For the Record: December 6, 2024.
The last Bandcamp Friday of 2024 brings a bounty of fresh discoveries and treasures from the archives—plus more new arrivals and upcoming releases.
For the Record rounds up details about new and pending recordings of interest to the new-music community: contemporary classical music and jazz, electronic and electroacoustic music, and idioms for which no clever genre name has been coined, on CD, vinyl LP, cassette, digital-only formats… you name it.
This list of release dates is culled from press releases, Amazon, Bandcamp, and other internet stores and sources, social-media posts, and online resources such as Discogs. Dates cited typically correspond to initial U.S. release, and are subject to change. (Links to Amazon, used when all else fails, do not imply endorsement.)
These listings are not comprehensive—nor could they be! To submit a forthcoming recording for consideration, email information to nightafternight@icloud.com.
All opinions expressed herein are solely my own, and do not express the views of any employer.
Topspin.
It’s Bandcamp Friday again: that semi-regular event during which the popular music e-tail platform Bandcamp waives its fees, directing just a bit more money to artists and indie labels. Though these events are seldom as frenetic or glutted with exclusives as they used to be, they still provide a bounty of new gems and rediscovered treasures worth your consideration—and at this time of year in particular, the sales boost benefits buyer and seller alike.
Most likely you’ve been bookmarking your own shopping list for a while now, but here are a few titles I’ll happily recommend.
Inheritances, the new album by pianist Adam Tendler, is so much more than an excellent collection of diverse contemporary works—though it certainly is that. It’s also a profoundly moving document of a deeply personal journey involving mystery, discovery, and acceptance, self- and otherwise. (Tendler told his story in The New York Times last year; here’s a gift link, if you missed it.) This recital program, which Tendler will present in a new form on Saturday night in a free concert at Lincoln Center, has rightly resulted in massive widespread exposure, and the resulting album is among the year’s best. Don’t miss it.
Another strong piano recital comes from Ju-Ping Song, recorded for the eclectic and selective Starkland label. If there’s a word suited to describe the music on Monad, it’s probably superhuman: Song multi-tracks herself for Lois V. Vierk’s two-piano cornerstone, Spin 2, vies with insistent electronics in Molly Joyce’s Rave and Kate Moore’s Bestiary, and musters imperturbable steadiness and stamina in Monad, Rahilia Hasanova’s torrential response to a massacre in Azerbaijan. Song plays with muscular intelligence and conviction, and the recording is ideal.
Feeling more improvisational today? English label Confront has got you covered with Around the Square, Above the Hill, a gorgeously detailed account of the restless trio formed by saxophonist John Butcher and multi-instrumentalists Phil Durrant and Mark Wastell. Recorded live in London and Brighton in April, the album is a brilliant showcase of selfless playing and deep listening; Butcher is characteristically probing on tenor and soprano saxophones, Durrant doubles on electric mandolin and electronics, and Wastell – also represented elsewhere today with a vivid solo cello performance – plays drums and percussion in the spirit of the late, great John Stevens. If you’ve ever responded to the likes of Spontaneous Music Ensemble or Company, you need this on your CD shelf or hard drive.
A prime document of first-generation European free improvisation gets a fresh airing today. Brötzmann/Van Hove/Bennink, by the formidable trio of saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, keyboardist Fred Van Hove, and percussionist Han Bennink, is part of a recent series of remastered recordings from this foundational catalog to hit the FMP Bandcamp page—formerly called Destination: OUT, after the crucial blog whose founders now oversee this crucial page.
The session, recorded in 1973, is an incandescent mix of fiery playing, mutual regard, and biting wit—the last especially evident in “Gere Bij,” a caustic riff on the jingoistic American anthem “Over There.” When I asked D:O co-founder Jeff Golick how reissue producer Olaf Rupp had made a session over a half-century old sound so incredibly good, he provided this response from an FMP source:
In this case, FMP 0130, Olaf worked with [FMP founder] Jost Geber’s original pre-master from the original analog master tapes. He also used his own first remastering from 2014 as reference. Generally, Olaf’s approach is that of a laborious “hand-made" process after listening to the music first. In other words, he does not use one plugin that grinds automatically over the files.
Another classic FMP session, the ambitious Hamburg ’74 by Globe Unity Orchestra with the Choir of the NDR-Broadcast, is out today as well. And admirers of the late, great Peter Brötzmann will also want to hear Butterfly Mushroom, a vibrant 2015 duo with percussionist Paal Nilssen-Love, newly issued today by Trost.
There’s also a lot more new music out there too… and if you can’t decide what you’re in the mood for, Mandatory Liberation, Vol. 1 is a great option. Assembled by the labels Gold Bolus and Strategy of Tension, this inexpensive anthology serves up a bumper crop of diverse offerings from loads of fascinating artists – thingNY, Thee Reps, Megafortress, Weston Olencki, Powers/Rolin Duo, Amirtha Kidambi’s Elder Ones, and more – and proceeds benefit Crips for eSims for Gaza, an initiative meant to assist Palestinian people in maintaining contact.
Need more choices? Why not pre-order something due in the weeks and months ahead? You’ll find dozens of options – including important releases from David Lang, Ambrose Akinmusire, Tim Berne, Jules Reidy, and many more – in For the Record: The Master List, here.
And brace yourself: The incredibly busy composer, performer, and twice-over label impresario Kory Reeder announced earlier today that he’s working with fellow composer-curator Antoine Beuger to bring the Editions Wandelweiser catalog to Bandcamp. “10 albums coming the last Friday of every month starting in January!” Reeder proclaims. Get ready…
New this week.
Carola Bauckholt - Crank and Cloud – Orchestral Works - performances by Tirol Symphony Orchestra Innsbruck, Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra Ostrava, Basel Sinfonietta, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Ensemble Resonanz, and WDR Symphony Orchestra (World Edition)
Blessed are the Hearts that Bend - A gentle death/a sudden birth (Spectral Industries)
TJ Borden and Steve Flato - In the Garden of Eating (Full Spectrum)
Peter Brötzmann/Paal Nilssen-Love - Butterfly Mushroom (Trost; recorded 2015)
Brötzmann/Van Hove/Bennink - Brötzmann/Van Hove/Bennink (FMP; 2024 remaster)
John Butcher/Phil Durrant/Mark Wastell - Around the Square, Above the Hill (Confront)
Marcelo Cugliari - Void Sessions (Unfathomless)
Alvin Curran - ARCHEOLOGY // ARCHEOLOGIA (Room40)
Alexandre David - Photogrammes - Quatuor Bozzini, Plaisirs du clavecin, Orchestre de l’Agora (Collection QB)
Ethel with Allison Loggins-Hull - Persist - compositions by Allison Loggins-Hull, Xavier Muzik, Migiwa Miyajima, Sam Wu, and Leilehua Lanzilotti (Sono Luminus)
Beat Furrer - FURRER 70 (6 CDs, 3 videos, 2 books) - Klangforum Wien (Klangforum Wien)
Ana Gamboa & Thomas Pizzini - Out! (Zoar)
Globe Unity Orchestra - Hamburg ’74 (FMP; 2024 remaster)
Vinny Golia Quintet - Can You Outrun Them? (Big Ego)
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra - LOLO80 (Adjacent)
HxH (Lester St. Louis and Chris Williams) - East River Transverse II (self-released)
Rebekka Karijord - Archives of Longing - Andrew Yee (OONA)
Ryan MacEvoy McCullough & Andrew Zhou - sedgeflowers | MANTRA - compositions by John Liberatore, Angus Lee, Dante De Silva, Aida Shirazi, LJ White, Andrew Zhou, Christopher Castro, Laura Cetilia, Christopher Stark, and Karlheinz Stockhausen (False Azure)
Giovanni Mancuso & Alberto Collodel - Braxtonality (Zoar)
Nathan McLaughlin - Optics//Motion II (Aural Canyon)
Jolanda Moletta and Karen Vogt - Suspended Between Worlds (Longform Editions)
The Nighttime Ensemble - The Nighttime Ensemble (Longform Editions)
Out Of/Into - Motion I (Blue Note)
Cole Peters - A Recasting of Indices (Unfathomless)
Patrick Quinn - Sonifying the Sun: The Mass Emergence of Brood XIII and XIX Periodical Cicadas, Volume 1 (Topos Press)
Reign of Ferns - Out Beyond Is (Longform Editions)
Elliott Sharp - Hudson River Compositions 1973-74 (Zoar)
Edward Smaldone - What no one else sees… - performances by Brno Philharmonic/Mikel Toms, Niklas Sivelöv, Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Mikel Toms, Søren-Filip Brix Hansen, Den Kongelige Livgardes Musikkorps/Giordano Bellincampi, and Opus Zoo Woodwind Quintet (New Focus)
Ju-Ping Song - Monad - compositions by Lois V. Vierk, Molly Joyce, Kate Moore, and Rahilia Hasanova (Starkland)
Adam Tendler - Inheritances - compositions by Laurie Anderson, Missy Mazzoli, John Glover, Pamela Z, Scott Wollschleger, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Timo Andres, inti figgis-vizueta, Nico Muhly, Marcos Balter, Mary Prescott, Ted Hearne, Angélica Negrón, Christopher Cerrone, Darian Donovan Thomas, and Devonté Hynes (New Amsterdam)
Martin Tétreault - Vraiment plus de Snipettes!!! (Ambiances Magnétiques)
Unionen - Unionen (We Jazz)
Various artists - Mandatory Liberation, Vol. 1 - performances by Ashcan Orchestra, Thee Reps, Megafortress, Weston Olencki, Powers/Rolin Duo, thingNY, Amirtha Kidambi's Elder Ones, Derek Baron, and more (Gold Bolus + Strategy of Tension)
Mark Wastell - Cello-Intern XVIII (scatterArchive)
Andrew Weathers - AW Walks in Two Different Commerce Spaces (Hymns)
Sanae Yamada - Flowering Tree (Longform Editions)
Eri Yamamoto - Let’s Keep Walking (AUM Fidelity)
Meredith Young-Sowers - Agartha: Personal Meditation Music (Important)
Upcoming releases.
December 10
Patrick Shiroishi - the afterlife is letting go (Touch)
December 13
Luciana Bass - Desatornillándonos (Relative Pitch)
Klaus Ospald - Escribí - performances by Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Teodoro Anzellotti, Edicson Ruiz, WDR Sinfonieorchester, and Ensemble Modern (bastille musique)
Chuck Roth - Document 1 (Relative Pitch)
January 3
Avi C. Engel - Nocturne (Soundtrack for an Invisible Film) (Elephant Shrew Editions)
January 10
Will Mason Quartet - Hemlocks, Peacocks (New Focus)
January 24
Britta Byström - Ink-Wash on Paper (OUR Recordings)
Clemens Kuratle Ydivide - The Default (Intakt)
January 31
Pierre Gerard - Full Yellow Cylinder (Eliane Tapes)
Joachim Kühn - Échappée (Intakt)
Sarah Belle Reid + Vinny Golia - Accidental Ornithology (Infrequent Seams)
February 7
Danish National Vocal Ensemble/Martina Batič - O Listen! - compositions by Else Marie Pade and Uroš Krek (OUR Recordings)
February 21
Nina Garcia - Bye Bye Bird (Ideologic Organ)
February 28
David Grubbs - Whistle from Above (Drag City)
Find many more upcoming releases in For the Record: The Master List, here.
Photographs by Steve Smith, except where indicated.