MICHAEL GREGORY JACKSON‘FREQUENCY EQUILIBRIUM KOAN’ EXPANDED!DOUBLE VINYL LP & CD + 2 UNRELEASED TRACKS FROM NEW SUPERIOR SOURCE Michael Gregory Jackson released "FREQUENCY EQUILIBRIUM KOAN" as a 4 track digital release in 2021. We got in contact with him to make an LP copy, as historic loft jazz recordings like this don't crop up every day, and this recording with Julius Hemphill, Abdul Wadud and Pheeroan aKLaff deserves physical form.To make it even more irresistable a project, Michael said he had 2 more tracks from the same session that we could add to the collection, making this our first Moved-by-Sound double vinyl release, and our first record that's not a reissue. The LP is limited to just 500 copies. Michael has signed the photo print insert of the first 100 orders. "These guys are all heroes of mine. I’ve learned so much (still learning) from all of them. To hear them all together like this is a real gift. What a combo! I can’t believe this happened more than 40 years ago. It sounds like the future. I’m so thankful the tape was running to document this extraordinary moment.” - Bill Frisell "FREQUENCY EQUILIBRIUM KOAN"Frequency • the rate at which a vibration occurs that constitutes a wave, either in a material (as in sound waves), or in an electromagnetic field (as in radio waves and light).Equilibrium • a state in which opposing forces or influences are balanced: a calm state of mind.Koan • a paradoxical anecdote or riddle, used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning and to provoke enlightenment.Many, many, years ago in a once enchanted place they called The Big Apple, New York City, on the Lower East Side, a scene congealed, a significant cultural revolution/renaissance was happening…it was later to be labeled “The Loft Jazz Scene”.This period was a magical time in my young impressionable life, I was 23 years old, I dove straight into the deepness. This scene was vibrant, encompassing, ebullient, original and incendiary. We all did our own thing, separately and together, contained and motivated, fully immersed in the richly encompassing comfort of our ancestral connections.Musicians, artists, poets, playwrights, actors, investors, galleries, clubs, museums and institutions of higher learning were mostly in cooperation…to showcase and revel at the torrents of music created and played on the Lower East Side, and beyond…reaching out to impact a vast world, to appreciative audiences of adventurous listeners.I was playing and collaborating with musicians that could only be described as autonomous islands of individuality, with whom l connected on potent, spiritual frequencies, and deep aura communing. We shared our ideas, experimentations, and voyages in the most personal of ways.I don’t recall the exact moment that I met Julius, but I do remember being immediately struck by his keenly intelligent, deliberate manner, by the low warm leisurely cadence of his voice, and by his wide, knowing, infectious and mischievous smile. Julius was one my favorite people, a master musician, a pioneer of sound, an innovator and magisterial composer. I was honored to have him play my music…to share ethereal air with him. His contributions were always blazing, heartfelt and breath taking. Rest In Peace Sir Julius.I met Cellist Abdul Wadud around the same period, I didn’t get to know him very well personally, but our connection in the music was strong. Simply put, Abdul is a genius, a man and musician of deep intensity, integrity, fire, knowledge, experience and wisdom. His incredible playing knocked me out, it brought me great joy every time we played together.I met drummer Pheeroan aKLaff at the La Mama Theatre in Alphabet City, not sure what year. Pheeroan was always there, a constant presence at our shows. I was playing a lot with the great master, saxophonist and composer Oliver Lake. Once we heard Pheeroan play it was clear, we knew, aKLaff would be the perfect drummer for our music.“Frequency Equilibrium Koan” is one of my personal documentations of that scene. These pieces were some of the many long form compositions that I was writing and performing at that time. F.E.K. was recorded live at the late great singer Joe Lee Wilson’s venue The Ladies Fort in 1977 on my trusty Sony field recording cassette machine. a stamp of time passed, in music that is wholly present.- Michael Gregory Jackson (2021 ) Michael Gregory Jackson- Electric guitar, acoustic guitar body percussion, chimes, bamboo flutes, recording, post production, digital editing & compostion.Julius Hemphill - Alto SaxophoneAbdul Wadud - Cello Pheeroan aKLaff - Drums

Banned and jailed under Czech communism THE PLASTIC PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE are a true story of artistic perseverance, Authorities claimed their music would have a "negative social impact", and they were banned from playing for the public. having to play secret shows in remote locations.. they were founded in 1968, influenced by the velvet underground/beefheart and zappa.. but by the 1970s had developed there own sound. The raw diy sound of there recodings escaped to europe on tape and was released without the bands knowledge, there first album being a document of artistic defiance against the controlles of a stringenyt political environment they lived under.

First ever reissue of OFAMFA by CHILDREN OF THE SUN, a legendary and virtually unobtainable artifact of St. Louis' Black Artist Group from 1971 Original released in 1971 by the BAG groups own label “Universal Justice Records” this album has for years been an impossible to find/listen to album, and this is its first reissue ever .. Ofamfa by The Children Of The Sun, a band lead by poet/musicien Ajule/aka Bruce Rutlin Is a heady mix of poetry/jazz/political songs/ and a document of a comunity avent. The BAG group being about all the arts theater and dance. The original liner notes by Ajule are great Insight in to the creative/vibrant politically aware jazz scene of St Louise in the late 60s early 70s. This album is an important piece of black American history, and even as a visual artifact it is the thing! “All of the brothers playing and writing on this record are members of the Black Artist Group (BAG) which is based in St. Louis, "Misery." The Black Artist Group, a loose association of young Black men & women, is a potent/fertile creative force; a group which has contributed strong/fresh/inspirational creativity in the fields of Music/Writing/Dance/Drama. The Children of the Sun is one of the units operating under the BAG umbrella; others are or have been, The Oliver Lake/BAG, The 'BAG' Ensemble (Big Band), Red Black & Green Solidarity Unit, Onawali Dancers, Malinque Rhythm Tribe, BAG Drama Dept., Great Black Music Orchestra of St. Louis, Fire-Earth-Air-Water, Me We & Them, Julius Hemphill Quartet and some others.......all different creative approaches and reflecting a sum of influences and wisdoms which ranges across 500 years from here to Africa.......During their brief creative association the COS etched themselves into many hearts and minds. The group was together for little more than a year. Playing college concerts (when $ lucky), playing benefits for all kinds of groups of Black people and progressive whites. "A spiritual oasis in the baren desert of Amerika..." They would say, sometimes...... The conceptions reflect experiments which sought to establish a balance/harmony between the mediums of muse/ic and the spoken/sung word, (often the motions of dancers added still another depth) a balance which would catch the pulse and flame of the will of our people even tho they and we had already condemned the english language as the criminal insignia of the privileged class/es. (...Still, english wuz the only language we had in common so it was a dilema of how to reinspire the language). But because the members had to spend a majority of their time food getting their experiments and investigations were abandoned short of their goal which was/is to find a way to restablish the natural harmony of the Spiritual World; which has been upset and polluted to the same extent as our physical world: SPIRITUAL ECOLOGY?? Unfortunately, as it was, the experiments had to be cut short just as the techniques of communication were being perfected. Cut short by a manifestation of whut George Jackson called "over oppression." These young Black men look, walk, talk, eat, love, trip like us all but (unlike most) life is incalcuably more important to them than property values, hot dogs, cadillacs, or even "civilization;" if u can dig where i'm comin from! Their compassion for the Black, the poor, and the disadvantaged in general is reflected by the staggering numbers of free concerts they give/have given or the free classes they offer at BAG in the 4 major disciplines. And by the fact that they seek to maintain their comittment to life and creativity even as they exist at or near the starvation level. So these young Black men are emissaries of the Spiritual Universe....... the lost/abandoned universe they seek to describe in their creativity. "The main thing a musician would like to do is to give a picture to the listener of the many wonderful things he knows of and senses in the universe."* All these things are being said ...... u see ...... in an attempt to distinguish them favorably from their contemporaries in the Kapitalist "superstars"/entertainers/puppets who frolic like gelded puppies across the stages/footlights of the nation; at the end of the silver gaudy chains held by the bloody hands of the richest pale faces and their legions of sattelites and lackeys; who do come in all colors and races. This expression was recorded (by BAG) at various concerts and all of it was recorded "live"/accomplished in one taping. Other than regular microphones no electronic devices shaped this creativity (BLACK). we are new yes we are old before and after the mighty winds of change and revolution The "Black Artist Group" wuz there yes we are the shambles, ruined tones of ancient memories and the sound of running waters, singing leaves flirting the silly air and yes sunlight splashed against dark wrinkled faces sighed winds driving the seasons the gifted moans of cherished lovers yes yes yes serene faces of beautiful children Ours..........” *John Coltrane - Ajulé  credits released June 3, 2024 The Muse/icians on the album are…. Rashu Aten / conga, small instruments Oliver Lake / soprano &Alto; sax, flute, poems, small instruments Floyd LeFlore/ trumpet, small instruments Ishac Rajab/ Trumpet Arzinia Richardson/ bass, small instruments Vincent Terrell / cello Charles “bobo” Shaw / drums, small instruments Ajule / poetry, arrangements, small instruments, drums

Stephen McCraven's WOOLEY THE NEWT was his first album under his own name, released on Marion Browns own Sweet Earth record label in 1979 (orignal copies are rare and go for $500). Working with Stephen and the carvery we have remastering the audio and restored the original artwork.Stephen is a master drumer and composer and has worked with archie Shepp for many years,he has also played & recorded with many; Marion Brown, Mal Waldron, Reggie Wokman and Stanley Cowell to mention just a few. Stephens son is the talented drumer and composer Makaya McCraven,, & Wooley the Newt was sampled in his album; Gil Scott-Heron, Makaya McCraven – We're New Again (A Reimagining By Makaya McCraven) Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Percussion – Sulaiman HakimBass – Jack GreggDrums, Percussion – Stephen McCravenEngineer – Jean-Louis RizetEngineer [Assistant] – Laurent Peyrom*Engineer [Mastering] – Dave Crawford (2)Piano, Percussion – Michel GraillierTenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Percussion – Richard Raux

Artistry was Sirone's first album as a leader, recorded in 1978, just after the split of the Revolutionary Ensemble. Artistry has an Atypical combination of instruments, bass, cello , flute and percussion and delivers aplenty. Listen and you will know. Sirone ( Norris Jones) had an enormously prolific career as a bassist, both as a member of the Revolutionary Ensemble and playing with many of the best musicians of the 20th century - from Pharoah Sanders, Albert Ayler, John Coltrane, Gato Barbieri, Noah Howard, William Parker, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Sonny Sharrock,Marion Brown ... and the list goes on.

Track 3 includes music by MorgellonsTrack 1 samples 'Stand up for Judas' by Leon RosselsonTrack 7 samples 'Aliezer Coppe' by Leon RosselsonWords and voice on Track 6 by Ash ReidSome guitar and recorders on Track 1 by Gwena HarmanRecorded, mixed and produced by The SprigsAdditional recoding and production by Lou PenningtonMastered by James DunnCut by Mischa van der HeidenArtwork by Ben Victor WaggettLayout by The SprigsLP's screen printed by Oscar ReynoldsPressed by Press On in MiddlesbroughSome track titles taken from the following books - 'Wind in the Willows', 'The Pub and The People' and 'Where are the Elephants?'Inspired by Kenneth Grahame's 'Wind in the Willows'The Sprigs is: Rory S, Ben M and V.WEverything seems asleep, and yet going all the time. In the cold damp earth below, Mole, Ratty and Badger are working away on new homes for Mole's uninvited guests. But Ratty picks up on terrible whispers from the Wild Wood Inn. Developers are making plans in the field above...and the landlords are up to no good... "Essential listening FFO Time Is Away, Jon Collin or the 'Bagpuss' soundtrack, The Sprigs, confront cutesy British folk nostalgia on 'For Red Riverbank', using 'The Wind in the Willows' references, sobering newsreel snippets and straight-to-tape acoustic jams to develop a faded image of labour inequality."

The first of two editions capturing Pat Thomas and XT's (Seymour Wright & Paul Abbot) enduring creative partnership, dedicated to renderings of Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary). This, the vinyl edition, encounters the trio in their second brilliant set at Cafe Oto on June 22, 2022 (while the second, X2 CD edition, listed separately, was recorded a Rote Fabrik in Zurich on June 10 + 11, 2022) Pianist Pat Thomas, saxophonist Seymour Wright (both of [ahmed]) and drummer Paul Abbott - the latter two working as XT - deliver a remarkable set of new music, each, re-imagining improvisation and synthetic ideas with acoustic and electronic tools. This monumental new suite Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* released by We Jazz Records on 30th January 2026 is spread across three release formats, the complete album includes more than 2 hours and 15 minutes of music recorded live in London and Zurich in summer 2022. Five tracks in total. complex, iterative whole that makes ideas live - back into tradition/s and out, on, into an infinite future. In 2018 the trio recorded a remarkable 80-minute tribute to the late Cecil Taylor "Akisakila" / Attitudes of Preparation (Mountains, Oceans, Trees) vigorously re-visiting his 1973 Tokyo trio Akisakila recording. Re-convening five years later to celebrate that release they imagined a-new, expanding that attitude to history through connected lenses of the traditions of British electro-acoustic-mystery: from the live electronics of Tony Oxley’s February Papers or Howard Riley’s Synopsis, to Leviticus’ Burial and Splash’s Babylon, plus of course Derek Bailey’s Domestic Jungle, and now up to their overlapping global-temporal experiments with, between them, Mark Fell, Anne Gills and RPBoo. The subtitles of each disc reveal something essential about the three musicians’ shared histories and ways of thinking-through-synthesizing ideas, time, space and sound. The LP, titled Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* London draws from UK improvising pioneer, guitarist Derek Bailey (on playing with Cecil) in its subtitle: “*(it's quite different to the other stuff, the earlier stuff. Without going into all kinds of detail which usually undersells the music, can't describe it. But it was a fine experience, and very memorable.)” Captured at London’s Cafe OTO, the LP hears Thomas & XT expand their acoustic trio each with liquid (dry and wet) electronics, as real and imagined instrumentation. We hear sounds of keys, sticks, reeds, pedals, (i)pads, plug-ins, body and breath and their potentials. We also hear the unique energy, space and feel of OTO a sui generis ecology in which all three musicians have worked and learned since its doors opened in 2008. And as you will hear, this night was a particularly wild, multi-species reception. Released as a double CD, Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* Zurich takes its sub-title from the great drummer, and live electrician, Tony Oxley (also on playing with Cecil): “*(is so much more immense if you prepare yourself to go where the music will take you, and not try and make the music go where you want it perhaps, or think it might go)”. Here we hear the music grow across two nights (one per disc), synthetic, bionic expanding, evaporating, electric, charging through time in ways that renders “genre” indistinguishable, irrelevant and even impossible. Two additional digital tracks added, “London FIRST SET” and “Zurich THREE” round up the release and connect back, in redux-miniature, to Attitudes[...]. This set is a multi-format document of some of the most adventurous, rare (and radical) creative musicians working today. Electronic-and-acoustic, real and imaginary, sounds, times, scales and proportions that extends out of and collapses into musical space in dialogue with past and future.

Regan Bowering’s first LP, A Technology of Feeling (Infant Tree, 2025), builds on the ideas and techniques of her debut solo album, Solos for _ _ _ _ Spaces (Bezirk, 2023). Her practice centres on drums, amplifiers and microphones intertwined in a multi-layered feedback system. Where the debut exposed the tensions and rhythms of control within this system to shape a distinct vocabulary, the new record deepens that exploration, reaching toward fresh terrains of musical and sonic expression. A Technology of Feeling continues to navigate the contrasts between spaces, materials and the body; control and release; percussive rupture and feedback’s continuity. Where Solos for _ _ _ _ Spaces attended to the acoustic, technological and architectural conditions shaping the performance, “driven by the desire to craft electrifying drama,” (The Quietus), A Technology of Feeling turns inward. Through her percussive feedback language, Bowering maps the shifting borders between inner emotional states and the external environments that shape them. The result is a work that crafts moods and architectures of sound—delicate, resonant, and unresolved—without seeking to contain the contradictions of lived experience. Its title points to this focus, framing technology as a means of producing, mediating and reflecting the atmospheres and feelings that shape the environments we move through. Side A unfolds across five interconnected pieces, constructed from fragments of live and studio sessions recorded in London and New York. Each piece isolates and expands a different facet of Bowering’s practice—texture, feedback, rhythm, atmosphere, and emotion through layering and the recursive return of gesture and form. Side A charts several climactic arcs, moving through intensities that shift from overwhelm to fragility to euphoric collapse. Side B (Track 6) captures a live performance at Boston’s Waterworks Festival (April 2025), where Bowering’s feedback system reaches its most expansive form. The cavernous acoustics of the old water pump station reveal timbral nuances and tactile detail, infusing herimprovisational palette with vast natural reverb, resulting in a performance that is both chilling and echoes with melancholic yearning.

Limited edition 10" vinylSum Variations is an e.p featuring two long form studies of Josephine’s song ‘The Sum Of Us All’ from 2013. These were recorded in Spain and Morocco, respectively, in collaboration with two different ensembles.These two variations offer a glimpse into the early exploration of the song, which Foster laterembedded in her electronic album song cycle, ‘Godmother’ (Fire Records, 2021).Side AThe Sum Of Us All (Joujouka)song written by Josephine Foster; instrumental coda theme by Victor HerreroRecorded live in the village of Joujouka, Ahl-Srif mountains, Morocco, 2012Mastered by Brian SulpizioJosephine Foster - guitar/voiceAbdellah Ziyat - liraAbdeslam Boukhzar - oud/voiceAbdeslam Rrtoubi - liraAhmed El Attar - farad/zowakKamanja - oud/voiceMichael Zerang – percussionMohamed El Attar -liraMustapha El Attar - farad/zowakPaz Lenchantin – violin/voiceShiekh Ahmed Talha - oud/voiceVictor Herrero – guitarSide BThe Sum Of Us All (Vejer)song written by Josephine FosterRecorded and mixed by Gyda ValtysdottirVejer de la Frontera, Spain, 2012Mastered by Brian SulpizioJosephine Foster – voice/guitar/harpGyda Valtysdottir – cello/voiceShahzad Ismaily – percussionVictor Herrero – Portuguese guitarand incorporating some sound samples from the Joujouka session.Artwork - Josephine Foster

A kind of Radiophonic Workshop Rebel Alliance…” - The Quietus Tape Works (Vol. 1) documents the origins of Langham Research Centre as a late night experimental gathering in BBC Studios, through to their present day long-form radiophonic works including The Dark Tower, inspired by the life and work of Nikola Tesla, and Muffled Ciphers, inspired by J G Ballard’s most experimental novel The Atrocity Exhibition (1970). Langham Research Centre work with reel to reel tape recorders, gramophone cartridges, wave oscillators and more to produce new work for these instruments, as well as creating authentic performances of early electronic music.

“Exquisite musique concrète”, Seth Colter Walls in The New York Times www.nytimes.com/2022/04/28/arts/music/new-classical-music-albums.html “Natasha Barrett makes musique concrète feel like a thrilling adventure film”, Agata Kik in The Quietus thequietus.com/articles/31267-natasha-barrett-heterotopia-review “Natasha Barrett's intriguing compositions come across as mysterious sonic spaces that exist nowhere on earth” Richard Allen in A Closer Listen acloserlisten.com/2022/03/03/natasha-barrett-heterotopia/

Original GRM member Beatriz Ferreyra deploys a gripping trio of concrète works spanning 40 years (1977-2007) and revealing some of her most mysterious, freeform and otherworldly work comparable to Schaeffer and Parmegiani, but with a poetic playfulness of her own. This vinyl record brings together three pieces that play mischievously with the voice as a sound source, narrative source or diverted object: "Huellas Entreveradas" (2018), "La Baballe du Chien Chien à la Mé-Mère" (2001) and "Deux Dents Dehors" (2007). “Beatriz Ferreyra has been at the forefront of electroacoustic music composition since 1963 when she joined the Groupe de Recherches Musicales as one of Pierre Schaeffer’s research assistants. She is one of very few composers still performing who was instrumental at the beginning of Schaeffer’s theories of sound objects and reduced listening techniques. She continues to compose commissioned works and perform around the world in a career that has spanned some sixty years. From the 1960s until 1997 Beatriz composed tape pieces for multi-speaker performance using three or four Revox reel-to-reel tape machines at each concert. She now works on Pro Tools with GRM plug-ins but still uses the Revoxes for certain tape techniques that can’t be achieved with computer software. Beatriz discusses her music in the Schaefferian way, as a series of impulsions [sharp attacks], iteratives [repetitions], percutés [percussive hits], and trames [sustains] whilst also using her own onomatopoeic descriptions such as ‘schkllang, prrrrwip, ferrrwisssssh, takatak’ communicating sounds freely and directly as she hears them. Her music is about movement; the movement of sounds around a performance space, or the positioning of sounds as point sources within the illusory stereo field between loudspeakers. It is also about movement within individual sounds, where each one is a composition of different shifting components and a ‘little structure’ in its own right, with its own character. She likens her sounds to a Russian doll, inside each is another one, which contains another, and so on. During her time at Schaeffer’s studios, Beatriz developed her own research project, Objets Construits, (constructed objects). These are layers of short sounds, chords made of different noises. Each layer is isolated on a separate piece of tape to analyse the relationships between components and the effect of minimal alterations in pitch, dynamics or timing, to the overall perception of the chord. This was a way of thinking about sound slowly and patiently, of taking time to experiment, analyse and contemplate each manipulation, that is lost in the speedy world of vast ready-made digital sound libraries and the immediacy of save and recall buttons. In Beatriz’s work, small, playful sounds interact like chattering creatures and merge into vast cavernous and mysterious immersive landscapes. These three signature pieces use snippets of speech which are gradually deconstructed to create abstract textures, interweaving vocals with percussive and sustained sounds. Small, playful sounds interact like chattering creatures and merge into vast cavernous and mysterious immersive landscapes. La Baballe du Chien Chien [The doggie’s little ball] (2001) is a playful take on the way that we speak in a childlike way to pets. A brief narrative at the start invites the listener into this ‘pet speak’ scene, with the sound of footsteps and chatter. These gradually crescendo and morph into a cacophonous swirling explosion. Deux Dents Dehors [two teeth sticking out] (2007) is a pun on Bernard Parmegiani’s piece Dedans Dehors [Inside Outside] (1977), composed for his birthday. It takes snippets of lively vernacular and processes these into complex patterns of unintelligible and unrecognisable speech, in sustained or percussive sequences and glissandi. Heullas Entreveradas (2018) is a new commission that transforms vocal sounds into choral textures which fragment, granulate and transform into continuous whorls and tidal washes interspersed with her trademark short silences.”

Can a music made with the modern tools of digital music and contemporary production sound eerily as if created with the same equipment that Stockhausen, Henri and Berio all availed themselves of in the radio studios of the 50’s and 60’s - and yet sound bright and fresh to the ears of today's listeners? Robert Worby shows us how, with Factitious Airs. - CARL STONE This album focuses on recorded sound and structures made with recorded sound. How the original sound was produced and the objects used in the production of the sounds is of secondary interest. Tiny details in the sounds are important and what might appear to be insignificant, dull or uneventful is often salient. Acute, obsessive listening brings these elements to the fore.  In the process of making these structures, meaning begins to emerge and unfold. This is always highly subjective, ambiguous and uncertain and might fleetingly resonate with many ideas, objects, narratives and situations that are not connected with sound. Inspiration often comes from existing music but also from the entire history of ideas and, again, a tiny detail might produce a kind of creative resonance. Curiosity is predominant and drives forward the process of composition.

"A beautiful and nuanced composition, making art from unexpected places, creating a kaleidoscopic portrait of the world. The delicacy and charm with which Iain Chambers sequences his materials is really something to admire. The machines live, breathe, and talk to each other – and to us. Yet there’s also something faintly valedictory about the tone, as if reminding us this is probably the last we’ll hear of these old-fashioned devices built on Newtonian principles" - THE SOUND PROJECTOR The Eccentric Press comprises two pieces composed entirely from recordings by Sounds of Changes – a pan-EU project documenting the endangered sounds of industry and domesticity. A collaboration between six major European museums, its recordings are freely available to download and use. These two symphonies of industrial sound were commissioned by WDR Cologne and ABC Radio National Australia. The source material is recognisable throughout, even when manipulated, juxtaposed or overlaid. Musical relationships emerge from sounds more often regarded as noise.

Ultan O’Brien is a fiddle player and composer from the wilds of County Clare in the West of Ireland. Ultan is a performer as well as a regular at sessions all of Ireland and can be found by chance in any pub in Dublin, Cork or some remote village on the edge of nowhere, flying jigs and reels around the room. Ultan was reared in the rich tradition of Irish music which is so commonly found and heard in Co Clare, but he also delves deep into sound art and experimental music. He has often been heard in the back of a car after a few pints quoting lines from Alvin Lucier or speaking at length about improvisation and it’s place in modern Irish music. Ulatn O’Brien is a fresh and vital player who has much to offer with his unique approach and technique to a tradition so old and ever ready for a subtle change every 100 years or so.Ultan has played and recorded with people and bands such as Skipper’s Alley, Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, John Francis Flynn, Slow Moving Clouds, Cuar, Laura Jurd, Martin Green, Natalia Beylis, Paul Roe and Nic Gareiss.‘in its [Ultan’s fiddle playing] sincerity of tone it reminds me somewhat of those great caoineadh which were played with such elusive grandeur by Denis Murphy and Pádraig O’Keefe’Adrian Scahill

To pour some out for one of their heroes, the cosmos’ own Sun Ra, Bitchin Bajas simply cut a slice of their own DNA and amplify it! Or something like that: they clearly vibe with Ra in hypno-symbiosis, setting the controls of their analog synths for the heart of Sun. Bonus mixtribute: a heartfelt doff to Queen Wendy C, sythnaut and another mother!A portion of the proceeds for Switched On Ra was donated to The Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project. The Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project (PNAP) is a visual arts and education project that connects teaching artists and scholars to incarcerated students at Stateville Maximum Security Prison through classes, workshops, a policy think tank, and guest lectures. Classes cover subjects ranging from poetry, visual arts, and creative writing to political theory, social studies, and history. PNAP also offers a tuition-free degree-granting program at Stateville in partnership with the University Without Walls at Northeastern Illinois University. Our classes serve as an indispensable opportunity for our students to connect with artists, scholars, and writers from the region, expand their cultural and political education, and communicate complex ideas. PNAP courses develop projects—visual art, creative writing, and critical essays—which are the basis for exhibitions, events, and publications that are shared both within and across the walls of the prison.

ollowing their collaboration on 2021’s Oscar winning Drive My Car, Eiko Ishibashi & filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi up the ante with a deeply inspired synergistic exchange: music for images, visuals for sounds. Eiko’s score initiated the project that has become his celebrated new film (Best Picture – BFI London Film Fest, Asian Film Awards, Silver Lion – Venice Film Fest, Best Score – Asia Film Awards). Every nuance mixed & mastered by Jim O’Rourke.

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.