What's new on EFIP 1 January 2012

• A little old news now, but very sad to hear that Hans Reichel died on 22 November 2011.
• On the release front, it's particularly exciting to welcome back Georg Graewe's Random Acoustics label with a new web site (get the link from the labels index) and a Book/DVD release, grubenklang. reloaded. The book is a 120-page A4-landscape paperback of photographs, writings, interviews, comments and data and includes a DVD with approximately 70 minutes of video and 4 hours of audio from a wide range of musicians and groups. Full details on the linked page.
• A major update on Creative Sources records with: Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø Solo; Martine Altenburger/Frédéric Blondy/Bertrand Gauget Vers l'ile paresseuse; Boris Hauf/Steven Hess/Keefe Jackson/Juun Proxemics; David Chiesa/Jean Sébastien Mariage Oort; Hans Koch/Thomas Rohrer/Antonio Panda Gianfratti Aicó; Ernesto Rodrigues/Guilherme Rodrigues/Gil Gonçalves/Nuno Torres/Abdul Moiméme/Armando Pereira/Carlos Santos/José Oliveira Suspensâo; Erik Carlsson The bird and the giant; Abdul Moimême/Ricardo Guerreiro Knettanu; Matthias Muche/Philip Zoubek/Achim Tang Excerpts from anything; Steve Beresford/Stephen Flinn/Dave Tucker Ink room; Heddy Boubaker/Ernesto Rodrigues/Abdul Moiméme Le beau déviant; Alon Nechushtan Dark forces; Marjolaine Charbin/Frans Van Isacker Kryscraft; Olaf Rupp/Joe Williamson/Tony Buck Wierd weapons 2; and Joe Williamson Hoard.
• Recent Not Two releases include: The Kris Wanders Outfit In remembrance of the human race; André Goudbeek/Lê Quan Ninh/Peter Jacquemyn Uwaga; Evan Parker/Zlatko Kaucic Round about one o'clock; and Peter Brötzmann/Jörg Fischer Live in Wiesbaden. The two new Erstwhile CDs are Greg Kelley/Olivia Block Resolution and Jérôme Noetinger/Will Guthrie Face off. The brand new Potlatch disc is a new Keith Rowe/John Tilbuary recording: E.E. Tension and circumstance and the very latest Foghorn release is Everybody else but me by Tony Bevan/Matthew Bourne/Tony Buck/Barre Phillips.
• Mbari Música from Portugal have recently released the wonderful solo piano disc El laberint de la memòria by Agustí Fernández. MET-X from Brussels have released a new disc with Trevor Watts: 11 songs by Mishalle/Watts/Drame/Foliba/Marockin' Brass. And on Leipzig's Euphorium Records, there's Friedrichsschwerdt with Gay - Wir saunawirt.

What was new on EFIP 1 November 2011

• Well, October has been really interesting, largely because of the Just Not Cricket! festival in Berlin. Billed as Three days of British improvised music, 6-8 October, it featured ensembles composed from Tom Arthurs, Steve Beresford, Tony Bevan, Matthew Bourne, Gail Brand, Lol Coxhill, Rhodri Davies, John Edwards, Shabaka Hutchings, Dominic Lash, Phil Minton, Eddie Prévost, Orphy Robinson, Mark Sanders, Alex Ward and Trevor Watts. Absolutely great! Just Not Cricket! was curated by Antoine Prum in collaboration with Tony Bevan and Helma Schleif and the concerts marked the beginning of a documentary film on the history, past and present, of the British free improvised music scene. More details can be found on their web site.
• On the recordings front it is wonderful to see nato records back with a brand-new web site of their own (for the first time) and brand-new releases as well as some CD issues of old favourites. The new CDs are The rock on the hill by Lol Coxhill/Barre Phillips/JT Bates; and Snodland by Steve Beresford/Matt Wilson. Also new, but issued as part of the 3CD box Erik Satie et autre messieurs Airs de jeux is Tony Hymas' Correspondances Erik Satie Claude Debussy; the other two CD re-issues in the box being Sept tableaux phoniques Erik Satie (with Beresford, Coe, Coxhill, Wachsmann among others) and Ulrich Gumpert's Trois sarabandes et six gnossiennes. The other nato CD-reissues are Lol Coxhill's Instant replay and Jöelle Léandre's Les douze sons, both with a very varied list of improvising contributors, and Deadly weapons by Steve Beresford/David Toop/John Zorn/Tonie Marshall. Also from France, Ayler Records have just issued a clutch of new releases: Benjamin Duboc's 3CD Primare cantus; Marc Ducret's Tower vol. 2; the Szilárd Mezei Wind Quartet with Inne; and Daunik Lazro's Some other zongs. And new from the French/Swedith label Umlaut is a 3CD box of improvisations and tunes, including those from Swedish folk music, by Raymond Strid and Roland Keijser: Yellow bell. Jöelle Léandre's latest CD is a duo with György Szabados: Live at Magyarkanizsa.
• As with the last update, there's a strong Berlin-based component to this one too, either from musicians at Just Not Cricket! or those based in Berlin. So, I've updated Steve Beresford's page after some period of dormancy; there's a CDR of Phil Minton and Roger Turner Live at Hull Art Lab from Poot; a new Trevor Watts multi-tracked CD on Jazzwerkstatt, The deep blue; Triatone (Mark Sanders/Ricardo Tejero/Pablo Pérez) with Airam airun; and a Foghorn Records upate that covers two Sunny Murray/Tony Bevan/John Edwards discs - Boom boom cat and I stepped onto a bee - and A big hand by Tony Bevan/Paul Obermayer/Phil Marks/Dominic Lash. The new absinthRecords release is a DVD by Diego Chamy, The intelligent dancer. The latest release on SÅJ Records is a duo by Rüdiger Carl and Sven-Åke Johansson - d'accord - and I've also added Ballistik I-IX by the Free Quartet as well as bringing the catalogue of SÅJ Records up-to-date. Another related addition is Danish border by Sven-Åke Johansson and Peter Ablinger on blumlein records. And an important addition to the literature of free improvisation (and other music) is the recently-published echtzeitmusik berlin.
• The latest Incus CD is the first official version of Derek Bailey's Concert in Milwaukee, previously issued as a limited edition privately-issued cassette. The new version was produced by Steve Beresford and has notes by George E Lewis. Derek Bailey also appears (apart from Jöelle Léandre's Les douze sons, above) on Goldsmiths, a live recording from 1972 by Iskra 1903 on Emanem. Other Eman