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The Nels Cline Singers - Initiate
Initiate is the fourth recording by The Nels Cline Singers and Cline's seventh release as a leader on Cryptogramophone. Initiate documents a remarkable three-day recording session at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley and The Singers' first live concert recording at Cafe du Nord in San Francisco. Throughout the beautifully designed Digipak are six photographs of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, by photographer Simon Norfolk, striking visual representations of the power of Initiate. 1.18 trillion electron volts and counting.

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Ned Rothenberg / Catherine Jauniaux / Barre Phillips - While You Were Out
A live 2008 set at New York's Instants Chavires. The eight tracks here make for a great set of vignettes. Not the kind of short stories that rely on punch lines, but well-told, small but complete worlds.

Kaufmann/Dresser/Eisenstadt - Starmelodics
Starmelodics features pianist Achim Kaufmann with the great bassist Mark Dresser and drummer/percussionist Harris Eisenstadt. This disc, which was recorded in Brooklyn, features challenging compositions by each musician and three well-realized…

Alex Cline - Continuation
Percussionist Alex Cline steps into the limelight with Continuation, a beautiful recording featuring Myra Melford on piano, Jeff Gauthier on violin, Peggy Lee on cello, Scott Walton on bass, and Alex Cline on drums and percussion. Alex's music defies all…

Joelle Leandre / Jean Luc Cappozzo - Live aux Instants Chavires
The sound of Joelle's contrabass and Jean Luc's trumpet is magnificent. This is quite an amazing performance, intense and immensely creative. The daredevil exchange of ideas and constant compelling dialogue between these two master musicians if often quite stunning.

Mike Olson - Incidental
An excerpt from the liner notes: "This is a relatively large scale six-movement piece which I began working on in 2004 and finished in 2009. I named the piece "Incidental" because it reminds me very much of incidental music – as in, music written to…

Ablaye Cissoko & Volker Goetze - Sira
Recorded on location in Senegal, the album Sira is a journey into a world of intimate lyricism and the result of the profound musical relationship between Senegalese mastersinger and kora player Ablaye Cissoko and German trumpet player Volker…

E. Doctor Smith - E. Doctor Smith LIVE with Edo Castro
Spawned by the extraordinary Northern California bassist Michael Manring, the "Bass Solo Night" concert series has quickly become a stomping ground for some of the San Francisco Bay area's best musicians. It's a movable feast of talented bassists and…

Sun Ra - The Night of the Purple Moon
The second deluxe RA reissue in the new O-Card format from the UMS- released in conjunction with EL SATURN Records: Sun Ra rocks out on his ultra-rare "Roksichord" record… a small group outing from 1970 with an alternate take plus three mind-bending…

Bill Forth - Adamantine
Guest appearances by Pat Mastelotto (percussion) and Jeff Gauthier (violin). Produced by Ronan Chris Murphy.

Forth is best known for his work with the modern progressive rock band, Ten Seconds. A duo comprised of Forth and…