Akira Sakata and Konstrukt - Kaishi: Live at Kargart

I am pretty sure you are not allowed a 'curious music' blog without throwing in the occasional free-jazz record, and this one is a veritable corker. A live collaboration between saxophonist Akira Sakata and Konstrukt, the album comprises four parts taken from a single session in Istanbul earlier this year. What makes this so refreshing is that, whilst it retains the wayward nature of free-jazz, it manages to eschew much of the noisier elements of the genre, with swathes of almost funky bass permeating the erratic drums and horn howls. Closer to Albert Ayler than Peter Brötzmann, the work sprawls dementedly over the 15 or so minutes of each part, but does so with palpable form - even at it's most free, the work oozes an over-riding structure and clarity, however abstract. It's also surprisingly melodic, with extended almost Prokofiev styled riffs running through a mist of tape echo one minute, only to be followed by psyche-inspired arabic sequences the next, rendered on a bed of intricate percussion. Add in some monkish throat singing, and a flirtation with drone, and it adds up to a wonderfully engaging take on a naturally difficult genre.

Limited to just 200 copies on double vinyl, you can get it here - http://www.holidaysrecords.it/

La Monte Young & Mariam Zazeela - The Black Album

It's like Christmas, but early.
This record has been at the top of my wish-list forever, but the £100+ price tag for old battered copies of the impossible grail always prevented me from buying it. La Monte Young is incredibly prolific, and records everything he ever does, but, somewhat against the grain of internet culture, never actually releases anything. Having a grand total of two commercially released albums (plus a few shoddy bootlegs), it is possible to pick up the 100 hours or so of the rest of his output on torrent sites, but you rarely find anything in the flesh... until now. A limited re-release that seems to be already bordering on going out of print, this album consists of two long-form 'drone' tracks - the first for two singers (Young and his wife Zazeela) and sine tone, with the second for two gongs. Like all Young's music, it's not for the faint-hearted, and you'd be forgiven for assuming a lack of progression throughout the 20 or so minutes of each piece. However, the careful use of specific frequencies creates all kind of odd psycho-neurological affects in the brain, creating a space that is beyond conscious attention - the mind tunes in to a new way of being, freed from the constraints of taste or opinion.
I can't sell this record enough - it is one of the greatest things to every grace wax - designed to be played loudly and in a single, uninterrupted sitting, I defy anyone to not get caught up in its trance-like effect under the right conditions. If you're in New York, Young and Zazeela have an ongoing installation where you can go and sit in on these continuous drones and chants - their house is an open performance space that has been running a perpetual version of this work for nigh on 30 years.

You can pick this up at Piccadilly records for at least another ten minutes - Buy it