{"title":"Jazz","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"amirtha-kidambi-elder-ones-holy-science","title":"Amirtha Kidambi Elder Ones - Holy Science","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1632580698\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/amirthakidambi.bandcamp.com\/album\/holy-science\"\u003eHoly Science by Elder Ones\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs Ben Ratliff wrote in the New York Times, “the aggressive and sublime first album by the band Elder Ones, Holy Science, is a kind of gauge for how strong and flexible the scene of young musicians in New York’s improvised and experimental music world can be. At the center of it are drones and phonemes. The group’s leader, the 30-year-old composer and singer Amirtha Kidambi, holds forth behind a harmonium, the small keyboard instrument with hand-pumped bellows; it’s commonly used in bhajan, the Indian devotional-singing tradition that was central to her musical experience while growing up in a South Indian family.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKidambi formally trained in classical music, singing works by avant-gardists including Nono and Stockhausen, but the pull of free jazz and Alice Coltrane drew her toward a different path. The influence of both Alice and John Coltrane is especially apparent on the new album, as is her work with composer and saxophonist Darius Jones, and her study of Carnatic music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile in Darius Jones's a cappella group, Kidambi developed a language for wordless vocals, freeing her from being tied to syntax, a technique she uses through most of Holy Science. The music is anchored by bass-lines and drones on the harmonium, often doubled on the bass by Brandon Lopez. Matt Nelson on the soprano saxophone evokes the sound of the Indian double-reed nadhaswaram, and the playing of John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, blending with and harmonizing her voice and the reeds of the harmonium. Drummer Max Jaffe’s ability to seamlessly pivot between complex grooves and timbrally explorative free-playing, completes the equation. Each musician was chosen for their unique improvisatory language on their instrument, ultimately informing Kidambi’s compositional approach.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReflecting on her various influences, Kidambi explained, “I grew up Hindu, but with a pantheist universalist bent, the idea that all religions are different paths to the same God or Truth. Not only is the music of John and Alice Coltrane so influential, they both practiced universalism. Alice's primary guru was the same one that my family followed, and she participated in the bhajan singing tradition. I grew up singing with the harmonium, and I know all the tunes on her Huntington Ashram records. She looms large for me as a figure who blended so many different styles and traditions, uncompromising in her vision and authentic to herself. She was, in a way, a universalist in her music, blending her influences of Stravinsky, gospel, free jazz, the avant-garde, world music, and her spiritual practice into a totally individual sound. I really relate to that way of thinking about music and the universe.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first piece composed in the suite was \"Dvapara Yoga,\" which began as a meditation on the death of Eric Garner. The album title derives from a 19th century text written by Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, which scientifically explains the yugas, or eons of cosmic time in Hindu mythology. The four movements Sathya-Yuga, Treta-Yuga, Dvapara-Yuga and Kali-Yuga, explore themes of creation, destruction, and rebirth, with the final movement pivoting on the Vishnu Sahasranam Vedic chant, and ending with an apocalyptic reset of the time cycle.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667150762207,"sku":"CD-NS-085","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667150794975,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667150827743,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a3849590726_10.jpg?v=1703788592"},{"product_id":"joe-westerlund-mojave-interlude","title":"Joe Westerlund - Mojave Interlude","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=911257006\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/track=1755757242\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/jwesterlund.bandcamp.com\/album\/mojave-interlude\"\u003eMojave Interlude by Joe Westerlund\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMojave Interlude was realized, recorded and edited from August 2006 - November 2015, in various locations between North Carolina and California. The majority of the music was created with a wide array of percussion instruments, utilizing a variety of techniques, and processed with analog and digital electronics. Additional instruments and found sounds were added under my own direction and\/or editing. In 2013, a live-mix version of this music was assembled to accompany the dance piece I am Come For You, choreographed by Carson Efird, at UCLA in Los Angeles, CA and at White Wave in Brooklyn, NY.\u003cbr\u003e\ncredits\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdditional Instrumental Contributions:\u003cbr\u003e\nMike Lewis: Saxophones (Part I, d)\u003cbr\u003e\nBrian Joseph: Additional Engineering \u0026amp; Production (Part I, d)\u003cbr\u003e\nTrever Hagen: Trumpet \u0026amp; Electronics (Part II, a\u0026amp;b)\u003cbr\u003e\nRobert Pence: Bass Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone, Trombone (Part II, b)\u003cbr\u003e\nMastered by Ryoji Noumi\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Cassette + Digital","offer_id":44667155546335,"sku":"CS-NS-081","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667155513567,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667155579103,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a0761503546_16-1-1.jpg?v=1703788677"},{"product_id":"bobby-kapp-matthew-shipp-cactus","title":"Bobby Kapp \u0026 Matthew Shipp - Cactus","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2781980594\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/bobbykappmatthewshipp.bandcamp.com\/album\/cactus\"\u003eCactus by Bobby Kapp \u0026amp; Matthew Shipp\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn Valerie Wilmer’s important socio-political history of the jazz vanguard As Serious As Your Life (Serpent’s Tail Press, 1977), the chapter on pianist Cecil Taylor is subtitled “Eighty-Eight Tuned Drums.” Textually this reference advances the role of the piano in free music as percussive in large part, especially as the chordal and melodic directions taken after Ornette Coleman in the late 1950s often appeared to circumvent the more fixed tonalities of the keyboard. Drummers and pianists have been one core team in this music, going back to the forbears and scions of the modern-jazz era — Buddy Rich and Nat Cole; Art Blakey and Herbie Nichols or Thelonious Monk; Denis Charles, Sunny Murray and Andrew Cyrille with Taylor — whether the pianist may work percussively or sculpt the music temporally and melodically.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrummer Bobby Kapp (b. Robert Kaplan on April 11, 1942 in Perth Amboy, NJ) and pianist Matthew Shipp (b. December 7, 1960 in Wilmington, DE) are a team that has only recently come together, though their affinity for one another is natural and rewarding. Cactus is their first duo recording, a spontaneous set coming on the heels of 2015’s Themes 4 Transmutation, the latter waxed under the drummer’s leadership and featuring Shipp, reedist Ras Moshe and bassist Tyler Mitchell. While the cognoscenti may be aware of Kapp’s name as a firebrand in the mid-60s New York free music underground, he didn’t record as a leader back then. In recent years, after relocating to Mexico, he’s co-led the standards-rooted Fine Wine Trio with pianist Richard Wyands and bassist Gene Perla, and reunited with alto saxophonist Noah Howard before the latter’s untimely passing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKapp’s restless energy and streetwise lyricism, yen for the blues and supple templates for unfettered expression took him from New Jersey and Staten Island to Berklee College of Music, where he studied with Alan Dawson, and then Lower Manhattan. There, he played and recorded with alto saxophonists Marion Brown and Noah Howard, pianist Dave Burrell and tenor saxophonists Leandro ‘Gato’ Barbieri and Pharaoh Sanders before eventually settling in an artist’s colony in San Miguel de Allende. Kapp’s sideman recordings in the 1960s are scant, comprising two full LP appearances (Barbieri’s In Search of the Mystery and Howard’s At Judson Hall, both on ESP), two individual LP halves (Brown’s watershed Three for Sheep on Impulse! and Burrell’s High on Douglas), and film footage of Brown’s trio was captured in 1967 by Henry English, but all of this work presents a rolling, massive and fleet economy somewhere between Elvin Jones and Shelly Manne. His more recent outings have been somewhat under the radar, but the aspects that entice—a sure, tempestuous detail—are toned with age, experience and fidelity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShipp’s piano is the perfect foil for Kapp’s dryly doled-out metric inventions, his sinewy but factual movements through erudite melody, resonant stomps and granular sideways gestures creating fields and objects through which the drummer’s open, supple brushwork and woody rolls float, undercut and weave. Shipp has worked with a wide range of individual, creative drummers—including Newman Taylor Baker, Whit Dickey, Guillermo E. Brown, Susie Ibarra, Marc Edwards and Steve McCall—and says of Kapp that “Bobby is a marvel as he combines the best of old school drumming with a real feel for pulse and breaking the circle that exists in the avant-garde. However, he can open the beat up in a way where you can flow with the wave and never lose the line. His touch is really refined and that adds to the beauty of his sound. I am always looking for ways to make my comping deeper and working with someone who has played with all the people he has deepens my thing. Also, the sound he gets off the cymbals has a resonance that is beyond deep—it’s like swimming in pure vibration.” On Cactus, nine spiny and flowering dialogic arms are presented in gorgeous sound, creating a language that stems from bebop, free improvisation and classicism but are of the present and specific to these two musicians. Rigorous, spontaneous play that feels this good is something to hold onto.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e– Clifford Allen\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Practically without parallel — Matthew Shipp is the connection between the past, present and future for jazzheads of all ages.” – Downbeat\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“…In the 1960’s, Bobby was a seminal figure in the so-called new music movement in NYC, recording with Gato Barbieri, Archie Shepp, Noah Howard and others.” – Ron J. Pelletier\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667155874015,"sku":"CD-NS-079","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667155841247,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667155906783,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NS_079_web_cover-2-e1646851954503.jpg?v=1703788696"},{"product_id":"the-necks-vertigo","title":"The Necks - Vertigo","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2107741802\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thenecksau.bandcamp.com\/album\/vertigo\"\u003eVertigo by The Necks\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Necks 18th album \u003cem\u003eVertigo\u003c\/em\u003e is an eventful, kaleidoscopic tone poem set against a darkly shimmering background. Slowly but inexorably moving forward, it crosses many frontiers yet remains true to the mission and mood established in the opening stanzas of this cinematic 44 minute journey. A work able to be viewed either as a whole, or two symmetrical halves, \u003cem\u003eVertigo\u003c\/em\u003e sees The Necks once again offer an excursion in sound that reflects both the light and darkness of some preternatural world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eVertigo\u003c\/em\u003e will be released on 30th October in North America by Northern Spy Records. It follows their acclaimed 2013 album Open, described by SPIN as ‘the most beautiful album of the year’.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn contrast to the sustained improvisations that are their live performances, The Necks’ studio albums take shape by way of intricate crafting brought to bear throughout the entire recording and mixing process. “The discussion this time really began in earnest in the session itself, where we started to pursue the idea of having a drone running from start to finish, off which we could hang ideas,” said bassist Lloyd Swanton “But like all Necks albums we ended up in a very different place from whatever our initial notion of it had been.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMaintaining a teetering tension between suspension and collapse, \u003cem\u003eVertigo\u003c\/em\u003e draws on a diverse palette of sounds created in the studio by Tony Buck (drums\/percussion\/guitar), Lloyd Swanton (bass) and Chris Abrahams (piano\/keyboards), featuring everything from homemade instruments, extended instrumental techniques and marathon explorations of sonic textures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne piece, at the same time two. Monochrome, yet multicoloured. Dark, yet incandescent. Expansive and still. Melancholic and exhilarating. The Necks. \u003cem\u003eVertigo\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667157577951,"sku":"LP-NS-067","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667157676255,"sku":"CD-NS-067","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667157610719,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667157643487,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a1767889221_10.jpg?v=1703788782"},{"product_id":"white-out-with-nels-cline-accidental-sky","title":"White Out \/ Nels Cline - Accidental Sky","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2832417878\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/whiteoutnelscline.bandcamp.com\/album\/accidental-sky\"\u003eAccidental Sky by White Out with Nels Cline\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eNew York radical innovators White Out and transplanted Los Angeles legend Nels Cline share a long musical history, having played together for over a 15-year period. Anyone lucky enough to have caught these guys in live performance can attest to their special chemistry. They play a kind of improvised chamber music. Their tightly cohesive interplay the sonic consequence of years spent developing their highly personal electro-acoustic language. Any attempt to assign a label to their collective sound falls short. Reductionist classifications like Free Jazz, Prog, and Experimental, although all applicable, fail to convey the full depths of their jams. The music they make together is as eclectic as the venues they have performed in are diverse: A jazz dungeon in Paris, an artist squat in Geneva, the All Tomorrow Parties Festival in the UK, an improvisers’ compound in Marseilles, or indie rock enclaves in Los Angeles, London, and New York. Accidental Sky represents their first official release, and their first attempt at recording in a studio together. The album does not disappoint.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAccidental Sky runs the full gamut of artistic expression. Some of the more tempestuous tracks like the album’s epoch opener “Imperative,” the laconic “Ragged Mist of Stalled Horizons,” or the jagged “Sirius Is Missing,” range in dynamic structure from deliberate calm to unbridled fury. While other selections are more abstruse, such as the mysterious “Exaltation By Proxy” and the noirish “Under A Void Moon,” which feature haunting themes, sinuous flute lines, and otherworldly vocals. “Winter Light” stands as a kind of sparse tone poem, driven by long reverberating bell sounds. There is even a euphonious ballad in the form of the album’s closer “Soft, Nameless, Absolute.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAccidental Sky casts White Out in a different light than any of their other previous releases, which feature the likes of Thurston Moore, Jim O’Rourke, and William Winant. As with all their musical pairings, they are able to entirely transform their sound to accommodate their guest collaborator while simultaneously retaining their own strong creative identity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis album is a long time coming, and the documentation of these artists recording together is cause for celebration. With the release of Accidental Sky, the world at large can finally join White Out and Nels Cline on their eternal quest to explore the infinite possibilities of sound, rhythm, and space.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667158003935,"sku":"LP-NS-066","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667158036703,"sku":"CD-NS-066","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667158102239,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667158069471,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/AccidentalSky_cover_1400pxWeb-e1646851882659.jpg?v=1703788805"},{"product_id":"thurston-moore-john-moloney-caught-on-tape-full-bleed","title":"Thurston Moore \u0026 John Moloney - Full Bleed","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=934309972\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thurstonmoorejohnmoloney.bandcamp.com\/album\/caught-on-tape-full-bleed\"\u003eCaught on Tape — Full Bleed by Thurston Moore \u0026amp; John Moloney\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor their latest spiritual odyssey, Thurston Moore and John Moloney deliver the volcanic and violent maelstrom, Full Bleed. But unlike the helter-skelter out-jazz of Caught on Tape (“Full bore savage highway stuff, the mind exploding with wall melting emotion,” says Moore\/Moloney about that platter), Full Bleed collects nine Herculean sludgefeasts dripping of gnarly metal-damaged heaviosity and punk-jazz skronk-splattered fury, transmitted in an alien language only this duo can convey. “They became songs as they were played,” Moore\/Moloney explain about their writing process. “Composed on the fiery tongue, like how all real cool improv needs to be experienced.” And as far as assigning actual names to the songs? “We titled them to identify them as distinct ‘songs’ because that is what they need to be to survive in this fucked landscape of politician dung patrol. They became snakes.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith the pulverizing thumps ‘n’ thwacks and cymbal-crashing annihilation Moloney inflicts on the skins melted to Moore’s hefty metallic wasteoid licks and jazzmongering fuckery heard on opening salvo “Age Limit,” the title track and “Dispute,” it’s apparent Full Bleed is a distinct beast thick with black metal riffer vibes, sans corpsepaint.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFull Bleed penetrates a stratosphere of brutal heaviness and spazzcore jazz traversed by Moore and his fellow figureheads in yesteryear downtown NYC at defunct experimental\/jazz hubs, The Knitting Factory, Tonic and The Cooler. Pedal-hopping, apocalyptic doom metal torture (“Full Bleed”), mangled avant-jazz noise noodlage (“Self-Rule”) and tasty SY-like space rock jammage (“Arguing with a Balloon”) portends two dudes on a mission of absolute devastation. Recorded at Sonelab in Easthampton, Massachusetts with oft-engineering cohort Justin Pizzoferatto and cover art courtesy of Moloney, Full Bleed is the heaviest of spasmodic bliss from two kindred bohemian noise spirits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA tour in support of Full Bleed may transpire. Or not. “John and I, whether in Caught on Tape, or in any of our other side projects ALWAYS tour,” says Moore. “We are soldiers of the road, warriors of the wing – buses, vans, cars, trains, bicycles — we get to gigs and we plug in whether we are expected to or not. We just may play again in support of this LP if we can find the minutes where the universe allows us to be in the same room at the same time.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667159642335,"sku":"LP-NS-059","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667159707871,"sku":"CD-NS-059","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667159675103,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667159740639,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Thurston-Moore-John-Moloney-_E2_80_94-Full-Bleed-cover_E2_80_94web-copy-1-e1646851799215.jpg?v=1703788851"},{"product_id":"fred-frith-and-john-butcher-the-natural-order","title":"Fred Frith \/ John Butcher - The Natural Order","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3300632064\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/fredfrithandjohnbutcher.bandcamp.com\/album\/the-natural-order\"\u003eThe Natural Order by Fred Frith and John Butcher\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eGuitarist Fred Frith and saxophonist John Butcher are titans within the world of improvised music. Over the last four decades, each of these two men has permanently altered the way in which his instrument is heard: Frith with his (at times literal) deconstruction of the electric guitar, and Butcher with his exploration of the physical properties of sound and extended playing techniques.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThough they’ve played live together a few times, The Natural Order, recorded in 2009 and mixed in 2012, documents Frith and Butcher’s first head-to-head encounter in a recording studio. The album is as pure a document as possible: recorded in a single stretch, with no overdubbing, the 10 tracks appear here in the order of their creation. It captures a single hour of unmediated interaction between two restless, creative spirits determined to make every moment with their respective instruments count. It’s not jazz, it’s not rock, it’s not noise—it’s pure music, the product of two men in one place at one time, unique and unrepeatable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFred Frith – guitar\u003cbr\u003eJohn Butcher – saxophones\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667159937247,"sku":"CD-NS-060","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667159871711,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667159904479,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a0862332074_10.jpg?v=1703788860"},{"product_id":"chicago-underground-duo-locus","title":"Chicago Underground Duo - Locus","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1853696010\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/chicagoundergroundduo.bandcamp.com\/album\/locus-2\"\u003eLocus by Chicago Underground Duo\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eLocus, the seventh album by the Chicago Underground Duo (Rob Mazurek and Chad Taylor), follows on the heels of their acclaimed 2012 Northern Spy release Age of Energy. Bits of breakbeat and Afropop are heard within the jazz, ambient and electronica elements of their unmistakable grooves. Also in the mix is a Ghanian folk tune and Ennio Morricone played on cornet, drums, mbira, ballophone, bamboo flute and Game Boy. The pairing came out of the Chicago Underground Orchestra founded by Mazurek almost 20 years ago during a series of weekly workshops at the famed Chicago nightclub Green Mill Cocktail Lounge. The Orchestra morphed into the Chicago Underground Duo, Trio and Quartet as situations demanded, and while the orchestra has counted among its members such jazz greats as Sun Ra drummer Robert Barry and the late bassist Fred Hopkins of Air, the younger wunderkind Taylor has been the only other consistent member of the Underground bands. The duo remains core to most everything the uncompromising Mazurek takes on. With Taylor (championed timekeeper behind Marc Ribot’s Spiritual Unity Trio and projects with Peter Brötzmann, Ken Vandermark and many others), Mazurek has crafted an ever expanding sound, based in elements of jazz, techno, film music. The nine tracks on Locus find the tireless Duo exploring, as always, new sounds and new combinations.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667161444575,"sku":"LP-NS-052","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667161542879,"sku":"CD-NS-052","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667161477343,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667161510111,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/81kxRpnzC2L._SL1000.jpg?v=1703788928"},{"product_id":"the-necks-open","title":"The Necks - Open","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=898907723\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thenecksau.bandcamp.com\/album\/open\"\u003eOpen by The Necks\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Necks are one of the great cult bands of Australia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eOpen\u003c\/em\u003e, the 17th album from The Necks, is to be released on the 29th of October in North America as part of a brand new partnership between The Necks and Northern Spy Records.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFollowing on from their two track LP release, \u003cem\u003eMindset\u003c\/em\u003e (2011), \u003cem\u003eOpen\u003c\/em\u003e sees legendary artists-in-resonance The Necks return to the territory they are best known for, a single piece running for over an hour.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTrue to its title, \u003cem\u003eOpen\u003c\/em\u003e possesses a stillness, drawing the listener into a spacious soundworld.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBassist Lloyd Swanton elaborates: “\u003cem\u003eMindset\u003c\/em\u003e reached some pretty intense levels at times, and though we never overtly discussed it, I think that on \u003cem\u003eOpen\u003c\/em\u003e by contrast, all three of us were taken by the idea of working in an area of great stillness. After a couple of days’ recording, it was clear that the music was leading us in this direction.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the opening tones of Tony Buck’s monochord, it is immediately clear that this Necks album is something special. As it unfolds, ethereal arco harmonics, minimalist funk, mesmeric piano riffs, subliminal pulses, twittering electronics, even an arco bass choir are inducted into the process.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eOpen\u003c\/em\u003e will be the first of The Necks’ albums released in North America on Northern Spy. “They’re a great label; energetic and imaginative, with some really impressive artists” says Chris Abrahams, “so we’re flattered that they sought us out, and delighted to be working together on growing our music across North America, because the response to our tours there thus far has been incredible.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667162067167,"sku":"CD-NS-047","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667162001631,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667162034399,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/51qwJUPbhnL._SL1488_-e1646851760953.jpg?v=1703788963"},{"product_id":"bryan-and-the-haggards-ft-dr-eugene-chadbourne-merles-just-wanna-have-fun","title":"Bryan and the Haggards ft Dr. Eugene Chadbourne - Merles Just Wanna Have Fun","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3061637051\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/bryanandthehaggards.bandcamp.com\/album\/merles-just-wanna-have-fun\"\u003eMerles Just Wanna Have Fun by Bryan and the Haggards ft Dr. Eugene Chadbourne\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eMerles Just Wanna Have Fun is a ridiculous spirited, lovingly raucous tribute to one of country’s greats, Merle Haggard. As with Willie Nelson, there’s a bit of jazzy sensibility toHaggard’s music. The tunes aren’t mere three-chord rockers, giving a sextet of exceptional musicians like Bryan and the Haggards featuring Dr. Eugene Chadbourne plenty to work with. And as with Nelson (Poncho to his Lefty, or the other way around), Haggard’s songs are full of character, or rebels and patriots and world-weary travelers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This was what I was trying to do in 1980, get a jazz band to play country and western and get a record label to pay to record it and put it out. The closest I could get to that was Shockabilly and obviously that was a sidetrack. So listening to this is really gratifying! Let’s see if anybody else likes it!” – Dr. Eugene Chadbourne\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEugene Chadbourne – vocals, banjo, dobro\u003cbr\u003e\nBryan Murray – tenor, soprano, balto! saxophones, talzmer¡, nose whistle, recorder, ocarina, vocals.\u003cbr\u003e\nJon Irabagon – C melody, soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, penny whistle\u003cbr\u003e\nJon Lundbom – guitar, banjo, vocals\u003cbr\u003e\nMoppa Elliott – bass, vocals\u003cbr\u003e\nDanny Fischer – drums, vocals\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecorded at Seizures Palace on July 4, 2012\u003cbr\u003e\nProduced by Kurt Gottschalk\u003cbr\u003e\nEngineered by Jason LaFarge\u003cbr\u003e\nMastered by James Plotkin\u003cbr\u003e\nArtwork by Emma Ball, vectornectar.com\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667162231007,"sku":"CD-NS-046","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667162165471,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667162198239,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/81vWdvdcd3L._SL1200.jpg?v=1703788980"},{"product_id":"gary-lucas-cinefantasique","title":"Gary Lucas - Cinefantasique","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis album is a total labour of love. I have been fascinated with film ever since I was a boy, when I used to project 8mm silent horror and science fiction classics courtesy of Castle Films to my friends in the basement of our house in Syracuse NY (a mere nickel would gain you admission). And I quickly grew to love film music scores – and the way they can comment on and enhance the experience of viewing a classic film. A good film theme can stick in your mind indelibly, like the best pop songs. I thank my mom and dad for instilling my love of film music – popular soundtrack LPs of the day were played continuously on our hi-fi, which is where I first fell under the spell of Victor Young’s “Around the World in 80 Days,” Michel Legrand’s “Umbrellas of Cherbourg” music and Frances Lai’s score for “A Man and a Woman” (the last two both ear-marked for “Cinefantastique Vol. 2”). And I have been intimately involved with composing film music – especially otherworldly film music – since being asked in 1971 to score my first film, “Aquatic Ecology,” a documentary for the New York State Department of Forestry narrated by fellow Syracuse native Rod Serling (Mr. Twilight Zone).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSince then I have composed music for both film and television and have covered many film themes over my 20 plus album career to date. This is the first time though that I have assembled a full album devoted to showcasing some of my favorite film music composers and some of my own film music. And it is all arranged and performed (except for one piece) for solo guitar, without overdubs. Not that easy to pull off, considering most of the classic film themes covered here (well all of them) were composed and recorded for full orchestra. But I love a good challenge. And as I have been described as a one man guitar orchestra…enjoy! -Gary Lucas\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667162689759,"sku":"CD-NS-045","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667162755295,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667162722527,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a0507449113_10.jpg?v=1703788989"},{"product_id":"black-host-life-in-the-sugar-candle-mines","title":"Black Host - Life in the Sugar Candle Mines","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=4032543763\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/geraldcleaversblackhost.bandcamp.com\/album\/life-in-the-sugar-candle-mines-2\"\u003eLife in the Sugar Candle Mines by Gerald Cleaver's Black Host\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eSometimes it can be a challenge to rise above the flood of interesting music available in the new-release (let alone reissue) coffers and bring a vibe to the table that’s robust enough to grab one by the throat, offering seamless introspection within past and present. Black Host, a New York quintet nominally led by in-demand drummer Gerald Cleaver, is an improvising ensemble prepared to do just that. Cleaver is joined here by pianist Cooper-Moore, alto saxophonist Darius Jones, bassist Pascal Niggenkemper and guitarist Brandon Seabrook on a program of eight original compositions that blend modern jazz, free music, psych, post-punk and electrified noise with painstaking detail and heady abandon. The historically obsessed might name-check Albert Ayler (especially the groups with pianist Bobby Few and guitarist Henry Vestine), the early ‘70s music of Norwegians Jan Garbarek and Terje Rypdal, or Gary Windo with Carla Bley, but Black Host present dynamic, incisive and utterly contemporary music. \u003cem\u003eLife in the Sugar Candle Mines\u003c\/em\u003e is the group’s first record – hopefully one among several – a reverb-drenched and incisive stew of rhapsodic piano, searing alto and fractured guitar over rhythms that are alternately chunky and airy, rendered with a “live” energy that cuts through the cones on your speakers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFeatured Artists:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGerald Cleaver (drums, sound design)\u003cbr\u003e\nCooper-Moore (piano, synth)\u003cbr\u003e\nBrandon Seabrook (guitar)\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/strong\u003eDarius Jones (alto saxophone)\u003cbr\u003e\nPascal Niggenkemper (bass)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667163345119,"sku":"CD-NS-039","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667163279583,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667163312351,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/black-host-cover-square-e1646851699374.jpg?v=1703789025"},{"product_id":"john-butcher-bell-trove-spools","title":"John Butcher - Bell Trove Spools","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1028063960\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/johnbutcher.bandcamp.com\/album\/bell-trove-spools-2\"\u003eBell Trove Spools by John Butcher\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eNorthern Spy is proud to present two of John Butcher’s most recent experiments in moving sound waves through space. On Bell Trove Spools we hear Butcher in two distinct situations: Richmond Hall, a Houston art gallery housing a permanent Dan Flavin collection that has been compared to a bowling alley; and the high-ceilinged marble room in Brooklyn which is the new home to Issue Project Room. Butcher is heard on his two saxes of choice, the soprano and the tenor, and suspended in space, fluid, challenging, at times melodic and always exciting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn short, John Butcher knows how to work a room – and that’s not about relating to the audience. In fact, there was no audience present for the Brooklyn session. Bell Trove Spools is just Butcher and a saxophone and spaces ready to receive. The results speak for themselves.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667165180127,"sku":"CD-NS-032","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667165147359,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667165212895,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/51D0fNjzL.jpg?v=1703789078"},{"product_id":"zs-score","title":"Zs - Score","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2374516240\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/zstheband.bandcamp.com\/album\/score-the-complete-sextet-works-2002-2007\"\u003eScore - The Complete Sextet Works: 2002 - 2007 by Zs\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Complete Sextet Works: 2002-2007\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeptember 2012 New York City band Zs celebrates 10 years of being a band with the release of Score – The Complete Sextet Works: 2002-2007. Zs has been described with a dizzying array of musical vocabularies, and has performed alongside an equally dizzying complement of colleagues and collaborators ranging fromThrobbing Gristle’s Genesis P. Orridge, to Roscoe Mitchell, toChristian Wolf, not to mention hundreds of comrades from the Brooklyn DIY scene, that has been home to Zs’ myriad incarnations and musical and artistic tangents. Belonging nowhere and everywhere, Zs has absorbed the editorial space of Howard Stern andAlex Ross alike. In 10 years of activity, the band has changed in countless ways without ever changing a fierce commitment to inscrutable aesthetics and execution crafted to provoke reflection and challenge assumption in the consumption of music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Zs first formed the sextet, the band operated as a composers collective who played their own compositions. All members of the band huddled over sheet music on music stands illuminated by floodlights. The band was known for ensemble style rather than individual styles of the players, and developed a particular reputation for a near pathological commitment to unison execution of counter intuitive rhythms at an ear splitting volume, or at a virtually inaudible volume. Additionally, the band wore uniforms, a way of drawing attention away from the people playing in the band, and toward the group responsible for the monolithic rhythms and harmonies Zs spun out relentlessly at early shows. This stands in stark contrast to the emphasis on individual style found in Zs’ recent work. That said, this music is important in the development of Zs as it articulates the formation of the aesthetic and formal vocabulary that would form the underpinning for all future journeys the band would take.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt present Zs remains committed to constant change in method and stasis in intention – different means, people, and aesthetics, always meant to instigate questioning and challenge preconception. The band is working on writing their 3rd full length record and an EP, both due out in 2013. In the mean season, dive into the early world of Zs with Score – The Complete Sextet Works: 2002-2007.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667167211743,"sku":"CD-NS-027","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667167146207,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667167178975,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/homepage_large.bf2ea24a.jpg?v=1703789111"},{"product_id":"the-home-of-easy-credit-the-home-of-easy-credit","title":"The Home of Easy Credit - S\/T","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2229842703\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/northernspyrecords.bandcamp.com\/album\/the-home-of-easy-credit\"\u003eThe Home of Easy Credit by The Home of Easy Credit\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Home of Easy Credit is the eponymous debut recording from husband and wife team Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen and Tom Blancarte. Taking their name from a department store sign in a dilapidated section of downtown Houston, Texas (Blancarte’s native state), the duo draw their inspiration from the gradual awareness of the decline of civilization which permeates our culture. Hailing from a remote rural region of Denmark, Jensen uses subtle and not-so-subtle electronics to blend her vocal, saxophone and flute work with Tom Blancarte’s furious bass playing, creating one of the most unique sound worlds in contemporary music. Featuring tortured sonic landscapes that conjure up Stockhausen and Feldman as readily as Björk or Mike Patton, their debut on Northern Spy Records is a meditation on the bleakness of modern America and the western world in general. The album contains a tightly-constructed musical narrative; five short auditory haikus named for permutations of the American Dream posited by Ted Ownby are interspersed between longer, open-form pieces whose titles reference cubicles, the dark side of Frank Lloyd Wright and the books of Michael Pollan and James Howard Kunstler, among other subjects. The Home of Easy Credit paints a musical portrait of a commercialized and homogenized consumer culture that is slowly waking up to realize that it is completely fucked.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667168129247,"sku":"CD-NS-023","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667168096479,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667168162015,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a1576182718_10.jpg?v=1703789167"},{"product_id":"chicago-underground-duo-age-of-energy","title":"Chicago Underground Duo - Age of Energy","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3687553549\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/chicagoundergroundduo.bandcamp.com\/album\/age-of-energy-2\"\u003eAge of Energy by Chicago Underground Duo\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis year marks a milestone for the Chicago Underground Duo. It is their 15th year together as a band. In celebration of this momentous occasion they have released a new record on a brand new label. Age of Energy is Chad Taylor and Rob Mazurek’s sixth release as Chicago Underground Duo and the twelfth release in the Chicago Underground catalog. Developed during 2009 when the duo toured the east and west coasts, most of the material on the record was recorded live with very few overdubs. Thematically, Age of Energy is concerned with the balance between controlled and uncontrolled experiences. Computers, keyboards and drum machines pulse alongside ancient instruments like the African Mbira. ‘Winds and Sweeping Pines’ opens with Chad and Rob playing synthesizers and electronics, gradually as the piece develops, Chad switches to drums and Rob switches to cornet and they improvise over a blistering bass vamp in classic Chicago Underground Duo style. ‘It’s Alright’ is a piece making extensive use of electroacoustics, starting with a drone which incorporates extreme high and low frequencies. The electronics are overdriven with results of both known and unknown nature. ‘Castle In Your Heart’ is based on a traditional Shona song from Zimbabwe and constitutes the only acoustic composition. ‘Age of Energy’ alternates between a 21\/8 and a 12\/8 rhythmic cycle over a dissonant pedal point. This track was also recorded live in the studio, without any overdubs.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667169013983,"sku":"LP-NS-020","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667169079519,"sku":"CD-NS-020","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667169046751,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667169112287,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-26-at-10.09.41-AM.png?v=1703789195"},{"product_id":"charles-gayle-streets","title":"Charles Gayle - Streets","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3110169150\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/charlesgayle.bandcamp.com\/album\/streets-2\"\u003eStreets by Charles Gayle\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCATALOG #: NS 018\u003cbr\u003eSTREET DATE: February 14th, 2012\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/play.spotify.com\/album\/2VckzfY9mMSt5iDShwhu9b?play=true\u0026amp;utm_source=open.spotify.com\u0026amp;utm_medium=open\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-384 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/1488265623_spotify.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"34\" height=\"34\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/nz\/album\/streets\/id600699281\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-389 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/1488265723_apple-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"35\" height=\"35\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Streets-Charles-Gayle-Trio\/dp\/B006UREQQG\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-386 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/1488265661_amazon.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"35\" height=\"35\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/charlesgayle.bandcamp.com\/releases\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-390 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/1488265553_bandcamp_v2-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"35\" height=\"35\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/music\/album\/Charles_Gayle_Streets?id=Bl4hog4pbhcmqj53u57qtromfyi\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-388 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/1488265803_5345_-_Google_Play.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"35\" height=\"35\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667169505503,"sku":"CD-NS-018","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667169472735,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667169538271,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/charlesgayle_streets.jpg?v=1703789214"},{"product_id":"the-spanish-donkey-xyx","title":"Spanish Donkey - XYX","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1308138000\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/spanishdonkey.bandcamp.com\/album\/xyx\"\u003eXYX by Spanish Donkey\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eAny of the artists that form The Spanish Donkey (Jamie Saft, Joe Morris, Mike Pride) could create dictionaries of superlatives with praise their work has garnered. But as a cohesive unit, they surge forward into a new thesaurus, as a dream trampling through the woods on the edges of evening. Joe Morris’ melodic improv guitar lines sketching out space where Jamie Saft’s keyboards color in chromatic aberration nudged and prodded by Mike Pride’s outside of time drumming. Three artists who have made careers of developing new sonic spaces, have formed a new place of exploration and imagination. It’s the re-history of 21st century avant-jazz.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667171209439,"sku":"CD-NS-009","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667171176671,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667171242207,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/71dHLpTadyL._SL1200.jpg?v=1703789284"},{"product_id":"rhys-chatham-outdoor-spell","title":"Rhys Chatham - Outdoor Spell","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2393287899\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/rhyschatham.bandcamp.com\/album\/outdoor-spell-2\"\u003eOutdoor Spell by Rhys Chatham\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eRhys Chatham has trail-blazed a course through late 20th century music, equally aplomb in post-minimalist composition as he is in punk. Not since Roebling laid his span across the East River has there been an artist who builds bridges in both how we hear music and how we can appreciate art. His latest album, Outdoor Spell, is a further document in that direction. Here he has eschewed 100 guitars, or even himself playing a single guitar, for the trumpet and voice, both electrified and dry. It is an Earthquake Island for the 21st century, tugging at the corners of new ideas, taking in forms endemic to a shared imagination and renewing the beauty there.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667171930335,"sku":"LP-NS-004","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667171963103,"sku":"CD-NS-004","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667171995871,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667172028639,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/41g4Ue988RL._SS500.jpg?v=1703789318"},{"product_id":"jooklo-duo-the-warrior","title":"Jooklo Duo - The Warrior","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3716896836\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/jookloduo.bandcamp.com\/album\/the-warrior\"\u003eThe Warrior by Jooklo Duo\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eNot since Albert Ayler stalked the hamnar of Stockholm and reverberated his fire music off the walls of LES tenements has there been an avant-garde jazz saxophonist who can all out wail like Virginia Genta can. Don’t let her calm presence fool you. Nor should David Vanzan’s taller stature lead to believe this is not an equal opportunity free jazz freak-out. From when their poles first were converged by the Cosmic Force in 1999, Italy’s (with Finnish godparents) Jooklo Duo has been winning hearts and brains worldwide through jaw-dropping performances and a series of limited edition releases keeping at bay ravenous fans only long enough to get to the next gig. Now, for their first U.S. release, Northern Spy Records launches its own assault on an as yet unsuspecting public with the 7”, The Warrior. Recorded October 11th, 2010, at Troglosound Home Studio, it’s as compact and complex as a leather-bound book of esoterica ready to haul you off to the most hidden lands of universal energy. The kids are gonna love it.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667172421855,"sku":"","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667172454623,"sku":null,"price":3.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a4054736863_10.jpg?v=1703789333"},{"product_id":"old-time-relijun-songbook-vol-1","title":"Old Time Relijun - Songbook Vol. 1","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1180173878\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/oldtimerelijun.bandcamp.com\/album\/songbook-vol-1\"\u003eSongbook Vol. 1 by Old Time Relijun\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo have walked into K dorm at the lefty college out in Olympia, WA in 1995 was to experience an immediate assault on the senses. The slap of the stench of dancers writhing: hippies and scenesters, post-Nirvana poster-childs and riot grrls. And there was a good chance that at the far end of the floor bowing under the weight of bodies, the sons of Uterus and Fire, Old Time Relijun, were in charismatic glory. Their first recorded output, Songbook Vol. I, long out of print, is brought to revival by Brooklyn’s newest indie imprint, Northern Spy Records. Over the course of 7 albums, frontman Arrington de Dionyso (Malaikat Dan Singa) and upright bassist Aaron Hartman (Girls In Trouble) have established an indie rock avant-garde with elements of the naive, the spiritual, international folk sounds and shake your ass funkiness. Yet, nothing since has ever captured the rawness, the train wrecks and crocodile piss recorded by Diana Arens at Dub Narcotic back in those early days. Mastered for the first time, Northern Spy presents this CD digipak release, a classic from its artist, Arrington de Dionyso. Also, for you 7″ aficionados, 4 little gems from the album, Sabertooth Tiger, Mirror, and the 4-track versions of Baby Dragon and Lion Tamer, are a little crown to you to own on their own. The tent’s going up, the bibles are being passed around, it’ll all burn down before the end of the night. Don’t miss out.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667172487391,"sku":"CD-NS-002","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Vinyl Single + Digital","offer_id":44667172520159,"sku":"SI-NS-002","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667172552927,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667172585695,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a2698158203_10.jpg?v=1703789343"},{"product_id":"aftercaroline","title":"Jason Stein's Locksmith Isidore - After Caroline","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3955205633\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/jasonsteinslocksmithisidore.bandcamp.com\/album\/after-caroline\"\u003eAfter Caroline by Jason Stein's Locksmith Isidore\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eJason Stein is a ubiquitous presence on the world class Chicago improvised music scene and beyond. He’s a staunch force with a monogamous passion for his instrument of choice, the darkly sonorous and notoriously difficult bass clarinet. It’s a testament to Stein’s consummate musicianship and versatility that he plays an indispensable role in a raft of über creative outfits including but not limited to, Mike Reed’s Flesh and Bone, Joshua Abrams’ Natural Information Society, drummer Quin Kirchner’s Group, James Falzone’s Renga Ensemble, The Charles Rumback Quintet, Kyle Bruckmann’s Wrack, The Russ Johnson Quartet and an electronics fed collective with drummer Chad Taylor and pianist Paul Giallorenzo, Hearts and Minds. But Stein thrives as a leader also, as witnessed by his critically-acclaimed recent quartet release. However, no other aggregation he works with has quite the road legs, perspective, and intimacy of Locksmith Isidore, his long running trio with bassist Jason Roebke and drummer Mike Pride. Of late, this decade old unit has toured arenas throughout the US opening for comedy star Amy Schumer, who happens to be Stein’s kid sister. Presenting avant jazz in such massive venues as Madison Square Garden and LA’s Forum has cemented Locksmith Isidore’s very special bond, which is more than apparent on their fourth album After Caroline.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStein’s cohorts in Locksmith Isidore are similarly versatile in their playing and experience. New York based drummer Mike Pride’s sock-it-to-ya beats have pushed countless bands. He’s worked with iconoclasts Anthony Braxton and John Zorn, and formatively, hardcore punks Millions of Dead Cops. He’s key to the drive of the locksmith, as is bass ace Jason Roebke. As one of the Chicago scene’s most versatile and in-demand players, Roebke’s sound is at home in all sorts of improvisational music, from the super abstract to swinging jazz.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter Caroline displays all this versatility, and then some. The title derives from the fact that Stein’s paternal grandmother Caroline—wife to the locksmith Isidore—passed away the day the album was recorded. The lovely “You Taught Me How To Love”, which features a tensile contrabass solo from Roebke and skippy brushwork from Pride, is a paean to Caroline. This open hearted ballad demonstrates that despite Stein’s hi-energy capabilities elsewhere, he is at base a tempered melodist. With that said, After Caroline opens in a more expressionistic and churning mode on the improv manifesto “As Many Chances As You Need,” during which the three improvisers forcefully negotiate the squirrelly 19\/8 time signature. Though he’s no doubler or dilettante—perhaps because of that—Stein comes at you on his clarinet as if it were a tenor saxophone, and in white-hot, paintstripping moments, his sound recalls the exultant fury of Pharaoh Sanders or Albert Ayler.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Walden’s Thing” is written for Detroit saxist\/bandleader Donald Walden, with whom Stein studied at the University of Michigan. Stein wryly explains of the tune: “as a strict bebop linguist, Donald would have hated it, but with a smile, which makes me happy.” On another tune, “Eckhardt Park,” Stein pays tribute to his west loop woodshed in Chicago during a time when he could be seen serenading the traffic in front of the Dan Ryan Expressway. He’d hop the fence near his home and strengthen his sound, playing his way AND the highway. Pride’s mallets are particularly pugnacious on “Walden’s Thing” and the abstract tone poem “Ida Like,” which was inspired by Stein’s late great aunt and his four-year-old daughter who share the same name. Roebke’s arco shavings, assorted creaks, strums and pings are a whole other trick bag from his broad willowy swing. The atmospheric concoction conjures Ida, Alice-in-Wonderland-like, picking a lock herself. “Sternum” is further fodder for the textural ingenuity of the trio. Stein lays in back with muted, quizzical longtones, flutter tonguing like a surreptitious rattler, as drum and bass hatch an ominously intriguing soundscape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStein alone is a pioneering force, pushing the vocabulary for his chosen horn way beyond the norm. Yet he’s heard to finest effect in this trio of quicksilver like-minds who know best how to goad, shape and angle his vision.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667174519007,"sku":"LP-NS-099","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667174551775,"sku":"CD-NS-099","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667174617311,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667174584543,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a2876835550_10.jpg?v=1703789460"},{"product_id":"body","title":"The Necks - Body","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=937190826\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thenecksau.bandcamp.com\/album\/body\"\u003eBody by The Necks\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eAustralia’s greatest cult band, The Necks, has a new piece to offer the world this summer, entitled “Body”. Different again to all previous Necks albums (20 in total), the band has chosen 10 words and phrases that summarize the four richly contrasting episodes of this hour-long, mesmerizing groove. They are as follows: Episodic, Driving, Dynamic, Layered, Celebratory, Soaring, Rocking out, Buoyant, Sustained, Perfectly paced.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe album uses, yet again, the combination of Chris Abrahams (piano, keyboards) Tony Buck (drums, percussion, and guitar very much to the fore on this one) and Lloyd Swanton (acoustic bass) with Tim Whitten (engineer), who has recorded and\/or mixed the last twelve Necks albums. The Necks hold their own with the best of them when it comes to rhythmic complexity, but they have put much of that to one side for this album in the interests of conjuring their most relentlessly driving album since Hanging Gardens.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667176779999,"sku":"CD-NS-104","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667176845535,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667176812767,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a3079202239_10.jpg?v=1703789511"},{"product_id":"columbia-icefield","title":"Nate Wooley - Columbia Icefield","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2619057415\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/natewooley.bandcamp.com\/album\/columbia-icefield\"\u003eColumbia Icefield by Nate Wooley\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Columbia Icefield is an imposing behemoth, the largest icefield in the Rocky Mountains, a glacial structure that feeds into the Columbia River, and, eventually, into the Pacific Ocean. It’s alien, unapproachable, and yet, somehow, a striking metaphor for man’s relationship to nature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn Nate Wooley’s forthcoming, soaring, Columbia Icefield, the Pacific Northwest bred trumpeter tries to reckon with his relation to the Icefield and, more generally, humanity in the face of the unapproachable. But this alien entity is laced with contradiction and imposes itself onto Wooley’s music in a magnificent way. “This record really came down to trying to build structures that have a feeling of being really large and slightly disturbing, but also, natural,” Wooley explains, before adding, “it’s earthbound, it comes from a natural place; it’s not an attack on our senses. We understand it.” And this became the chief task for Wooley and his superlative band—Mary Halvorson on guitar, Susan Alcorn on pedal steel, and Ryan Sawyer on drums—namely, how to express what is most natural and most foreign to us simultaneously?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe result is a stirring and staggering practice in being alive and the way our lives are reflected and shaped by our surroundings. For Wooley, that’s a small seafaring town shadowed by the Icefields, a logical restart after his deliriously genius reimagining of Wynton Marsalis’ early work on (Dance to) The Early Music. Wooley’s creative drive comes from a place of constant reinvention, and the success of Early Music allowed for him to stray far from that with Icefield. If that record was about being somebody else, Columbia Icefield is about Nate Wooley and his collaborators, making the truest form of self-music imaginable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There’s always been this drive for me in all the work I’ve done to figure out the way to best express my own humanity,” he says. On Columbia Icefield, Wooley stares down a piece of nature almost impossible to see one’s self in; that he was able to carve a piece of his world into this glacier is a shock, until you hear the opening notes of “Lionel Trilling.” With Columbia Icefield, Nate Wooley makes it possible to see the humanity in everything.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNate Wooley - trumpet\u003cbr\u003eMary Halvorson - guitar\u003cbr\u003eSusan Alcorn - pedal steel\u003cbr\u003eRyan Sawyer - drums\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667178451167,"sku":"CD-NS-112","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667178516703,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667178483935,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NS105-ColumbiaIcefield-cover-e1646850320737.jpg?v=1703789574"},{"product_id":"elephantine","title":"Maurice Louca - Elephantine","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=4202692857\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/mauricelouca.bandcamp.com\/album\/elephantine\"\u003eElephantine by Maurice Louca\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn Elephantine, his new Northern Spy album, Cairo-based Maurice Louca guides a 12-piece ensemble through a 38-minute masterwork that might best be described as panoramic. Elements of free improvisation, Sun Ra’s cosmic jazz, gorgeous Arabic melody, trancelike African and Yemeni music and minimalism meet in his wholly unique compositional vision. Louca also makes vital contributions on guitar and piano, and inspires stirring performances from a global lineup. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSimply put, Elephantine—which Louca calls “by far my most ambitious work”—would stand as a grand achievement for any musician, of any background. But for an artist hailing from Egypt, where the history of expression has been equally brilliant and daunting, the album is astounding. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn recent years, Louca has become something of an ambassador for his nation’s thriving experimental music scene, via two previous solo records and an evolving lineup of genre-defying collaborations. The Wire called his 2014 sophomore effort, Salute the Parrot, “remarkable music—dense, driven and splashed with colour.” In 2017, the self-titled debut by Lekhfa, the trio of Louca and vocalists Maryam Saleh and Tamer Abu Ghazaleh, was praised as an “edgy triumph” in The Guardian. This past July, Louca appeared again in The Wire, in a cover story on “Cairo’s new wave” that featured his solo work as well as the Dwarfs of East Agouza, his mesmeric unit with Sam Shalabi and Sun City Girls’ Alan Bishop. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLouca’s narrative begins with music we all know, albeit in circumstances that most of us can’t imagine. Born in Cairo in 1982, he started on guitar at age 12, and became immersed in the music of the MTV era, as well as such 60s psychedelic mainstays as Pink Floyd, Hendrix, and the Doors. These were pre-Internet years in a country with state-run media, so access was scarce; tapes were dubbed and traded at school, along with bits and pieces of information. By the mid-to-late-’90s, spurred on by a media panic that connected metal fans to Satanic ritual, the state had essentially outlawed live rock music. Louca, just in his early teens, was able to rehearse with his bands and explore his burgeoning interest in songwriting. But booking gigs was almost impossible, and he witnessed older generations playing rock and metal become targets of the authorities. “It was a very, very depressing time to be a musician,” he reflects. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs the ’90s became the aughts, the reins were loosened on live music, and Louca’s tastes eventually expanded into classical and contemporary Arabic music, especially the street-level pop called shaabi, as well as the avant-garde and electronic music. Accordingly, his toolbox grew to include the synthesizer, laptop, sampler and drum machine. Following the Arab Spring protests of 2011, a galvanized DIY scene developed in Cairo, building upon the passion and elbow grease of the music and arts community that’d been gathering steam in Egypt throughout the prior decade. Artists, promoters and fans could suddenly operate without police oversight, and the results were remarkable, with shows attracting large numbers of concertgoers. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSadly, as new leadership has taken hold in Egypt, and as those leaders have been alarmed by the sight of tens of thousands of spirited young people joining together, performance opportunities have regressed. A system of dedicated promoters and artists has been replaced by what preceded it, namely embassies and institutions with the funds to throw events in an economically distressed nation. A mind-boggling 14 governmental permits are required to throw the average gig, in addition to other requisite bribes and payoffs. Not surprisingly, the lack of operational spaces is dismaying. “When you have millions of people and around 10 venues,” Louca says, “there’s something wrong.” Despite these challenges, Egypt continues to provide fertile ground for Louca and his peers, like the celebrated Egyptian visual artist Maha Maamoun, who contributes the album’s cover art. Today, the Egyptian scene is a familiar feature of contemporary art and experimental music festivals across Europe. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCertain components of Elephantine, especially Louca’s use of avant-jazz-style improv, a developing fascination, required the composer to go outside Egypt’s rich talent pool and tap players from Italy, Iraq, Sweden, Turkey and Denmark. The sessions, however, held in 2017 in Stockholm, made these efforts worthwhile. “There was a blessed thing about the process of making this record,” he says. “The dynamic between us musically but also as people … it was a very exciting time.” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTommaso Cappellato (Drums\/Percussions)\u003cbr\u003e\nOzun Usta (Drums\/Percussions)\u003cbr\u003e\nElsa Bergman (Bass)\u003cbr\u003e\nPasquale Mirra (Vibraphone)\u003cbr\u003e\nPiero Bittolo (Baritone Sax\/Alto Sax\/Bass Flute)\u003cbr\u003e\nAnna Högberg (Alto Sax)\u003cbr\u003e\nRasmus Kjærgård Lund (Tuba)\u003cbr\u003e\nIsak Hedtjärn (Clarinet\/Bass Clarinet)\u003cbr\u003e\nNadah El Shazly (Vocals)\u003cbr\u003e\nNatik Awayez (Oud)\u003cbr\u003e\nAyman Asfour (Violin)\u003cbr\u003e\nMaurice Louca (Guitar\/Piano) \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecorded by: Ronny Lahti\u003cbr\u003e\n(In the Palm of a Ghost) recorded by: Adham Zidan\u003cbr\u003e\nMixed by: Adham Zidan\u003cbr\u003e\nMastered by: Heba Kadry\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667178582239,"sku":"CD-NS-111","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667178647775,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667178615007,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Elephantine_cover-e1646850308704.jpg?v=1703789584"},{"product_id":"aqua-sauvage-stuffed-concrete","title":"M.C. Schmidt - Aqua Sauvage \/ Stuffed Concrete","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1000317450\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/mcschmidt.bandcamp.com\/album\/aqua-sauvage-stuffed-concrete\"\u003eAqua Sauvage \/ Stuffed Concrete by M.C. Schmidt\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNorthern Spy Records is pleased to announce “Aqua Sauvage \/ Stuffed Concrete”, a new album by M.C. Schmidt. As one half of Matmos and an increasingly active figure in free music circles, Schmidt is known for his taste in outré sound sources, and a combination of puckish humor and serious production chops. With his last album “Batu Malablab”, the prepared piano was the anchoring instrument and a mood of faux exotica prevailed. This new album, in which each side consists of a single long-form assemblage finds him stitching together improvised source material harvested from a striking array of guest stars: Jason Willett of Half Japanese, Max Eilbacher of Horse Lords, jazz bassist Lisle Ellis and Tomoko Sauvage on ceramics and hydrophones. Neither “drone” nor “noise,” the dream logic of Schmidt’s slippery and singular aesthetic stays on the tip of your tongue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt once relay race and rebus, the album keeps cresting and dissolving as layers of acoustic and electronic materials merge and separate. The palette is electroacoustic: we think we hear flute, bells and strings, but can never be sure what is a processed acoustic instrument and what is a cleverly detourned software emulation. Laser stabs and zaps from modular synthesizers are gradually supported by a purring sound that, upon closer inspection, just might be the artist making a “raspberry” blurt with his lips Surf-like white noise gives way to a delicate duet between Schmidt on percussion and Tomoko Sauvage, whose distinctive aquatic palette liquefies and seethes. After a tumultuous and alien beginning, side one gearshifts into the pastoral work of Alvin Curran circa his “Magnetic Garden” period and comes out the other side into burnt digital sine waves. Side two begins with a shivering, insectile manipulation of a text spoken by the poet Brandon Som, with Schmidt’s software manhandling fragments of speech into warped textural particles on the threshold of meaning. When Som is finally intelligible, the “reveal” is startling, and brief, as this speech synthesis study gives way to a febrile, seasick melodic minimalism that may appeal to fans of John Bender or Three Legged Race. After some crisp musique-concrete origami fashioned from close-mic-ed recordings of paper and writing, the side concludes with a charmingly unexpected endless staircase vamp for electric piano in which Schmidt’s keyboard chops are set in joyous motion on a kind of lysergic George Duke solo above a re-purposed halfbar loop of prepared piano cannily sliced from Schmidt’s previous album. A cleansing field recording of rainfall brings this side-long suite to a close. At once inevitable and uncanny in its how-did-I-get-here payoff, it makes an apt conclusion to a confounding new work from a boldly independent figure on the American electronic underground.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Cassette + Digital","offer_id":44667178942687,"sku":"CS-NS-110","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667179008223,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667178975455,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Martin-solo-SQUARE-1400-1-e1646850194879.jpg?v=1703789593"},{"product_id":"from-untruth","title":"Amirtha Kidambi Elder Ones - From Untruth","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3887533018\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/amirthakidambi.bandcamp.com\/album\/from-untruth\"\u003eFrom Untruth by Elder Ones\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe second release by Amirtha Kidambi's ensemble Elder Ones, From Untruth is comprised of four pieces grappling with issues of power, oppression, capitalism, colonialism, white supremacy, violence and the shifting nature of truth. This music means to give the listener momentary relief from the anxiety and pain caused by living in our current reality.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom Untruth builds upon the bedrock foundation of Kidambi's previous compositional and conceptual work with Elder Ones, while forging uncharted territory. After a journey into wordless abstraction on Holy Science (Northern Spy, November 2016), Kidambi felt the urgency of the political moment required a direct and verbal call to action.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe instrumentation adds a layer of technology as a metaphor for modernity, with Kidambi on analog synthesizer and Max Jaffe's drumming talents extended to electronic Sensory Percussion. The frenzied improvising of Matt Nelson on soprano sax and gravity of Nick Dunston on bass, anchor the music in the tradition of free jazz, while it pushes into new futurist realms. The aesthetic seamlessly reels from modal meditation, atonal expressionism, free improvisation and melodic invention, to unabashed bursts of punk rock energy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is Elder Ones at an unadulterated breaking point; on the edge of a knife that cuts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAmirtha Kidambi: Compositions, Vocals, Harmonium, Synthesizer\u003cbr\u003e\nMatt Nelson: Soprano Saxophone, Moog\u003cbr\u003e\nNick Dunston: Bass\u003cbr\u003e\nMax Jaffe: Drums, Electronic Sensory Percussion \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecorded at Birdwatcher Studios, Big Indian, NY\u003cbr\u003e\nEngineer: Chris Weiss\u003cbr\u003e\nMixing and Mastering: Matt Mehlan\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667179925727,"sku":"LP-NS-113","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667179892959,"sku":"CD-NS-113","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667179991263,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667179958495,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NS113_FromUntruth_cover-e1646850113495.jpg?v=1703789610"},{"product_id":"barn-songs","title":"Fay Victor - Barn Songs","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=4278874906\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/fayvictor.bandcamp.com\/album\/barn-songs\"\u003eBarn Songs by Fay Victor\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Fay Victor found herself struggling to break into New York City’s jazz scene in the ‘90s, the singer and composer took a gamble on moving to Amsterdam to hone her voice and develop her improvisational instincts—a move that transformed Victor from a straight ahead jazz singer into a daring vocal improviser. Over 20 years later, Victor has revisited these Amsterdam compositions for Barn Songs, her tenth album as a bandleader. Recording alongside cellist Marika Hughes and alto saxophonist Darius Jones, the experimental project came to fruition in a tumble-down barn co-owned by Marika Hughes and Tanya Kalmanovitch in the northern foothills of the bucolic Catskills Mountains. The trio turned the building into an organic recording compound for three days, complete with passings birds and squirrels adding naturalistic ambience to the mix. Remarkably, the songs Victor wrote while living another life in another country reveal themselves to be prescient commentary on the modern way we live today.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667183136991,"sku":"CD-NS-121","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667183202527,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667183169759,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/ns121cover-e1646424577820.jpg?v=1703789687"},{"product_id":"the-weather-up-there","title":"Jeremy Cunningham - The Weather Up There","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2015962542\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/jeremycunningham.bandcamp.com\/album\/the-weather-up-there\"\u003eThe Weather Up There by Jeremy Cunningham\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eChicago drummer and composer Jeremy Cunningham wrote The Weather Up There in response to the loss of his brother Andrew, who died in a home invasion robbery in 2008. Co-produced by Jeff Parker and Paul Bryan, and engineered by Paul Bryan and John McEntire, this new work confronts the tragedy of violence and examines the acute ripple effect on several people's lives through the lens of memory, response, and collage. Further deepening the textural and emotive impact, Cunningham formed a “drum choir” for these recordings, comprised of close mentors and colleagues Mike Reed, Makaya McCraven, and Mikel Patrick Avery. Cunningham also taps regular collaborators Ben LaMar Gay, Jaimie Branch, Tomeka Reid, Dustin Laurenzi, Matt Ulery, and Josh Johnson.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Jeremy is a rare drummer who possesses both insane skills and immaculate taste.\u003cbr\u003eHis tunes have that same sensibility— they are layered and sophisticated while\u003cbr\u003eremaining visceral and hummable.” -Yoni Wolf (Why?)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Jeremy Cunningham’s upcoming record is a testament to his commitment to sound,\u003cbr\u003efeel and creativity that sets him apart from other drummers. I am inspired by his\u003cbr\u003evulnerable and honest approach to music both as a drummer and composer.” -Makaya McCraven\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"I've had the pleasure of watching Jeremy grow into one of the most visionary\u003cbr\u003ecomposer\/bandleaders on the scene today. It was truly an honor for me to work with\u003cbr\u003ehim on 'The Weather Up There'.\" –Jeff Parker\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Tranparent Orange Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667183268063,"sku":"LP-NS-122LE3","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Limited Edition Hazy Sky Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667183300831,"sku":"LP-NS-122LE2","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Standard Black Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667183333599,"sku":"LP-NS-122","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667183366367,"sku":"CD-NS-122","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667183431903,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667183399135,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Jeremy-Cunningham-digital-art-e1646419242572.jpg?v=1703789701"},{"product_id":"three","title":"The Necks - Three","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=4185856817\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thenecksau.bandcamp.com\/album\/three\"\u003eThree by The Necks\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThree, the 21st album from legendary Australian instrumental trio The Necks, is a winding, textural, and visceral musical exploration through three individual, contrasting tracks that each delve into separate tenets of their sound. Three’s variety of tones and structures offer a glimpse into the boundless, immersive sonic universe The Necks have been constructing, through recorded and live performance, for over 30 years: three musicians, three variable songs, highlighting three decades of groundbreaking experimental excellence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom its very first moments, “Bloom” rattles and propels listeners through a dense, mesmerizing soundscape of unceasing intensity. Directly juxtaposing the consuming rattle of the opener, “Lovelock,” dedicated to the memory of Damien Lovelock, former frontman of The Celibate Rifles, is a weightless and atmospheric threnody that ruminates in the quiet and overwhelming moments of grief. The final setting of Three is one of warmth and familiarity. “Further,” is a confident, seductive groove in a quintuple meter, reminiscent of the groups’ work on records like Sex (1989) and Aquatic (1994).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eContrasting the style of their celebrated improvisational live act, the group’s studio work is meticulously sculpted from beginning to end. On Three, Chris Abrahams (piano), Lloyd Swanton (bass), Tony Buck (drums\/percussion), and their long-time backend collaborators Tim Whitten (engineer) and Doung Henderson (master) have again scrupulously built music that focuses on the most intricate edges of staggeringly immense, diverse worlds. From strained to still to smoky, each piece of Three marks itself as distinct and its own, but all feel representative of Australia’s greatest cult band, The Necks.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667183628511,"sku":"CD-NS-126","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667183694047,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667183661279,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Necks-Three-e1646419021853.jpg?v=1703789724"},{"product_id":"play-at-night","title":"Masma Dream World - Play At Night","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3465007925\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/masmadreamworld.bandcamp.com\/album\/play-at-night\"\u003ePlay At Night by Masma Dream World\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eDevi Mambouka’s evolution in becoming a multidisciplinary artist is rooted in her past informing her present and future. Born to a Gabonese ambassador and a Singaporean mother makes her a child of the world, and one who learned to tap into her inner magic to overcome trauma, abuse, and addiction. Play at Night, her debut album under the moniker Masma Dream World, is the resume of such learnings and experiences.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSinging is the refuge Devi has known since she was six years old, with nature being the first audience encouraging her to sing from the heart. Abruptly moving to the Bronx at 12 yielded more intense challenges—with music being her balm and escape. Influenced by the likes of Amel Larrieux, Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton, and Zap Mama, she immersed herself in the world music section at Tower Records, finding her voice and her understanding of music composition and production. Her world opened up even more when she took up DJing at just 16. Devi was a mainstay in NYC nightlife, with a lucrative DJ gig in the meatpacking district.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTapping into her training as a reiki practitioner and a Butoh dancer (a Japanese avant-garde, spirit-led performance art), Devi’s debut showcases her ability to abide by her own precise rules when producing music. Play at Night was recorded in four days—encompassing elements of butoh, theta frequency (which creates a trance state in the mind) and the need to hold sacred space.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe project is not only for the subconscious mind, but also serves as a call for those who are truly ready for change; those who are yearning for a new world. The ear will catch soundscapes she recorded from her travels to respective home countries—spaces that further awakened her connection to frequencies. The bass-heavy undertones of the album are an ode to Devi’s first audience when she began her musical journey—trees and the elements—as they too exist on a low frequency.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlay at Night is Devi’s intentional offering and token of thanks for those who’ve walked with her as she endured her own personal healing and shadow work. The album challenges your preconceived relationship with darkness, guiding you to step into it—to play in it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis space is a prime opportunity to awaken one’s power source from within.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Transparent Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667184480479,"sku":"LP-NS-131D2F","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Standard Black Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667184513247,"sku":"LP-NS-131","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667184578783,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667184546015,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Masma-Dream-World-Play-At-Night-digi-art-scaled-e1646418434722.jpg?v=1703789769"},{"product_id":"freedom-exercise","title":"Josh Johnson - Freedom Exercise","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3189035354\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/joshjohnsonmusic.bandcamp.com\/album\/freedom-exercise\"\u003eFreedom Exercise by Josh Johnson\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Chicago-area native Josh Johnson moved to Los Angeles eight years ago, he thought his stay would be temporary. The saxophonist and keyboardist would spend a year or two there: enough time to learn from two of his heroes, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, but not a complete geographic pivot. After all, for musicians — especially those making improvised, collective music — where you live and what scene you’re part of can have a monumental effect on the kind of art you make. His hometown had a vibrant musical community in which he was already immersed; there was no immediate reason to seek out something new.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut eight years later, Johnson is still in L.A., where he recorded his debut album Freedom Exercise with three of his closest friends that he describes as “musically omnivorous” — the same quality that inspired him to stay on the West Coast. “A lot of people I've connected with here have opened me up to a lot of things I hadn't imagined,” he says. Johnson’s corner of the L.A. improvised music scene has its epicenter at a long-running Monday night gig helmed by his friend and frequent collaborator (and fellow former Chicagoan) guitarist Jeff Parker at a bar called ETA in Highland Park. There, when he’s not experimenting with Parker — on whose latest album, the critically-acclaimed Suite for Max Brown, he’s featured — Johnson has gotten to know musicians and artists of all stripes. The vibe is intimate and expansive at the same time, much like the album itself: as numerous as Johnson’s influences are, on Freedom Exercise they’re showcased in a way that feels organic, straightforward and unpretentious. Even at its most surprising and complex, the project is ultimately still inviting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It brings in a lot of people who don't go to jazz clubs,” he says. “It's a thing that's been very stimulating for me, because it doesn't feel insular.” That diverse community helped him remember that music-making was most fun for him when he resisted genre orthodoxy — like when he was in high school, learning saxophone and jazz while playing keyboards in church, making minimalist electronic music on his parents’ computer, playing in indie bands and listening to hip-hop and Chicago post-rock. Through friends he met at ETA, he became the touring musical director for crooner Leon Bridges; an unlikely assignment as his reputation has grown rapidly in the jazz world thanks to his work alongside Makaya McCraven and Jeremy Cunningham, but one he says has been transformative. “It’s helped me be a better listener in improvised settings,” he says. “Not just playing to play, but really thinking about why, and what something is for.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat intentionality is self-evident on Freedom Exercise, a collection of songs tied to that same idea of genreless exploration — jazz, post-rock and electronic music are certainly all inspirations, but none reigns exclusively. The stripped-down, urgent album is built on layers of intertwined, distinct melodies occasionally softened by distortion, delay and reverb. Asymmetrical but still inviting, Johnson’s compositions spotlight his sensitivity and restraint; the synth seamlessly interspersed throughout adds an unexpected dimension. The result is concise — 10 songs, most under five minutes — but still expansive, like an intimate gathering in a sprawling city.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Purple LP","offer_id":44667185692895,"sku":"LP-NS-133-PURP","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Standard Black Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667185660127,"sku":"LP-NS-133","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667185725663,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667185758431,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/JJ_FrontCover-e1646418365682.jpg?v=1703789785"},{"product_id":"supersense","title":"Steph Richards - Supersense","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1227105891\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/stephrichards.bandcamp.com\/album\/supersense\"\u003eSUPERSENSE by Steph Richards\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAs one of the most exciting artists working in jazz’s avant-garde Steph Richards is no stranger to challenging listeners’ expectations, helping them hear things they might not have previously imagined with experiments that range from playing underwater to incorporating a carousel into one of her compositions. But the trumpeter, composer and bandleader is pushing in a still more unusual direction on her upcoming release SUPERSENSE (out September 5 on Northern Spy). Along with a trio of fellow all-star improvisers — Jason Moran, Stomu Takeishi and Kenny Wolleson — Richards tapped acclaimed multimedia artist Sean Raspet to create singular, abstract scents to both inform and accompany the recording.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“I was thinking about how much information you get from a live performance that you just can't get by listening to something digitally,” says Richards, alluding to how that rich experience gets literally and figuratively compressed by contemporary distribution — not just its soundwaves, but the feel, look and in the case of SUPERSENSE, smell of where it’s being performed. “What if I could create an experience where listeners felt even closer to the music by involving their other senses?”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eHaving worked with both pioneering experimentalists like Butch Morris, Anthony Braxton and Henry Threadgill and more pop-oriented innovators like St. Vincent and Yoko Ono, Richards has pursued abstract, visceral expression via a variety of musical modes — but scent offered a new pathway to intuitive immediacy, a way to prompt herself and her collaborators that avoided language and representation completely. So with Raspet’s help, she crafted the album’s scents and compositions simultaneously, writing his concoctions into her score: As they played, the musicians would be directed to open numbered boxes containing scents that they would then respond to with improvisation.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“They’re not necessarily beautiful,” Richards explains — one of her own favorite scents, for example, was of cricket exoskeletons. “They’re weird, complex things you can't put your finger on — some of them make you feel a little uneasy, some make you feel clean, some make you feel dirty.” Fittingly, the ensemble explores a wide range of unorthodox sounds and textures. Moran offers some piano preparations, Wolleson brought a vanful of homemade percussion to the session, and Richards altered her already dynamic sound with a range of mutes and even playing underwater. Raspet then listened to the record, and tweaked the scents to better accompany the music. His creations, presented on a scratch and sniff card, will accompany physical copies of the record so that listeners can get the full experience, taking in the smells as they hear each track.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eThough Richards had hoped to present the album’s full multisensory experience via live performance, its mission — to bring some of the tactile feeling of concert-going to the at-home listener — has rarely been more relevant than during the COVID-19 pandemic, when intimate shows seem all but impossible. She hopes that by playing to more than one sense, listeners will be drawn into the music more fully. “It's really mean to live in abstract wordless space,” she concludes. “One where we’re not exactly able to define where we're traveling and what we're feeling, but where we can just be swept away by sensation.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Transparent Red Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667185791199,"sku":"LP-NS-130D2F","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Standard Black Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667185823967,"sku":"LP-NS-130","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667185856735,"sku":"CD-NS-130","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667185889503,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667185922271,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/SS-cover-1400-e1646418348141.jpg?v=1703789797"},{"product_id":"saet-el-hazz-the-luck-hour","title":"Maurice Louca - Saet El Hazz (The Luck Hour)","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1749431209\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/mauricelouca.bandcamp.com\/album\/saet-el-hazz-the-luck-hour\"\u003eSaet El Hazz (The Luck Hour) by Maurice Louca\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eMaurice Louca, one of the most gifted musicians and composers on Egypt's thriving underground music scene, announces his new album \u003cem\u003eSaet El-Hazz (The Luck Hour)\u003c\/em\u003e, to be released September 24, 2021 via Northern Spy and Sub Rosa.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe forthcoming full-length album draws voraciously on Arabic music, psychedelic folk, and free improv and the lead single “Bidayat (Holocene)” mesmerises with a feral groove centered around percussion, guitar, and violin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe title \"Saet el Hazz\" is a coded saying in Egypt to refer to a good time and usually implies a great deal of debauchery. “When you mention to someone that you’ve had a saet hazz, there are no questions asked. It is what it is.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe initial spark for \u003cem\u003eSaet El-Hazz (The Luck Hour)\u003c\/em\u003e was Louca’s desire to collaborate with “A” Trio, the Lebanese improvisational group featuring Mazen Kerbaj on prepared trumpet, Sharif Sehnaoui on prepared guitar, and Raed Yassin on prepared double bass. “When the three of them come together they create a sonic cosmos entirely their own. I started by composing music that I wanted to have exist within this sonic world— at times in harmony, or clashing with it, and all the emotional ranges in between.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJust as “A” Trio served as the spark, a commission from Mophradat, an arts organization based out of Brussels, was the tinder. The commission was for a new composition to be performed using instruments that Louca would modify to play microtonally. This led him to Turkey and Indonesia. In Istanbul, he worked with a Lutheran to custom-make a guitar. In Surakarta, he ended up with an instrument maker tuning a Serang—referred to as the Indonesian xylophone, part of the family of Gamelan tuned percussion instruments.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese new modified instruments opened up the compositions to new tonal possibilities which drove Louca to expand his line up to include Khaled Yassine, a longtime collaborator and versatile percussionist and drummer, Christine Kazaryan, a dynamic harpist whom he met via Praed Orchestra, and Anthea Caddy, a cellist who came highly recommended from the Berlin free improv scene.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There is something about linking luck to decadence that resonates with me, and even if I can't fully articulate it in words, the drive behind the music of this album and how it came to be, and the energy between us at the studio rehearsing and recording it, was in a lot of ways for me a saet hazz.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSaet El Hazz (The Luck Hour)\u003c\/em\u003e is a long form composition of six movements, recorded over the course of a week in August 2019 at A\/B studios in Brussels.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667187462367,"sku":"CD-NS-143","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667187495135,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667187527903,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NS143_cover-1-scaled-e1646413878562.jpg?v=1703789888"},{"product_id":"raw-demoon-alchemy-a-lone-operation","title":"Darius Jone - Raw Demoon Alchemy (A Lone Operation)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eRaw Demoon Alchemy (A Lone Operation) \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eharnesses the gamut of raw, unadulterated emotions — suppressed feelings that we’ve all been allowed to “feel” again in the wake of a global pandemic. Born out of a live performance in fall 2019, during the last stop of his tour in Portland, OR, saxophonist Darius Jones renders a solo effort that evokes sadness, rage, and confusion, all the while still holding for glimmers of hope for the future.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eWith four of its five tracks on \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAlchemy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e, Jones selects compositions from artists who are not just unapologetically Black but also notably ones that he regards as “world builders.” From Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman, and Roscoe Mitchell right up through the present with Georgia Anne Muldrow, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAlchemy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e draws immeasurable strength from each of these artists who dared to envision and create an entire universe unto themselves, on their terms.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“I want to capture a moment in time, to crystallize the beginning of something at the end of something else,” says Jones. Separated and now divorced from his partner of 10 years, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAlchemy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e balances the emotional heft of closure with the simple act of standing alone. Each track unearths a deep and profound vulnerability in every solo performance that isn’t just personal but also delves into the macro-level divisiveness of our current political climate.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eWith “Figure No. 2,” Jones offers us a modern-day version of the blues. Courtesy of Muldrow, her refrain encapsulates the vast breadth of the Black experience in America, transforming our deep-seated pain into our beauty and armor of resilience. Jones also proudly rests on the shoulders of Coleman and Mitchell, two of this music’s known improvisers who often stood alone in this music’s ever-changing landscape. He pays homage to Mitchell with “Nonaah,” which in the late 1970s was initially met with jeers from an audience, that is, until his 21+ minute long version overtook them.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAlchemy \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003euncovers a duality of what it means to be alone, especially resonant in today’s climate of social distancing. In one turn, we were all forced to put life as we knew it on hold — to simply be still and deal with our emotional realities unencumbered by the distractions of life. But at another turn, Jones taps into an unknown power of his lone voice, finding a newfound strength and enthusiasm that will carry him — and its listeners — beyond the uncertainty and doubt of not knowing.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667188543711,"sku":"LP-NS-141","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667188576479,"sku":"CD-NS-141","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667188609247,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667188642015,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/ns141-cover-small-e1646413794315.jpg?v=1703789899"},{"product_id":"here-there","title":"Melissa Weikart - Here, There","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2414840471\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/melissaweikart.bandcamp.com\/album\/here-there\"\u003eHere, There by Melissa Weikart\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere are countless intimate, fret-noise-filled records from singer-guitarists across the history of modern popular music, but solo piano and voice releases remain a comparative rarity. It’s hard to imagine an artist better equipped to contribute to this canon than France-based singer, keyboardist, and composer Melissa Weikart. A conservatory-trained classical pianist and improviser, Weikart’s accompaniment on her debut album, Here, There, swells to catharses of orchestral proportions; it’s usually easy to forget this is the work of just one player. Here, adding additional instruments also might obscure some of this bold and playful record’s most compelling interplay: the way Weikart’s hands frequently seem to move out of correspondence with each other, reaching for conflicting rhythms and key areas.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGestures like these carefully underscore the Boston-reared singer-songwriter’s fraught reflections on devotion, obsession, and doubt, delivered naturalistically and matter-of-factly despite the complexity of the musical setting. Her piano parts lurch forward and get caught in dizzying loops as her narrators drift ahead of and behind themselves in moments of psychological crisis. She uses heavy chromaticism to dramatize their uneasy reflections, recalling the word painting of musical theater composers like Stephen Sondheim or luminaries of 20th-century classical art song: the chanson writers of her current home country (Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy, Francis Poulenc) or, at more acerbic moments, American avant-gardists like Charles Ives. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe songs on Here, There are primarily about grasping for connection, and Weikart’s central melodies develop and warp like her narrators’ longing and frustration, progressing through uncanny harmonic worlds, taking on baggage with each reiteration. In the title track, her serpentine piano line and central vocal melody dramatize the physical exploration of another person—a feeling of losing track of where you end and they begin (“All I want is wrapped up\/All I want is to be wrapped up in your arms”). Elsewhere, descriptions of fatigue and loss of control infect every element of the music: for instance, the queasy piano chords behind “searching for you makes me tired” and the sweeping waves of arpeggios on “come into the water.” Weikart often explores short lyrical mantras until their possibilities are totally exhausted; they degrade into disjunct syllables, losing context as the piano breaks down behind them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor all the ambition and virtuosity of these compositions, Here, There is fundamentally a study in restraint. The songs seem to unfold spontaneously before they unravel; they drop the listener into the middle of moments of obsessive self-analysis. Often, the frustrated narrators seem in danger of spinning out into complete abstraction, lost in mental cul-de-sacs where coming to any kind of conclusion or finding redemption seems impossible. But Weikart keeps this frenetic energy well in hand, grounding these gorgeous and discomfiting songs with refrains with a pop appeal reminiscent of forebearers like Judee Sill and Fiona Apple. Weikart’s lyrical trajectories are always effortless to follow—palpable and sympathetic even in the context of music which makes a point of avoiding the familiar.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667190870239,"sku":"CD-NS-155","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667190903007,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667190935775,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/cover-4-scaled-e1646411733478.jpg?v=1703790000"},{"product_id":"a-better-ghost","title":"Jeremy Cunningham \/ Dustin Laurenzi \/ Paul Bryan - A Better Ghost","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=142619360\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/jeremycunningham.bandcamp.com\/album\/a-better-ghost\"\u003eA Better Ghost by Jeremy Cunningham \/ Dustin Laurenzi \/ Paul Bryan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrummer Jeremy Cunningham and saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi have been near-inseparable collaborators for years, working in countless groups together across Chicago’s vibrant jazz community. Their new album A Better Ghost finds them in collaboration with Los Angeles-based bassist\/producer Paul Bryan, and is the product of phone-recorded improvisations and experiments dating back to 2017.  With Laurenzi creating sequences and samples on the OP-1 synthesizer while on the road with Bon Iver, and Cunningham developing drum parts and melodic fragments, the two began finding a distinct direction to take the work, sharpening and editing these snippets into cohesive compositions. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile Cunningham and Laurenzi have collaborated this way for years, they decided to add Los Angeles based musician Paul Bryan, the Grammy-winning producer, engineer, and bassist (Jeff Parker, Aimee Mann, Lucinda Williams) who co-produced Cunningham’s Northern Spy debut 2019 LP The Weather Up There to finish these pieces. Adding bass parts and a producer’s ear to these songs, Bryan’s vital contributions were the missing link. “Paul really understood the vision of our music and added so much to what we’d already recorded. At a certain point it was a no-brainer to expand the duo to a trio” says Laurenzi. On A Better Ghost, there’s a euphoric melding of Chicago and LA’s jazz worlds present with features from prolific saxophonist Josh Johnson, legendary drummer Jay Bellerose, and Cunningham’s Resavoir bandmate and leader, trumpeter Will Miller. The resulting tracks are the product of years-long collaborators expanding their deep chemistry. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn “New Dust,” Laurenzi provides a smooth, natural improvisation, dynamically ebbing over a deep dub groove kept steady with distinct rhythmic assurance from Cunningham, Bellerose, and Bryan. “With What We Have” wakes slowly, focusing on gradual layering of horns that culminates in near-chaos. . The title track highlights the trio’s seamless blending of acoustic and synthesized palettes, featuring a woozy clarinet sample and propellant percussion alongside sci-fi synths and a Pharoah Sanders-inspired saxophone solo. Singer Katie Ernst guests on  “The Way We Remember,” crafting a melody from a poem Cunningham wrote about the passing of his father in 2020. The synths ebb and flow along with Cunningham’s painterly approach at the drums, spreading colors and lines across a languid backdrop of saxophone chords and synth bass.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA Better Ghost is a reflection of how Cunningham, Laurenzi, and Bryan have found a natural musical connection that is unbound by genre and deeply personal. “Playing with Dustin and Paul has strengthened my musical instincts and allowed me to become more patient developing a sound and playing a song. Sometimes you have to just let the thing happen.  Try not to get in the way too much, and let the music breathe.” -Jeremy Cunningham\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition \"Bullion\" Vinyl","offer_id":44667191361759,"sku":"LP-NS-154","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667191394527,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667191427295,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a2681164324_10.jpg?v=1703790024"},{"product_id":"travel","title":"The Necks - Travel","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3267812022\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thenecksau.bandcamp.com\/album\/travel\"\u003eTravel by The Necks\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eTravel, the 19th studio album by Australian improvisational trio The Necks, documents their recent practice of starting each day in the studio with a 20-minute trio improvisation. The recordings offer some of their most ecstatic and captivating music cut to tape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs bassist Lloyd Swanton puts it: “It’s a really nice communal activity to bring us together in focus each day, and some lovely music has resulted from it.” Although a straight “live” improvisation has never been recorded in the studio by the band, these tracks (save for some light overdubs and post-production) feel closest to their 30 years of celebrated live performances.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 2017 Stephen O’Malley’s Ideologic Organ label released the band’s lauded Unfold, which first offered up this uncharacteristic studio work: four sub-20-minute pieces - instead of the typical 60+ minute arc for which the band is known - along with an obfuscated track list which leaves play order to the listener’s hand. The album quickly sold out, and persists as a treasure in collections or as a high-priced ‘Want’ on Discogs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTravel marks a return to this double-LP format, offered in a beautiful gatefold package that features photography by Traianos Pakioufakis and impeccable mastering by Doug Henderson. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProduced by The Necks\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecorded by Tim Whitten, Studios 301, Alexandria, Australia\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMixed by Tim Whitten, Forbes Street Studios, Woolloomooloo, Australia\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMastered by Douglas Henderson, micro-moose-berlin, Germany\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhotographs and design by Traianos Pakioufakis\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThanks to Jordan Verzar, Regina Greene, Lee Paterson\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Double LP + Digital","offer_id":44667192082655,"sku":"LP-NS-158","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667192115423,"sku":"CD-NS-158","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667192148191,"sku":"","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667192180959,"sku":"","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a1007617714_10.jpg?v=1703790077"},{"product_id":"in-time","title":"Peter Manheim - In Time","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1128762641\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/petermanheim.bandcamp.com\/album\/in-time\"\u003eIn Time by Peter Manheim\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003ePeter Manheim thrives on collaboration. The New York-based drummer has spent most of his career as a sideman, backing up many jazz artists like Tony Glausi as well as being a member of the acclaimed International Anthem-signed experimental group Resavoir led by trumpeter Will Miller. But on his solo debut, an EP called 'In Time', Manheim steps out on his own as a songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist all while bringing his most trusted collaborators into the fold to flesh out his deep, lush, and mesmerizing vision. Across six instrumental tracks, he traverses disparate moods, as well as harsh and welcoming textures, combining solo-centric jazz playing with glitchy and enveloping electronic arrangements.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e'In Time' began in 2020 as an experiment for Manheim to attempt to write music that would make him want to dance. One of the earliest ideas that came from this personal goal is the opener “Peace Groove.” Inspired by playing artist Elliot Bergman’s “peace bells,” melted-down guns and bullets turned into instruments, Manheim started out with a percussion groove, adding synth, and live drums. While he loved creating loops and putting in new layers in isolation, he realized this music would benefit from bringing in other people. “I wanted to showcase my friends’ playing,” Manheim says. “I’ve gotten to work with and know so many incredible people who happen to be some of my favorite musicians. I wanted to show the world what makes them so great on this record. ” The resulting track is a hypnotizing, breezy, and rhythmically dense jam featuring saxophonist Tim Bennett, flute player Alex Cummings, and bassist Dan Stein.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile Manheim is primarily known for his work as a jazz drummer, this EP showcases his globe-trotting tastes: everything from J-Dilla-inspired beat-making, all types of Brazilian music, and Chicago footwork is translated into something wholly original and immersive. The searching and smooth “A Lonely Road” is anchored by Whitney and Resavoir trumpeter Will Miller, “Faded” ventures out in rock territory with a blistering solo from guitarist Conrad Reeves, and “Lost Dayz” features solely Manheim’s tasteful drum programming and synth playing. In Time was mixed by Manheim and Dan Pierson and its six tracks feature a wealth of collaborators. Even with the freewheeling and collaborative arrangements, everything here feels intentional and tasteful.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLike the EP itself, the title 'In Time' reveals new meaning the more you dive in. It’s a sly nod to the patience required for an accomplished player to finally make their own music under their name as well as the spark that always eventually comes from working with friends. 'In Time' is a document of a virtuosic drummer taking a leap and reinventing himself as an absorbing and adventurous songwriter.\u003cbr\u003e\ncredits\u003cbr\u003e\nreleased April 7, 2023\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProduced by Peter Manheim\u003cbr\u003e\nMixed by Dan Pierson and Peter Manheim\u003cbr\u003e\nMastered by Dave Cooley\u003cbr\u003e\nArtwork by Rich Stein\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1. Peace Groove:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePeter Manheim - Percussion, Drums, Keys\u003cbr\u003e\nTim Bennett - Alto Saxophone\u003cbr\u003e\nAlex Cummings - Flutes\u003cbr\u003e\nDan Stein - Bass\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. A Lonely Road:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePeter Manheim - Percussion, Drums, Keys\u003cbr\u003e\nWill Miller - Trumpets, Keys\u003cbr\u003e\nAlex Cummings - Flutes, Hulusi\u003cbr\u003e\nDan Pierson - Keys\u003cbr\u003e\nT@NE - Tenor Saxophone\u003cbr\u003e\nDan Stein - Bass\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e3. The Gate:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePeter Manheim - Drum Programming, Percussion, Keys\u003cbr\u003e\nDe'Sean Jones - Saxophones, Flutes\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e4. Lost Dayz\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePeter Manheim - Drum Programming, Keys\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e5. In Time\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePeter Manheim - Keys, Percussion, Claps\u003cbr\u003e\nMamadou Fantastic (Modou Sarr Mbengue) - Talking Drums, Claps\u003cbr\u003e\nEric Burns - Guitar\u003cbr\u003e\nDan Pierson - Synth Organ\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e6. Faded\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePeter Manheim - Drum Programming, Percussion, Drums, Keys\u003cbr\u003e\nConrad Reeves - Guitar\u003cbr\u003e\nDan Pierson - Keys\u003cbr\u003e\nAlex Cummings - Saxophones\u003cbr\u003e\nDan Stein - Bass\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Flexi Disc + Digital","offer_id":44667194179807,"sku":"NS-149-Flex","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667194212575,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667194245343,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a4206363948_16.jpg?v=1703790097"},{"product_id":"blackity-black-black-is-beautiful","title":"Fay Victor - Blackity Black Black Is Beautiful","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=952901691\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/fayvictor.bandcamp.com\/album\/blackity-black-black-is-beautiful\"\u003eBlackity Black Black Is Beautiful by Fay Victor\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eBlackity Black Black Is Beautiful is the very first solo record by Fay Victor, whose 30-year-long music career has covered everything from House, New Music, Jazz (Blues) and Free Improvisation. Her deep history with dance music, her genreless output, and her lived experience as a Black woman in the world shaped the brand new process she used to create this prismatic album which touches on all the decades of her life like diary snapshots. It’s a mesmerizing collection of composed work that could only be made by an extraordinary improviser.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom hearing the raw, almost gospel vocal style over a heavy beat of Donna Summer and Sylvester, to obsessing over shows like Soul Train, Solid Gold, and Dance Fever on TV, to experiencing the sweat and groove, the freedom of bodies moving at NYC clubs like Danceteria, The Loft, and the Paradise Garage – her life changed forever. As she was developing as a jazz singer in Amsterdam in the 90s, she danced to trance music in clubs like Mazzo and The Soul Kitchen. She landed on the Billboard charts with a club hit “You Make Me Happy” in ’91. Stoned on the sacred dance floor, Fay found ecstasy in the moving body, the groove, the beat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs she entered deeper into the world of jazz, she was attracted to the rhythmic qualities of Thelonious Monk, Eddie Harris, Eric Dolphy, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Betty Carter, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Nicole Mitchell, Milford Graves, Julius Hemphill, Charles Mingus, Herbie Nichols. Their confrontational rhythm sends her soul leaping, connecting her back to her clubheadheart.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith Mavin Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up” as a template, Fay started thinking about how her solo album might unfold. She sang, played keyboards, added textures and further dimensions with no other humans, without electronics. That was her process. Thoroughly creative, composed with music and words straight from her spirit. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667195097311,"sku":"CD-NS-161","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667195130079,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667195162847,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a1201878777_10.jpg?v=1703790108"},{"product_id":"fluxkit-vancouver-its-suite-but-sacred","title":"Darius Jones - fLuXkit Vancouver (i̶t̶s̶ suite but sacred)","description":"\u003cp\u003eDarius Jones has created a recognizable voice as a critically acclaimed saxophonist and composer by embracing individuality and innovation in the tradition of Black music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Jones makes his point by showing, not just telling. His compositions are so intensely honed and performed they seem to talk, moan, and cry about intimate experience in ways we might expect to find in novels, not instrumental records.” – Daniel Felsenthal, Pitchfork\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCommissioned by Western Front, an artist-run centre in Vancouver, Canada, with a legacy of continuing support for multidisciplinary exchange, experimentation, and the avant-garde. This project was developed by Darius Jones across a succession of residencies at Western Front in 2019 and 2022.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecorded in June 2022 at Western Front’s Grand Luxe Hall in Vancouver, Canada, fLuXkit Vancouver (i̶t̶s̶ suite but sacred) is the first collaborative release with Brooklyn-based Northern Spy and Helsinki-based We Jazz Records.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs Harmony Holiday writes in her liner notes, included with this release: “The playing here is gorgeous, but what stands out most is the rigor of the compositions, which feel like tributes to Sun Ra’s call that ‘only the impossible happens.’ Their mood is expansive, gleeful, wistful, sometimes frantic, but so coherent and poised at every turn that all you can do while listening is marvel at this fluency in the language of will and won’t that lives here alone.”\u003cbr\u003ecredits\u003cbr\u003ereleases September 29, 2023\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEnsemble Personnel:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDarius Jones (alto saxophone, composer)\u003cbr\u003eGerald Cleaver (drums)\u003cbr\u003eJesse Zubot (violin)\u003cbr\u003eJosh Zubot (violin)\u003cbr\u003ePeggy Lee (cello)\u003cbr\u003eJames Meger (bass)\u003cbr\u003eDesign by Matti Nives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLiner Notes by Harmony Holiday.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCover art: Occ6 (2016) by Stan Douglas\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProduced by Darius Jones.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecorded in the Grand Luxe Hall, Western Front on June 25, 2022.\u003cbr\u003eRecording engineer: Sheldon Zaharko, Zed Productions.\u003cbr\u003eMixing engineers: Jesse Zubot and Sheldon Zaharko at The Deep Bay Bunker and Zed Productions.\u003cbr\u003eMastering engineer: Matt Mehlan at The Stuudio.\u003cbr\u003efLuXkit Vancouver (i̶t̶s̶ suite but sacred) was commissioned by Western Front.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdditional development support was provided by Coastal Jazz and Blues Society, and Prof. Kevin McNeilly of the University of British Columbia and the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdditional support from Robert D. Bielecki Foundation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA special thank you to Aram Bajakian, Ben Wilson, and Susan Gibb for all your hard work and belief in my art. Your support on so many levels helped and inspired me greatly throughout this entire process. To the whole Vancouver community, my heart is full from the love and support you have shown me over so many years. This one is for all of you!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Splatter Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667195228383,"sku":"LP-NS-163-COLOR","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667195261151,"sku":"LP-NS-163","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD+Digital","offer_id":46159561457887,"sku":"CD-NS-163","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667195293919,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667195326687,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a3463292076_10.jpg?v=1720899590"},{"product_id":"moonshine","title":"Elephante - Moonshine","description":"\u003cp\u003eMaurice Louca's Moonshine shines brightly with a live, raw, collective sound. The Elephantine band is incredible: Double drummers Tommaso Cappellato \u0026amp; Ozun Usta; Piero Bittolo Bon on alto, Daniel Gahrton on baritone and Isak Hedtjarn on clarinet; Rasmus Svale Kjærgård Lund on tuba; Rosa Brunell on bass; Els Vandeweyer on vibraphone; Louca on guitar\/lap steel\/synth. As Asher Gamedze puts it in his essay below: \"Abstract territories of freedom, always grounded, expansive, multiple, internally differentiated, and elephantine.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eExcerpts from “Not by Its Own Light”, written by Asher Gamedze\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e....sounds like the additional level of consciousness that a drinking session seems to open up once it enters the early hours....\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e....a mood reminiscent of a babalas (South African term for hangover) made more intense by electronic mutterings of worlds gone by and worlds to come....\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e....To my ear and feeling there is a sense of fatigue but also of determined resolve like a wedding band who has been playing for hours, and whose morale has been lubricated by libations funded by the festive pockets of the party guests....\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e....Moonshine grew out of Elephantine in a collective and organic way. Apart from the drummers, the process of recording the ensemble’s debut album was the first time Maurice had met and played with all the other musicians. Through recording the first record and touring it, they got to know each other quite well (‘family’ is the word Maurice uses to describe their relationships), and the group of musicians became a band.... \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eall music composed, arranged and produced by Maurice Louca\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRosa Brunello - double bass\u003cbr\u003e\nTommaso Cappellato - drums\u003cbr\u003e\nÖzün Usta - drums\u003cbr\u003e\nPiero Bittolo Bon - alto sax \/ electronics\u003cbr\u003e\nRasmus Svale Kjærgård Lund - tuba\u003cbr\u003e\nEls Vandeweyer - vibraphone\u003cbr\u003e\nDaniel Gahrton - baritone sax\u003cbr\u003e\nIsak Hedtjärn - clarinet\u003cbr\u003e\nMaurice Louca - guitar \/ lap steel \/ synthesizer\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003erecorded at Morphine Raum, Berlin \/ November 2021\u003cbr\u003e\nrecording engineers - Emanuele Baratto and Rabih Beaini\u003cbr\u003e\nmixed at Morphine Raum \/ April 2022\u003cbr\u003e\nmixing engineers - Rabih Beaini and Emanuele Baratto\u003cbr\u003e\nmastering engineer - Heba Kadry\u003cbr\u003e\ndrawing and design - Lena Czerniawska\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667197063391,"sku":"CD-NS-162","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667197096159,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667197128927,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a3589203618_10.jpg?v=1720899599"},{"product_id":"eli-keszler-keith-fullerton-whitman-split-lp","title":"Eli Keszler \/ Keith Fullerton Whitman - Split","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=4071508896\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/nnatapes.bandcamp.com\/album\/split-2\"\u003e'Split' by Eli Keszler \/ Keith Fullerton Whitman\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eNNA is very excited to announce a split LP between world-renowned electronic music composer Keith Fullerton Whitman and multi-instrumentalist composer Eli Keszler.  This LP is a conversation in sound between two prominent artists, one working in the electronic realm (Whitman), and the other in the world of live acoustics (Keszler). In fact, Whitman's piece was inspired and created as a direct response to Keszler's signature frenzied percussion style. Both sides of the record are full of incredibly detailed nuance-driven music. These artists work with sound on the microscopic level, deliberately placing each individual molecule of sound in it's intended location. Whitman's piece \"Occlusion\" is automated \"machine music\" warfare, utilizing rhythm as a textural tool, while Keszler uses live percussion, bowed metal, and other acoustics to act as a humanized response to Whitman's machine-regulated assault, solidifying this record as a fantastic document of Human vs. Machine call and response. Original artwork by Eli Keszler.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567649710303,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567649743071,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA043.jpg?v=1714759253"},{"product_id":"tredici-bacci-the-thirteen-kisses-cassetta-c32","title":"Tredici Bacci - The Thirteen Kisses Cassetta","description":"\u003cp\u003eTredici Bacci is 14-piece group of young musicians from Boston, Massachusetts under the impressive orchestral direction of Simon “Luxardo” Hanes, perhaps best known for his madman bass playing in Guerilla Toss. Their debut “cassetta” serves as a celebration of a musical era, fostered by a unique, exciting, and rapidly changing time in history. Tredici Bacci harnesses the essence of classic 1960’s and 1970’s Italian film score music, bathing in the luscious tunes contained within Commedia all’italiana, Giallo slasher, and Spaghetti Western soundtracks. Hanes makes excellent use of traditional orchestration techniques in these pieces, creating a vast sound by employing emotive strings, breezy winds, and an extremely in-the-pocket notated rhythm section. Hanes also beautifully employs the use of the soloist as a thematic melodic voice, with rich, beautiful trumpet playing from Jake Baldwin complimenting the sultry vocals of Sami Stevens. No instrument is ever overpowering and each one plays it’s role perfectly, fitting together seamlessly against the meditative rhythms and varying tempos. There’s a tremendous amount of range in these pieces, from the sensitive and melancholy to the playful and upbeat - at times the music conveys an air of classy sophistication, and at other times it’s drenched in cheap perfume and prurience. This balance of cosmopolitan elegance and steamy funk is what makes “The Thirteen Kisses Cassetta” shine, calling upon all the juiciest elements of orchestral jazz, lounge, pop psychedelia, softcore soundtracks, library music, and the romantic spirit of classic film scores in the vein of Armando Trovaioli, Ennio Morricone, and Bruno Nicolai. A refreshing collection of arrangements in the “pen and sheet music” tradition that defy personal expression and instead favor mood and timelessness.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45567660654815,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA071-COVER-WEB.jpg?v=1714759453"},{"product_id":"laplante-dunn-smith-ancestral-instrument-c60","title":"Laplante \/ Dunn \/ Smith - Ancestral Instrument","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Ancestral Instrument\" documents the musical meeting of three friends:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTravis Laplante (Little Women, Battle Trance), Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle, Fantômas, John Zorn), and Ches Smith (Marc Ribot, Secret Chiefs 3, Fred Frith). Existing in the cracks of avant-garde jazz, contemporary classical, indigenous world music, and soul, \"Ancestral Instrument\" captures an evening of improvisation that took place at IBEAM, a small loft space in Brooklyn, on December 14th, 2013. There was a fierce snowstorm that night, and only a handful of people trudged through the brutal weather to attend the concert. IBEAM served as an oasis, a respite from the cold, with people literally coming into the room to thaw out. This was the first time the three musicians gathered together in a classic saxophone trio formation (tenor saxophone, double bass, drums), and also marks Laplante's recorded debut in a purely improvised setting. Before the concert began, the musicians established an unspoken agreement that the music would have no expectations, nothing to prove, and no style to fill - only that its sounds should be followed. \"Ancestral Instrument\" is a document of this sound, a talisman of the thawing that took place that evening.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567660687583,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567660720351,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA072-COVER-WEB.jpg?v=1714759460"},{"product_id":"vavatican-i-love-you-dora-lee-c38","title":"VaVatican - I Love You (Dora Lee)","description":"\u003cp\u003eConfusion is the name of the game on “I Love You (Dora Lee)”, the new full-length from NYC quartet VaVatican. Self-described by the group as “the first half of a two-part absurdist sound saga”, this single piece spread across two sides of magnetic tape unfolds exactly as such. What starts out as a lush, dynamic, and melodic tapestry of almost post-rock soundscapes abruptly collides into a grating wall of upper-register harmonic extended saxophone technique, and continues this journey into confounding new territories throughout the duration of the recording. Nathaniel Morgan, Owen Stewart-Robertson, Weston Minissali, and Booker Stardrum (the latter two also of avant-proggers Cloud Becomes Your Hand) unite respectively on alto saxophone, guitar, synthesizer, and percussion to push the limits of their instruments to the point where fact can no longer be distinguished from fiction. The group is able to use improvisation within a structurally composed framework to take the listener on an emotional and sonic roller coaster ride, see-sawing between styles of music in a such a way that makes the end result impossible to pigeonhole into any one genre. Electro-acoustic passages are punctuated with seemingly-nonsensical text and speech fragments, collaged together as antagonistic sound poetry. What’s perhaps most impressive about “I Love You (Dora Lee)” is it’s ability to straddle the fine (or broad?) line between high-brow and low-brow, where colorful, texturally-rich melodic drones and even Elvis covers are met face-to-face with farting, giggling, chairs creaking, and downright nauseating atmospheres. While the sounds can be musically serious, the overall narrative remains cryptically playful and tongue-in-cheek, a dynamic not often found in the stuffy chambers of academia and improvised music. Needless to say, VaVatican are not afraid to take risks and embrace the bizarre, basking in the true nature of experimental music in it’s most literal sense.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A romance, a farce, a stomach bug, a new moon, and Elvis Presley in a tall tree” –VaVatican\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Cassette (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567661408479,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567661375711,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567661441247,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA078-COVER-WEB.jpg?v=1714759498"},{"product_id":"travis-laplante-peter-evans-secret-meeting-cd-cs-digital","title":"Travis Laplante \/ Peter Evans - Secret Meeting","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1163781378\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/nnatapes.bandcamp.com\/album\/secret-meeting\"\u003e'Secret Meeting' by Travis Laplante \u0026amp; Peter Evans\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eNNA Tapes is proud to present Secret Meeting, the collaboration of Travis Laplante (tenor saxophone) and Peter Evans (trumpet). Laplante and Evans are each devoted to creating multi-dimensional improvisational spaces, pushing their instruments to the edge in the service of a musical experience that travels beyond the realm of the mind. The deeply mysterious, epic improvisations on Secret Meeting points toward a seemingly ancient relationship between these two boundary-breaking improvisers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEncompassing a vast array of sounds and an umbilical cord-like connection, Secret Meeting embodies profound exhaustion in one moment, as though the players' collective weariness might altogether slump them over, and manages unparalleled vitality and vigor in the next. Through all of these sonic undulations, Evans and Laplante place the listener within a visceral, symbiotic torrent of beauty.\u2028\u2028 Peter Evans is a trumpet player, and improvisor\/composer based in New York City since 2003. Evans is part of a broad, hybridized scene of musical experimentation and his work cuts across a wide range of modern musical practices and traditions. Peter is committed to the simultaneously self-determining and collaborative nature of musical improvisation as a compositional tool, and works to use the great music of the past as a springboard to forge new directions with his colleagues. His primary groups as a leader are the Peter Evans Quintet and the Zebulon trio. In addition, Evans has been performing and recording solo trumpet music since 2003 and is widely recognized as a leading voice in the field, having released several recordings over the past decade. He is a member of several fully cooperative groups, such as Pulverize the Sound, Rocket Science, Premature Burial and is constantly experimenting and forming new configurations of players. Evans' work as a band member extends to groups such as the International Contemporary Ensemble and Wet Ink. He has been commissioned by the International Contemporary Ensemble, Yarn\/Wire, the Donaueschingen Musiktage Festival, the Jerome Foundation's Emerging Artist Program and was a 2014 Artist-in-Residence at Issue Project Room in Brooklyn, NY. He has presented and\/or performed his music at many major international festivals and has toured his own groups extensively in Europe, Canada and the United States.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTravis Laplante is a saxophonist, composer, and qigong healer living in southern Vermont and Brooklyn, New York. Laplante leads Battle Trance, the acclaimed tenor saxophone quartet. He is also known for his solo saxophone work and his longstanding ensemble Little Women. Laplante has recently performed and\/or recorded with Trevor Dunn, Ches Smith, Gerald Cleaver, Michael Formanek, Mary Halvorson, Darius Jones, Matt Maneri, and Matt Mitchell, among others. He has toured his music extensively and has appeared at many major international festivals throughout the US, Canada and Europe. As a qigong student of master Robert Peng, Laplante has undergone traditional intensive training. His focus in recent years, under the tutelage of Laura Stelmok, has been on Taoist alchemical medicine and the cultivation of the heart. Laplante is passionate about the intersection of music and medicine. He and his wife are the founders of Sword Hands, a qigong and acupuncture healing practice based in Brooklyn, New York and Putney, Vermont.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCassette version comes with free digital download coupon.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"CD (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567663538399,"sku":"CD-NNA-087","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567663571167,"sku":"CS-NNA-087","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567663603935,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567663636703,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA087-hires.jpg?v=1714759627"},{"product_id":"nerftoss-crushed","title":"Nerftoss - Crushed","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3520678320\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/nnatapes.bandcamp.com\/album\/crushed\"\u003e'Crushed' by Nerftoss\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eNNA is proud to be the home for the latest full length album from Baltimore, Maryland electronic artist Nerftoss, aka John Jones (also of the group Dope Body). Fans of Nerftoss’s previous output can expect the same lush, nuanced sound environments that Jones so expertly crafts, but this time in a more dance-driven, club-friendly setting that pays homage to, while also creatively advancing, the essence of house music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn “Crushed”, Jones creates a colorful and driving set of house-inspired vignettes that flow together effortlessly, providing respites along the way in the form of warped ambient electronic segues that allow the listener to recalibrate before the ecstatic four-on-the-floor rhythms transport you back to the dancefloor. Nerftoss utilizes a healthy dose of dreamy yet off-kilter plunderphonic sampling techniques that align with fellow Baltimore-based electronic music contemporaries (and NNA alumni) such as Co La and PHORK, but integrated into the jazzy melodic chords and metronomic rhythms that are classically associated with house music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat makes these tracks especially unique, however, is the sampling of live acoustic percussion (drum kits, maracas, congas, bells, and so on) in conjunction with the traditional electronic drum machines of techno to comprise the dynamic beats. When these hybrid breakbeats are combined with the thick, deep melodic bass lines, the results are extremely powerful, intricate rhythms that create an auditory all-city block party, commanding the human body to move with the music. Cascading drum rolls, Latin rhythms, and funky shakers all dance in unison with the swirling, psychedelic textures and pounding bass kicks, creating a parade of global thump between your ears. The steamy ambient passages are used to alter the mood, but the lack of silence between tracks gives the album a continuous “megamix” tempo, as if you’re listening to the artist DJ-ing his own tracks live in the club. All of these elements together make “Crushed” not only a refreshing and progressive listen, but also a blissful bouquet of melody, texture, dynamics, layering, and fidelity that is the definitive signature of a talented producer’s chops.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCassette comes packaged with digital download coupon.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567664128223,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567664160991,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA090-digital.jpg?v=1714759655"},{"product_id":"grid-nelson-dahl-podgurski","title":"GRID (Nelson, Dahl, Podgurski)","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2776226345\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/grid.bandcamp.com\/album\/grid-2\"\u003eGRID by GRID (Nelson, Dahl, Podgurski)\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eTim Dahl (Child Abuse) on bass, and Nick Podgurski (New Firmament; Feast of the Epiphany) on drums. Despite the trio formation and the individual players’ backgrounds with jazz, the GRID sound takes the plunge toward the darker, heavier, and more psychedelic realms of improvised music. While undoubtedly harnessing the clamorous spirit of free jazz, the trio ventures beyond its acoustic borders, cleverly implementing electronic processing as well as dirge-like tempos that draw upon the slow-burning qualities of Doom and Sludge for inspiration.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe four pieces that make up the album cover plenty of sonic territory and are ripe with expressive gesture, but are unified by the resulting singularity of atmosphere they conjure. Dahl’s extra-heavy bass guitar often marinates in the lower registers, creating a thick undergrowth of growling low end frequencies that anchor the pieces in a doom-like ambiance. Sliding up and down the fret from note to note creates a swaying imbalance that only amplifies the queasy, slow-motion tempos. Nelson’s saxophone, in conjunction with electronic effects processing, unleashes a multitude of refreshingly twisted new sounds, dynamics, and textures from the horn. Overdriven feedback is used to add a deeply fried sustain to the notes, giving them a Hendrix-like soulfulness and urgency. Squeals and squelches occasionally emerge from the web of filtering, reminding the listener that they are in fact hearing saxophone, not guitar. Podgurski’s loose, collapsing drumming style fills the nooks and crevices left behind by Dahl and Nelson’s destructive dissonance, stirring the pot and propelling the music forward. His painterly attack hits in all the right places, reinforcing tempos but also dancing around them, while adding an acoustic juxtaposition that gives dimension to each piece.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUpon listening, there’s no denying that these musicians are deeply rooted in the craft of improvisation – they bring not only experience, but a high level of understanding to their work as well. What makes GRID unique however, is their ability to play with dirtier, noisier, and heavier textures, but with the sensitivity of a seasoned improviser. There is an undeniable physicality to GRID’s sound, as all of the sounds are related to the actual touch of the instrument. Although electronics are utilized, they embellish this physical playing, rather than dictate it. Nelson, Dahl, and Podgurski place individual expression in the back seat in favor of a cohesive vision that relies as much on mood and aura as it does technical chops. Recorded live to two inch tape at Seizures Palace in Brooklyn, the cavernous quality of the recording and signature mastering from Weasel Walter augment an undercurrent of grit and dread. Overall, the album has an essence of eternal void, as if the music exists in a vacuum of space that could go on infinitely in either direction. GRID’s debut is merely four glimpses into this alternate dimension of sound.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCassette comes packaged with digital download coupon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Tim Dahl (bass guitar), Matt Nelson (saxophone) and Nick Podgurski (drums) make up what promises to be the new standard in heavy doom jazz.” – Something Else Reviews\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The trio’s common denominator is ’70s free jazz — but that genre’s intensity at a grueling pace, through manipulated electronics.” – NPR\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Listen to GRID rip the sleeves off Fundamental Free Jazz” – Noisey\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Though the textures are extreme in nature, and densely layered, GRID doesn’t seem primarily interested in bludgeoning listeners.” – Pitchfork\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Cassette (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567665111263,"sku":"CS-NNA-096","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567665078495,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567665144031,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA096.jpg?v=1714759721"},{"product_id":"lea-bertucci-metal-aether","title":"Lea Bertucci - Metal Aether","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3523225868\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/leabertucci.bandcamp.com\/album\/metal-aether\"\u003e'Metal Aether' by Lea Bertucci\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe’re excited to welcome New York City-based composer and performer Lea Bertucci back to NNA for a brand new full-length LP, ‘Metal Aether.’ Lea’s early 2017 cassette release ‘All That Is Solid Melts Into Air’ focused on her role as a composer, with a hand-picked selection of talented musicians performing her minimal compositions. ‘Metal Aether’ instead showcases her role as a performer, revealing four pieces that represent approximately 3 years of ideas and gestures for alto saxophone and magnetic tape. Expanding on 2014’s ‘Light Silence, Dark Speech’ as well as 2015’s ‘Axis\/Atlas,’ ‘Metal Aether’ develops a language of extended technique for alto saxophone that is based on a spectral, psychoacoustic, and non-linguistic approach to the instrument.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMuch like the recordings of her previous NNA release, ‘Metal Aether’ continues to explore Lea’s acute interest in the nature of acoustics and the harmonic accumulation of sound, with it’s four pieces having been recorded in Le Havre, France in a former military base, and in New York City, at ISSUE Project Room. With her horn, Lea produces pulsing minimalist patterns, transcendent drones, and upper register squalls that envelop these spaces in waves of overtones, microtones, and psychoacoustic effects. Tracks like “Accumulations” explore evocative, ancient-sounding melodic figures, while tracks like “Sustain and Dissolve” relish in the microtonal relationships between overlapping sustained notes. Aside from the saxophone, Bertucci further interacts with physical space by fortifying these pieces with manipulated field recordings from diverse locations, ranging from Mayan pyramids to NYC subways. Other instruments such as prepared piano and vibraphone can be heard on this album, processed through tape to unite melody and texture together as one. Lea displays a firm grasp of the inherent possibilities of sound manipulation to maximize her music’s power through the recording process itself, mixing conflicting fidelities to achieve a deeper, more organic form of expression.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThroughout 2017, Lea fully dedicated her creative efforts toward exploring and informing her music through a variety of disciplines. In addition to recording ‘Metal Aether,’ she wrote and performed during multiple residencies, toured rigorously throughout North America and Europe, organized site-specific sonic events with the SITE:SOUND series, and published her first book “The Tonebook,” a collection of graphic scores by 17 avant-garde composers. Through these endeavors, Lea immerses herself in the essential principles of true musicianship: study, performance, curation, literature, and experimentation. It is with these tools that she connects herself with sound in all of it’s forms - live, recorded, situational, natural, and unnatural. All of these elements come together to inform the pieces found on this album, creating a sophisticated, multi-faceted, and highly personal body of work. ‘Metal Aether’ feels like the defining statement from an artist in elevated control of their form - a summary of concepts, ideas, and emotions given life from one’s mind and heart. Lea demonstrates the desirable ability to use her art to sincerely communicate in a language of one’s own personal invention, utilizing music and sound for their most meaningful and human purposes.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"'Metal Aether'\/'Resonant Field' 2xLP","offer_id":45567666946271,"sku":"LP-NNA-108-1","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Limited Edition 12\" LP (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567666880735,"sku":"LP-NNA-108","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567666913503,"sku":"CD-NNA-108","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":46555104608479,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567666979039,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA108-digital-border.jpg?v=1714759871"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.northern-spy.com\/collections\/jazz-1.oembed?page=2","provider":"Northern Spy Label Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}