Eryck Abecassis (b 1956) is a french-algerian composer, musician and electric guitar player. He went to Paris in 1976 to study film at the CLCF (Conservatoire Libre du Cinéma Français) and worked as a photographer. From 1979 to 1983 he took private lessons in composition and harmony with Julien Falk (1902-1987) and studied Jazz orchestration with Derryl Hall at the Centre d'informations musicales in Paris. In the following years he took various courses at IRCAM, among others in instrumental research and computer music. He took lessons with Jean-Claude Risset and in 1994 with Pascal Dusapin at the Centre Acanthes. In 1997 he took part in the Cursus Annuel de Composition et Informatique Musicale at IRCAM. "Siamoises" is his 3rd solo album and 2nd contribution to the Fragment Factory label catalogue (after "La Gueule Du Loup" w/ Francisco Meirino, 2017). Composed and recorded in Paris 2018, "Siamoises" is the pairing of Eryck's instrument of choice, an Ibanez 2404 double neck e-bass/guitar, with a modular synthesizer. --- Fragment Factory, 2020

Tracklist: 1. Mynyddoedd Cymru 2. Glyn Tawe 3. Paul Robeson ac Eisteddfod y Glowyr 1957 4. Llyfrau Gleision 1847 5. Pa Beth yw Cenedl? 6. Tryweryn 1965 7. Pa Beth yw Dyn?  Cwmwl Tystion is a suite of music, composed by Tomos Williams, which celebrates and questions the idea of Welshness. It was recorded live at Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea and Café OTO, London in June 2019, in performances given by a specially formed group of Welsh musicians. --- On this CD, recorded Live at Cafe OTO, the band perform a newly composed Suite incorporating elements of jazz, the avant-garde, improvisation and Welsh folk music. The name 'Cwmwl Tystion' is derived from a poem by the great Welsh poet Waldo Williams - the music "bares witness" to these complex and difficult times. This was the first time Huw Warren (Quercus) and Rhodri Davies (Hen Ogledd), both leaders in their field and musicians of international reputation, performed together, while Mark O'Connor, Huw V Williams and Francesca Simmons all bring unique contributions to the project. --- Tomos Williams - trumpetHuw Warren – pianoRhodri Davies – harp, electronicsFrancesca Simmons – violin, sawHuw V Williams – bassMark O'Connor – drums

Hard to get hold of Kurachi CD - 'Supermarket Chitose'. Huge work from 2007, building on the vast landscape of 'I Heard The Ground Sing'. Each instrument is played and recorded by Kurachi, overdubbed and mastered by Taku Unami. Includes a remake of the "Tower" included on 'Rumors Buffalo'. Multiple voices in a moving landscape, meeting, passing each other, and at one moment, coinciding as if by chance.  "Each word is more everyday than ever. Spoken words come and go, secretly or loudly. The background of the self-portrait appearing on the jacket is a supermarket. It is said that "Best Camera" refers to a real consumer electronics retailer based in Kyushu. Too everyday. Nevertheless, the landscape that I have never seen spreads. Includes "Kurano" - an origami paper by origami artist cochae, which is also on the jacket." Enban

Available as 320k MP3 or 24bit FLAC  Tracklisting: 1. A/C - 35:53 2. D/C - 43:14 --- Praise for Decoy: “an improvising trio that rocks and swings so hard it’s dangerous…a band that redefine the words “shock and awe” – Duncan Heining, Jazzwise “A cult following is not far behind” –  John Fordham, The Guardian “Hawkins, Edwards, Noble and McPhee have created a performance—and a record—for the ages.” –  Clifford Allen  “a vision not just of what music can be and do, but of what it can become” – Richard Williams in the liner notes for Decoy’s first release, “OTO”.  Two totally infectious sets from Decoy - the trio of John Edwards, Steve Noble and Alexander Hawkins - reunited with pocket trumpet and saxophone player Joe McPhee on the closing night of his four day residency at Cafe OTO. In the eight years between the recordings which make up ‘AC/DC’ and their last release ‘Spontaneous Combustion’, Decoy and each of its members have been practicing individually at the very top of their form. Coming together again in such celebratory circumstances and in the good company of a fantastic crowd set the scene for a very special night.  As they begin, Alexander Hawkins casts a needling surface between his Hammond organ and John Edwards’ loose splatters and slaps of low end bass. McPhee skitters over them with his pocket trumpet by way of introduction; Steve Noble strikes his rims in anticipation. The mood in the room is that of a rock band reformed, of a certain number of “boys” being “back in town”. The first set sees moments of frenetic free jazz peel off into weirdo soul territory and when switched to saxophone halfway through, McPhee’s romantic lyricism is utterly beautiful. When a groove sets in, Hawkins’ B3 ascension in harmony with an ever powerful Edwards-Noble rhythm section sees the room thicken and swirl to the point of giddiness. There is one unreal part at 22:22 where we’re sure you can hear Edwards’ bass vocalising.  Regrouped for a second set, Steve Noble’s metallic textures meld with detuned arco bass to create an unholy atmosphere, ripe for Hawkins to play out the eerier end of the Hammond. When McPhee sounds a sax motif the band catches it quickly and it’s soon wickedly morphed and stretched by each player, recurring to absurdity in a stoned out funk free for all.  The whole recording bleeds enthusiasm and joyful imagination and is a brilliant document of an unforgettable evening. Decoy are a limitless band who play nowhere near enough. We cannot attest to them any more: Book them, buy this, go and see them if you can.   --- John Edwards / bass Alexander Hawkins / hammond b3 Joe McPhee / pocket trumpet, alto sax, voice Steve Noble / drums --- Recorded live at Cafe OTO by Shaun Crook on Friday 10th May, 2019. Mixed and mastered by James Dunn. Artwork and layout by Oliver Pitt. Photos by Dawid Laskowski. Printed in an edition of 1000. OTOROKU023CD.

Ashley Paul's Heat Source was recorded during a challenging year of transience between New York and London. During this year of impermanence Paul performed regularly and the effects of frequent performance and traveling can be heard in the intentionally pared back emptiness of Heat Source. making it an emotionally challenging and fascinatingly personal listening experience.Heat Source finds Ashley Paul working using her brilliant ears to find a zen like balance between her voice and a sparse arrangement of staccato instrumentation leaving as much open space on one song as most people would create in a lifetime. This open space isn't empty, however, but it's up to you to fill in the meaning. Heat Source is an emotionally challenging and fascinatingly personal listening experience that creates a powerful pace. Ashley Paul is a performer and composer based in Brooklyn, New York. She uses an array of instruments including saxophone, clarinet, voice, guitar, bells and percussion, mixing disparate elements to create a colorful palate of sound that works its way into her intuitive songs; free forming, introverted melodies. This blend manifests beautiful and simple musical forms against acoustic experimentation. Her solo albums have received high praise being chosen in Wire Magazine "Top 50 Releases of 2013, Pitchfork "Best Experimental sounds of 2013", first on Byron Coley and Thurston Moore's "Tongue Top Ten" in Arthur Magazine and included on NPR's All Songs Considered "Best of 2010". She has been interviewed or featured in Wire Magazine, BOMB, Gonzo (circus), Dummy, The Quietus, Ad Hoc, Spex, The Sound Projector and Foxy Digitalis.Ashley has performed or recorded with Phill Niblock, Rashad Becker, Nik Colk Void, Loren Connors, Aki Onda, C. Spencer Yeh, Anthony Coleman, Joe Maneri, Joe Morris, Seijiro Murayama, Greg Kelley, Bill Nace and Eli Keszler appearing on such labels as PAN, ESP-DISK' and Tzadik. She received a Masters of Music from New England Conservatory in 2007.

In Tom Mudd's work, the conceptual and technological processes are paramount. For this particular release, both are embedded in the Gutter Synthesis algorithm and software which was created for and used in all six tracks. An inevitable consequence of this way of working is that masses of material can be created, which then requires both selection and editing. Once these decisions havetaken place a strange, apparently contradictory, perceptual shift takes place towards the material. The listener is confronted with complex, intense and emotionally charged musical events. This was not Tom Mudd’s intention as he’s not overtly concerned with personal expression. A deep interest in algorithmic computer processes is his guiding principal. Yet from this apparently cold approach to making music comes vivid, dramatic, sound art, packed with rich emotional layers that never operate at the level of the trite and illustrative. There is also a strong formal and structural quality to his pieces that allows, in the best possible sense, the listener to ‘immerse’ themselves in this challenging sound world. John Wall, London, December 2017Gutter Synthesis software Gutter synthesis is a purely digital synthesis process that creates very physical, acoustic-like sounds using a network of resonant Duffing oscillators. The software was created specifically for this project, and is included with the release as an equal part of the creative output. The downloadable version uses an interrelatedset of eight Duffing oscillators and associated filter banks.

GUO is the duo of guitarist and singer Daniel Blumberg (Hebronix, The Howling Hex) and saxophonist Seymour Wright. Both use heavy distortion and extreme amplification which is later processed and manipulated with metal cassettes to create a multi-layered, lacquered object of sinister, fizzing, metallic beauty. GUO1 with text by David Toop, was the beginning of an on-going series of releases that include etchings made by the duo and a piece of ekphrasis from a creative writer responding to the music.

Paul Abbott – Vagus Publication & CD-R Published by Porta (#11) - - - Paul Abbott - Drums, voice, texts and programming. Part 1: 'Welcome' Part 2: 'Hsiovidhe' Part 3: 'Mung Pool' Free download available at: http://www.portaaaa.com/porta11.php Written and recorded in London, 2014-2015. Double sided Black CD-R mounted on a 20 page, black & white publication. Both inside a grey-transparent plastic envelope. Edition of 100.

This duet between bass clarinet and circuit-bent Casio SK1 sampler was recorded at the Pittville Pump Room in Cheltenham in January 2003. As one might expect, the music has some of that cold silence which pervades classical music institutions, and which is so repellent to ears used to the demotic bustle of jazz and pop. However, the musicians use one aspect of classical recital to their advantage, which is its staged singularity of performance. Where so much issued music has become calling cards for celebrity rather than a significant act in itself - the malign influence of free music’s reduction of music to the musician; the free jazz griot, the improviser genius - Cundy and Dunn have put everything they can do into one CD.   The musicians are fully in control of their pitches and the music often proceeds by finding a harmony and then forcing it into crisis, unbearable tensions resolved into rhythmic exchange. Cundy also uses a Tinnitus Analyser to detect noises and elevate them into audibility. This provides the musicians with a stimulating randomness - the difference between the unexpected shapes generated by looking and drawing rather than simply doodling and reproducing habit, the eversame.   Eric Dolphy’s example on bass clarinet allows Cundy to exploit the natural resources of the instrument: its old fashioned wood-panelled formalism, the humour of its duck quacks, the urban urgency of its sinuous high tones. Dunn’s electronics are a masterclass in the resources of outdated technology. After being exposed to so much laptop texturing, the ear appreciates the SK1’s limits. They give Dunn’s contributions a jagged starkness, like coming upon a crude screenprint in an exhibition of digital printouts. It’s possible that both musicians are a little too guarded to force the music into a contradiction that might unify an hours performance. However, the quiet care and intensity in the way they listen to each other is really touching.

Digital Download available as 320k MP3 or 24bit FLAC. Alexander Hawkins / Hammond B3 John Edwards / Double Bass Steve Noble / Drums Joe McPhee / Pocket Trumpet, Alto Sax New 2CD version of Spontaneous Combustion - the second meeting of UK organ/bass/drums trio DECOY with sax legend Joe McPhee - Here with an extra 78 minutes of music added to the original LP material. The original LP (now out of print) was listed in The WIRE magazine's top Jazz & Improv releases of 2013! "a show that surpassed all expectations to become one of the very best things I’ve seen this year." The Liminal Disc One recorded 29 October 2011, Cafe OTO by Mick Ritchie. Mix by Ritchie/Noble. Mastered by Andreas [LUPO] Lubich @ Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin. Disc Two recorded 30 October 2011, Cafe OTO by Mick Ritchie. Mixed by Ritchie/Noble and mastered by Mick Ritchie. Sleeve design by Oliver Pitt.

First ever vinyl pressing of Ishmael Reed's beloved The Hands of Grace, jointly released by All Night Flight and Reading Group  Touching homebuilt compositions from celebrated American novelist, playwright and poet Ishmael Reed, channelling a long life immersed in jazz culture.  A joint in-house production from ANF and NYC-based label Reading Group. You’re never too old to learn something new.  Reed credits bebop with keeping him and his friends out of reform school because they were too busy listening to records at each other’s houses to get into trouble.  Finding fame as a distinguished writer, he found his way back to music circuitously, eventually taking the plunge at aged 60 to study jazz piano.  Diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2006 he hastily assembled a quintet to fulfil a lifelong ambition of recording an album. He made the record but thankfully he didn’t succumb to his illness   Cash-strapped during COVID, he became a composer to save on money for his own plays, enlisting his daughter Tennessee as the narrator.   These humble origins and a genuine love (and natural talent) for music are what underpins The Hands Of Grace.  Consisting of works written for Reed’s play ‘The Slave Who Loved Caviar’ alongside new original compositions, it brings in close friends and family to accompany his casual, unvarnished playing style that’s so genuinely heartfelt it feels as if you could be sat alongside them in their living room.  The music carries a lived-in simplicity yet it also holds something ambiguous that draws it away from the predictable. Music papers rustle, a living room chair is dragged up to the keys whilst Reed’s wife Carla contributes violin and daughter Tennessee recites her poetry on standout ‘How High The Moon’.  This is a poignant family affair with no-one left out, ending on a touching tribute and voicemail from their late daughter Timothy.   Ever since it first appeared on CD The Hands Of Grace has become a staple. A record to return to, a uniquely personal tribute, a document of working method, a lifelong passion finally coming to fruition… (Mint / New - with free DL & double sided insert Edition of 250 CDs, with liner note essays by Ishmael Reed and Fred Moten.Mastered by Matt Bachmann. "A great pleasure to play with my favorite writer; he has transformed his literary genius to the piano in one lifetime, Bravo!" -David MurrayNew album of original music by the legendary novelist, essayist, poet, critic, and playwright Ishmael Reed (b. Tennessee, 1938). The Hands of Grace presents for the first time the original music that Reed composed for his 2021 play, “The Slave Who Loved Caviar,” which was read at the Nuyorican Poets Café and premiered at the Theater for the New City in 2021. Also featured on the album are several other solo piano and ensemble compositions by Reed, with accompaniment from Roger Glenn (flute), Ray Obiedo (guitar), Carla Blank (violin), and Tennessee Reed (voice).Reed’s compositions on The Hands of Grace range from humor and pastiche to arresting beauty. The intimate and idiosyncratic sound calls to mind the off-kilter beauty of Charles Mingus’s piano record and Carman Moore’s score (also on Reading Group) for Personal Problems (1980), the brilliant “black soap opera” that Reed co-developed with Steve Cannon and Bill Gunn. Opening with a minimalist meditation on Jean-Michel Basquiat (also the subject of the play), and moving through blues tunes, descriptive pieces, and tributes to poet Lucille Clifton and Reed’s partner Carla Blank, the record closes with a moving ode to Reed’s late daughter Timothy. The Hands of Grace offers a deep dive into the musicality of this inimitable artist. --- Ishmael Reed / piano, compositionsRoger Glenn / fluteRay Obiedo / guitar, bassCarla Blank / violinTennessee Reed / voice

"A long desire of extraordinaire saxophone player Peter Brötzmann was a studio recording of some of his favorite jazz tunes and his own music -- a grand bridge over the music important for his life and his musical career in the past and present. Trost invited him to Martin Siewert's studio in Vienna to do so in summer 2018. The result is intense, beautiful and touching. Features compositions by Harry Barris/Gordon Clifford, Sigmund Romberg/Oscar Hammerstein II, Herbie Nichols, Dizzy Gillespie, George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin, and Sonny Rollins. Personnel: Peter Brötzmann - tenor saxophone. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Martin Siewert. Liner notes and artwork by Peter Brötzmann."

* gyda offer taro, radio a pheiriant tâp / with percussion, radio and tape recorders.Recordiwyd y cyngherddau yn fyw yn ‘All Angels’ Llundain.Live at All Angels, St Michael and All Angels Church, West London.1, 2: Mai / May 10, 2001.4, 6: Tachwedd / November 22, 2001.3, 5, 7: Rhagfyr / December 7, 2001.Recordiwyd gan / Recorded by Tim Fletcher.Ail-feistrolwyd o DAT gan / Re-mastered from DAT by Sam Grant.Dylunio gan / Design by Anna Peaker.Darlun gan / Drawing by Jean-Luc Guionnet.Rhyddhawyd Trem yn gyntaf ar CD gan Recordiau Confront, Confront 11 (2002) ac yna ar finyl gan Alt Vinyl, av055 (2014).Trem was first released on CD with Confront Recordings, Confront 11 (2002) and on LP with Alt Vinyl, av055 (2014).Diolch i / Thank you to: Graham Thrower and Mark Wastell.Radical harpist Rhodri Davies revives his 2003 debut solo release 'Trem' with a reissue on his own label as a stark reminder of his uniquely inventive brilliance.Rhodri Davies Trem I / For Richard Rowlands, Pioneer Telyn bedal / Pedal harp * gyda offer taro, radio a pheiriant tâp / with percussion, radio and tape recorders. Radical harpist Rhodri Davies revives his 2003 debut solo release 'Trem' with a reissue on his own label as a stark reminder of his uniquely inventive brilliance. " One of the UK’s most vital, versatile, and combustible improvisers since the late ‘90s, Davies has earned a reputation as a fearless explorer of his historic instrument’s range, as applied on recordings with everyone from Apartment House to Richard Dawson & Hen Ogledd, Derek Bailey and even Charlotte Church. On ‘Trem’ we catch fire from a series of concert recordings made at St. Michael and All Angels Church, London, 2001 that manifest his prowess in multiple ways, making the harp gurn, shriek, rasp and sing in forms practically unheard previously from the stringed instrument that has been around, in some iteration or other, since 3000 BCE.  Without prior knowledge of context, you might be hard pushed to identify that Davies is even playing a harp, such is the dynamic range he elicits across ‘Trem’. His opener ‘Cresis’ makes haunting use of the church’s acoustic character in an unpredictable play of echoic negative space ranging from bat sonar like pips and half formed melodic structures resembling tortured choirs, thru to more gnarled evocations of doom metal, whereas the rapid plucks and vamps of ‘Undur’ hint at the instrument’s middle eastern provenance, and the album’s titular highlight also wields tape and percussion in a disorienting blizzard or noise masking its origins. In the tantalising high register tone and struck body of ‘Beres’ we hear traces of Romanian spectralist settings, and again a return to metal gnar in the buzzsaw grind of ‘Plosif’, while rupturing passages of near silence in ‘Berant’ and simmering it down to circling embers on ‘Atam’. " - Boomkat

Rhodri Davies: Over ShadowsI / For ACSTelyn lifer a bwâu electroneg / Lever harp and EBowsRecordiwyd Gorffennaf 26 2004 yn yr Hen Ysgol, Bracon Ash, Norfolk.Source material recorded on 26th of July 2004 at the Old School, Bracon Ash, Norfolk. Cyfansoddwyd Mawrth 2006 / Composed in March 2006.Recordiwyd gan / Recorded by Graham Halliwell.Golygwyd gan / Edited by Benedict Drew and John Wall.Ail-feistrolwyd gan / Re-mastered by Sam Grant.Dylunio gan / Design by Anna Peaker.Darlun gan / Drawing by Jean-Luc Guionnet.Rhodri Davies solo recording for harp and ebows. "Over shadows" - title courtesy Redell Olsen's "Secure portable space" book - is a single track, 36 minutes long, for harp and eBow. The chief reference name in this composition could be Alvin Lucier, as Davies' subtle juxtaposition of resonant overtones elicits the typical effects of beating between frequencies on the one hand, and saturation on the othe. Moments of stunning loss of balance await, and it's just wonderful.  "Instead of immersive slo-mo, Davies keeps the music mobile, drawing the listener through a succession of warm, often dissonant, acoustic states. The result is like a speeded-up Eliane Radigue, as full, harmonically rich tones ease gently into one another. The evolution of the improvisation is alert and unforced, and each new phase feels part of a developing argument. Davies's work is about sound and sonic relationships rather than technique or spontaneous self-expression. Here, poised somewhere between improvisation and composition, he transforms the harp into a vibrant and responsive tone generator." - The Wire

Rock. It's still angular, rubbery and twitchy, but this fifth full-length contains their most straight-up Rock 'n Roll since their debut.

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

As Bill Orcutt’s most mature and exhilarating LP to date, Music for Four Guitars was a slab of undeniable Apollonian beauty. Its approachability and obvious novelty landed it not only on the year- end lists of every key-pushing codger in the underground in 2022, but also on NPR in the form of the Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet, an ensemble assembled to perform this music and featuring Wendy Eisenberg, Ava Mendoza, and Shane Parish. But while their Tiny Desk Concert gave a whiff of the quartet’s easy intimacy, the sterile confines of the virtual recital medium still left a puzzle unsolved: how might these brutally mannered bricks of minimalist counterpoint sound on a stage in front of actual breathing bodies?This was the question foremost in my mind when I first saw the quartet in San Francisco a few months before this double live LP was recorded. I was already familiar with the prowess of Eisenberg and Mendoza, two of the most technically intimidating shredders to blast out of the noise/improv underground, and knew Parish as the mastermind behind the epic translation of Orcutt's quartet recordings into a fully notated score. I was ready to be “blown away" — and I most assuredly was. The quartet navigated Orcutt's jaggedly spiraling right angles into the shining core of the compositions with joyous ease, faithful to the originals in nearly every way (though their tempos were slightly ramped up, Blakey style, to communicate their breathless rush). The renditions were flawless, stellar and inspiring. I had expected nothing less.Which leads us to this album, Four Guitars Live, recorded in November of 2023 at Le Guess Who? festival during the quartet’s first European tour. The true essence of this set is not simply in its faithfulness to the source compositions, but in the group's easy familiarity (no doubt the result of weeks on the road) and the generosity of their improvisations, both collective and solo. Orcutt, clearly cognizant of both the caliber of his collaborators and the singularity of their voices, has given everyone room to stretch out, and all have delivered some of their most moving passages to date.One of this record's great thrills for me is imagining a listener, perhaps unfamiliar with the outer limits of contemporary guitar improvisation (or the Tzadik catalog), slammed into catatonia by Mendoza's liquefying lines on Out of the corner of the eye, then revived and healed by the languid, breathy lines of Parish's unaccompanied, spaced-out breakdown of the track's main theme, finally only to be crushed by Eisenberg’s staggering extended solo on Only at dusk (somehow channeling both Eugene Chadbourne and Buck Dharma).There's another peak, which begins at the end of side B, in Orcutt's own languid solo, encapsulating the flowing focus of his recent solo LPs, and serving as an introduction to the next side's ensemble tour de force, the psychic heart of the album, On the horizon: its melodic core passing first to Orcutt, launching into a sublime solo turn by Eisenberg, a duo of Parish and Mendoza, before parachuting back into the ensemble for a smashup rendition of Barely visible and Glimpsed while driving (renamed Barely driving) knitted together with an softly bubbling ensemble improvisation. The transfer is orchestrated yet seamless, its tonal form undeniable even in the presence of obvious dissonance.The breadth of Four Guitars Live gives lie to the false notion that agile, polytonal improv is necessarily without soul, is necessarily inaccessible. Rather, Four Guitars posits a human avant-garde music that the most conservative will recognize as virtuosic and revel in its classic intervals, boiling counterpoint, and precisely- layered facets. Even the rockers in your life might dig it, so why not pass it on?" — TOM CARTER

stunning new solo Orcutt recorded live at Oto  Another Perfect Day is Bill Orcutt's first solo electric guitar record since 2017’s eponymous Bill Orcutt. While that eight-year gap might not seem like a ton of time on the cosmic scale, it nonetheless represents a busy half-decade plus for Orcutt projects: a raft of improv collaborations, an acclaimed run of chopped and looped albums on Fake Estates, and the collision of Orcutt's computer and guitar music on Music For Four Guitars and last year's How to Rescue Things, both on Palilalia. The undeniable alchemy of those latter mashups inspired not only a wider appreciation of Orcutt-as-composer, but also the resurrection of Orcutt-as-bandleader, as the Bill Orcutt Quartet hit the road in support of Four Guitars, Orcutt's first work with a proper score (courtesy of Shane Parish). All of the above makes 2025 the perfect year to reacquaint ourselves with Orcutt-as-solo-performer, wielding his trademark four-string rather than a mouse, running the neck rather than shuffling waveforms, blasting through Cafe Oto's tattered Fender Twin (the cover model for the aforementioned How to Rescue Things) rather than a pair of ancient NS-10s. Indeed, this 2023 performance at Oto, East London's finest music establishment, boomerangs back into the slashing chords and frenzied double-picking of the Harry Pussy years, tossing the gentler melodic glow of the last few solo records into the dustbin. In other words, this may be Orcutt's most overtly punk-rockist record since Gerty Loves Pussy, his first solo electric LP from a decade ago. It's an affirmation that Orcutt is above all a lead player -- angular runs scaling the heavens, ricocheting back to ground zero before climbing again. Orcutt builds tension with short phrases, repeated with slight variability until it seems like they’ll never stop, finally slamming into a fresh line like the dawning valley at the crest of the mountain pass. Another Perfect Day is, ultimately, something of a solo guitar Nouveau Roman, an exhilarating run through melodic reiteration, impossible crescendos (check out those ecstatic crowd hoots on "For the Drainers") breaking into — a moment rarely found on an Orcutt record — soft, whisper-quiet tracer notes at the end of "A Natural Death." Another Perfect Day returns Orcutt to the immediacy of his earliest records while maintaining the melodic complexity, phrasing, and flow of a player, who's been going, what — four-plus decades now? And when he taps his roots, it's a reminder of exactly what was so exciting about Orcutt's playing in the first place. — TOM CARTER