COVID-19 FUNDRAISER This special item has been generously donated to help us to raise funds to see us through this extremely difficult period. As you can imagine we are under huge pressure at the moment and are working flat out to ensure Cafe OTO survives this. The impact of this situation is extremely acute for small venues like ours and we need all the support we can get to pull through.Many thanks to Xper. Xr - one of the pioneers of Chinese industrial noise music in the 80's - for donating this unique object with a history! "Relic, hammer, circa 1993" "Part of an instrument used at the 1st Hong Kong International independent Music Festival. At approx.10pm on the 3rd September, 1993, Xper.Xr. and the gang were shredding the stage with an angle grinder, hammers and other utility tools, while attempting to blow up a bicycle inner tube. At a crucial moment during the set, venue staffs intervened and decided to unplug the set; commotions ensued both on and off stage and in the heat of the moment, this fateful hammer broke off the handle, missiled through the air, and went straight into the forehead of a front row audience, drawing blood. The operator of this piece was an original member of the Orphic Orchestra, a childhood friend of the artist, who has unfortunately passed away on the 8th March, 2020, at 12:44pm. Traces of blood from that evening might still be present on this object, but will require forensic tests to reveal." One of a handful of experimental musicians to emerge in musically conservative Hong Kong in the eighties, the cryptically named Xper.Xr gained a measure of notoriety as arguably the first Chinese ‘industrial noise’ musician. 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.

COVID-19 FUNDRAISER This special item has been generously donated to help us to raise funds to see us through this extremely difficult period. As you can imagine we are under huge pressure at the moment and are working flat out to ensure Cafe OTO survives this. The impact of this situation is extremely acute for small venues like ours and we need all the support we can get to pull through.Many thanks to Tetsuya Umeda for donating a signed copy of art catalogue book "The Origin of the Voices", based on an exhibition held at Fukuoka art museum. Bilingual in English/Japanese. 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.