Both great improvisers, but even better storytellers, Davies and Lash carve a huge narrative with this simple approach to strings. As soon as their bows hit string they are growing and swelling together until their huge swathe of sound looms over the room and fills OTO's every nook and cranny. And then, all of a sudden, it disappears - leaving just a ticking, a bowing of floorboards under an invisible, shifting weight. Detailed minutiae with gigantic effect from two of the UK's best.  --- Angharad Davies / violin Dominic Lash / double bass  --- Recorded by Mark Jasper on Thursday 5th May 2016. Mixed by Abby Thomas. Mastered by James Dunn.  --- Tracklisting: 1. 22:32 - 22:32

Incredibly pleased to finally release this from the archives! Kumio Kurachi is truly one of the most original figures in Japanese music, and his music exists within its very own colourful world. Recorded across two nights way back in 2009, Kurachi is joined by Taku Unami and London improvisors Steve Beresford and Angharad Davies. These two shows still remain as Kurachi's only concerts outside Japan. "Kumio Kurachi depicts our mind and feelings with unthinkable and bizarre words which can be embarrassing to listen to. And yet he manages to create a world which is so familiar to us - small events of our everyday life that we don't pay much attention to. Whether it is a conversation between a funeral service conductor and his helper that you overheard in a supermarket (Supermarket Chitose), or about the people affected by a dam construction (A Dam with 30,000,000 Teardrops), his songs are fragments of our human behaviours and experiences. His lyrical world is made even more unpredictable by his unique guitar style which is apparently inspired by the koto. The music is so melodious that the mixture of the strange wording, guitar and variations of voices thrives all together and it can haunt you without noticing it, just like the small events of everyday life you can't escape from." - Midori Ogata --- Kumio Kurachi / guitar, vocals Taku Unami / guitar Angharad Davies / violin Steve Beresford / piano --- Mastered by James Dunn from the original recording made by Pete Coward - thanks Pete! Artwork by Kurachi & Oli Barrett. Massive thanks to Midori Ogata, without whom this wouldn't have happened.

Reiko Kudo's solo work, with Tori on piano. Short songs capture vivid moments of detail in Reiko's life - her cats, her mother, the dying plant on the windowsill. Melodies so simple and unforced, it's as if they came gently floating through her window in the nightime. Peaceful and utterly gorgeous, like a child's book of psalms.  "when I sing I’m a like a bug before the setting sun"  - Reiko Kudo ---   Reiko Kudo / vocals   Tori Kudo / piano   ---     Recorded on 7th of November 2009 by John Chantler. Mixed and mastered by John Chantler. Photograph by Marie Roux.   --   Cover design by Oli Barrett

Chugging, dark, spacey blues - Akiyama's solo guitar is focused "on the tone and wildness of the instrument." A hard rock fan at 11 years-old, Akiyama started playing electric guitar at the age of 13. Later, with a growing interest in free improvisation and classical music, Akiyama sought to create his own genre "solo rock guitar." A treat to have him play in the early days of OTO, and even better to dust this one out the archives, re-mix and master.  --- Tetuzi Akiyama / electric guitar --- Recorded by John Chantler on the 17th October 2010. Mixed by John Chantler. Mastered by Toshimaru Nakamura. With thanks to Lee Etherington.  --- Tracklisting:  1. 17.10.10 - 31:40 2. 18.10.10 - 12:39

Rare performance from drummer/percussionist Toshi Tsuchitori - joined by Seymour Wright and Ute Kanngiesser for a special late matinee. Anyone who's enjoyed Tsuchitori's sought after solo records will know his playing is intuitive, performative and totally hardcore. Matched with the huge vocabulary of Wright and Kanngiesser, the trio perfectly balance tension, detail and spiral-armed joy.  -- Toshi Tsuchitori / percussion, vocals Ute Kanngiesser / cello Seymour Wright / saxophone --- Tracklisting: 1. 14.2.16 - (40.36)  --- Recorded by Shaun Crook at Cafe OTO on Sunday 14th February 2016. Mixed by Paul Abbott. Mastered by James Dunn. Photo by Dawid Laskowski.

Ghanaian sculptor, inventor, and avant-garde multi-instrumentalist Nii Noi Nortey performs solo and in trio with Mark Sanders and David Panton. Nii Noi’s solo soundscapes a vivid journey through West Africa using traditional instruments, before adding his own adaptions and afrifon inventions in the trio. Although this is the first time Nii Noi and David have improvised with Mark the trio immediately find an unerring natural groove that moves effortlessly through free-improvisation, free-jazz, world music and African inspired melodic and percussive patterns.   ---Nii Noi Nortey / nu waterpipe, atenteben flute, gonje fiddle, algaita oboe, ngoni harp/lute, afrifon reedsDavid Panton /  piano (keyboard & strings), soprano saxophone, bagpipe (without drones)Mark Sanders / drums, percussion---Recorded on Sunday 3rd January 2016 by Shaun Crook. Mixed and mastered by James Dunn.An edited version of a separate recording made by Panton Music of this performance is scheduled for release in June 2016 on disc as PM3116 Nii Noi Nortey with David Panton & Mark Sanders. See details on the Panton Music website

Continually assessing his surroundings, Paul Abbott’s solo improvisation is as much a collaboration as it is a solitary process. Caught between the affective and the physical, Abbott’s approach to his kit both moves and contains, whilst honestly documenting the tension in between. Terse, political and ultimately very present.  ---Paul Abbott / drum kit --- Recorded on Monday 1st February 2016 by Shaun Crook. Mixed by Paul Abbott. Mastered by James Dunn.  --- Tracklisting: 1. qno (48.27)www.paulabbott.net/qno

After rinsing us clean of 2k15, Jamal Moss returned to OTO on New Year's Day for a totally improvised set with London legends Mark Sanders and Orphy Robinson. By the power of the third eye the trio tune into sub-conscious frequencies to cancel your Netflix subscription, corrupt your hard-drive and re-align your chakras. Weirdly therapeutic. "In his spoken word passages, Moss presents a dystopian vision of a planet ravaged by rapacious capitalism - its people disconnected from their history and culture by consumer technology."  Stewart Smith, The Wire --- Jamal Moss / turntables, electronics Mark Sanders / percussion Orphy Robinson / vibraphone --- Recorded by Shaun Crook on Friday 1st January 2016. Mixed by James Dunn. Mastered by James Dunn. Original photo by Dawid Laskowski ---

Once there were 3 boys from the haunted bits of Michigan who found a dark tunnel in the side of a hill that had 'TRIP METAL' written on the walls (in blood, probably). They entered on a skateboard and emerged as rabid beasts, their hair long and their mouths forever open. Later, in 2014, 3 men climbed out of an underground lair for a show at Cafe OTO. Upon hearing the first 'note' of the 'music', the crowd spat out their salted caramel brownies and stamped on them, screaming "WOLF EYES RULE." Mysteriously no iPhone footage of this evening remains, so all we have left is this brutal recording - yours for just £6.  (…\ /..)\….\ /…./ \….\ /…./ \…./´¯\/.¯`\ /… |….|..(¯¯¯\ /I….|….|…¯| \ \\I…..|´¯|´¯|..\…)\…..` ¯..¯ ´ ….'\__________ / |oo o o oo| |oo o o oo| |oo o o oo|

Strange storyteller and prop master Cameron Stallones meets chief London vibes player Orphy Robinson. Together they welcome you to ORPHEUM Theatre - a shimmering rhythmic underworld, where Miles Davis' 'Another Unity' is sat down sipping on a hot chocolate. If you enjoyed the far-out excursions of Stallones' Belomancie then this one is for you. Hella chill.  --- Cameron Stallones / electronics, guitar Orphy Robinson / electronics, vibes Alex Gray / computer synthesis, bamboo saxophone Jon Leland / congas, percussion  --- Recorded by Tom Mudd on Monday 21st September 2015. Mixed by Cameron Stallones. Mastered by James Dunn. Photo by Andy Newcombe. ---

It is testament to the arresting intimacy of Ashley Paul's live set that between plucked guitar and a wailing sax there's near silence in the venue. Paul creates and controls an eerily concave space - so inward that with every listen the recording mutates in on itself. Highly emotive and strangely addictive.  --- Ashley Paul / saxophone, guitar, voice --- Recorded by Shaun Crook on Sunday 4th October 2015. Mixed by Ashley Paul. Mastered by Rupert Clervaux. Photo by Dawid Laskowski.

Selvhenter draw their influence from everywhere they've been - free jazz, noise, punk, heavy metal, field recordings from the local recycling centre - it's all there to see. Their live performance at OTO sloshes in New Age and drone jazz in too, creating hypnotic rhythms you don't even realise you've started dancing to. In your face and a bit bonkey-tonks, make sure to turn this one up.  --- Anja Jacobsen / drums Jaleh Negari / drums, vocals Maria Bertel / trombone Maria Diekmann / violin Sonja Labianca / saxophone --- Recorded live at Cafe OTO on Friday 12th June 2015 by James Dunn. Mixed by John Chantler. Mastered by Rupert Clervaux.

One of the most inventive and eclectic figures in contemporary music, guitarist and composer Fred Frith made a welcome return to OTO in 2015. Recorded on the first night of his residency with collaborators Theresa Wong and John Butcher, Quintillions Green is an improvised epic with titles inspired by Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. Visual Artist Heike Liss energized the evening - trailing delicate threads of color across textured film sequences to mirror the expansive, unspooling free verse of the trio. --- John Butcher / saxophones, feedback Theresa Wong / cello, voice Fred Frith / guitar, voice --- Recorded live at Cafe OTO on 29 May 2015 by James Dunn. Mixed by James Dunn. Mastered by Rupert Clerveaux. Original image by Heike Liss.

Deploying singular sinewaves and crackles from 'non-samplers', Sachiko M's sound is unforgiving and utterly radical. Paired with Prevost, the duo's sensitivity and conviction offers a hard-line approach to shifting our perceptions of sound.   --- Sachiko M / sinewaves Eddie Prevost / percussion --- Recorded on Monday 17th February 2014 by James Dunn, and mixed and mastered by James Dunn. Photograph by Dawid Laskowski.

Istanbul-based free music ensemble Konstrukt perform alongside special guest Alexander Hawkins. Having played with the likes of Joe McPhee, Peter Brötzmann, William Parker and Marshall Allen, Konstrukt have carved a niche for themselves at the very forefront of Turkish free music. Their heady mix of electronics and traditional instrumentation sets Hawkins swinging, and the group get an irresistible groove going in the sweaty OTO summer. --- Korhan Futacı / alto & tenor saxophones, gralla, flutes, voice, loops Umut Çağlar / electric guitar, zurna, gralla, flutes, tape echo, rythymbox Barlas Tan Özemek / electric bass Berke Can Özcan / drums, electric drum module Alexander Hawkins / acoustic piano, melodica --- Recorded on August 10th 2015 by Luca Consonni. Mixed & Mastered by Barlas Tan Özemek in Istanbul. Photograph by Dawid Laskowski

Dream rhythm section John Edwards and Steve Noble bring lush colour and shade to Kjær's imaginative compositions. Playful on the surface but subtly introspective, the trio lead you to an otherworldly landscape full of familiar hooks and lilting rhythms, but tinged with an air of the uncanny. Four compositions springboard the set  - 'Out of Sight', 'Crescent', 'Face', and the as-yet-not-on-record 'Peripatopsis'.  --- Julie Kjær / alto saxophone John Edwards / double bass Steve Noble / drums --- Recorded live at Cafe OTO on the 12th January 2015 by James Dunn. Mixed by John Chantler. Mastered by James Dunn. Photo by Dawid Laskowski.

Legendary soul-folk musician Tomokawa Kazuki's first ever show in the UK. With his wild lashing on an acoustic guitar and devastating vocals, Tomokawa is a troubadour from hell. Beginning his career as poet and peddling on the streets of Kawasaki in the early 70's, his personal universe is detailed, dark and vicious. Whether you speak Japanese or not, his bugged-out and torn-up delivery will both comfort you and keep you awake at night.  --- Kazuki Tomokawa / vocals, acoustic guitar --- Recorded on Wednesday 10th April 2012 by John Chantler. Mixed by John Chantler. Mastered by James Dunn. With thanks to Naohito and Naoki.  --- Tracklisting: 1. Runaway Lad (5:23) 2. My Big Brother’s Record (5:20) 3. Look at the Sky, it's like the Ocean (3:50) 4. Pistol (3:29) 5. Sonny Boy (5:58) 6. Flower Trumps (5:18) 7. A Lonely Man Becomes a Painter (4:36) 8. Ask For Jean Genet (4:36) 9. Can’t Comprehend the Meaning Behind these Emotions (3:41) 10. Senko issha (4:17) 11. Good Fellows (3:52)  12. The God is Crying in The Well (3:40) 13. Fat in the Morning Light (3:49) 14. A Don-Pan Bushi Carousa (2:51) 15. Waltz (3:40) 16. Kara Bran (3:27) 17. A Classroom at Night (2:27) 18. Say that You Are Alive (4:50)

In 2011 we were lucky enough to welcome Loren Connors to OTO for a sold out show. With the room suitably hushed, Connors' elongated washes build and then evaporate - leaving behind fragile notes which sit and linger in soltude. Dreamy and ethereal, abstract and atmospheric, it's like reading Virginia Woolf's 'To the Lighthouse' and waiting for the sun to come up. One to shut your eyes to.     "These were Connors 'Airs', played with a softness that meant they floated in the breeze, merging into the night. It was so fragile, barely even there in fact: the notes only just made it above the level of the amp hiss. Like a selection of old photographs, you had to study hard to pick out the detail of those memories being lost amongst paper grain and colour fade. These ghosts of songs felt as much about the passing of time, about loss and heartbreak, as Langille’s vocal set did earlier." - Scott McMillan --- Loren Connors / electric guitar --- Recorded on Saturday 14th of May by John Chantler. Mixed by John Chantler. Mastered by James Dunn. Photo by Andy Newcombe. ---