AnimauX veGeTal is the second release of the collaboration between Anne Gillis and XT (Seymour Wright & Paul Abbott). The trio began working together in 2018. Slowly, remotely (in Brussels, London and Paris respectively), they developed and grew the work ‘Our/s Bouture(s)’. It was broadcast to an in-person and on-line audience at Cafe OTO (London) in 2021 and later released on ArtIntoLife (Japan) in 2023.In 2022 they performed more together at Cafe OTO and Q-O2* (Brussels), growing, grafting, pruning and diffusing volatile elements of the broadcast (and accompanying film), planting and seeding new sounds and movement into and over what grew from the speakers.In September 2024 the three met again to record at XTUDIOs (London). 'AnimauX' and 'veGeTal' are what emerged. Shared, discrete and whole these two blocks show how the trio grow its own sound, and move on and into new things. The titles are named after the doings – audible and palpable, heard and felt – they capture the pulsing fact, fabric, and flourish of the matter, pace, and space of what grew and bloomed that day.-----------The zonal wheezing of a compression artifact projected through the inverted curvature of a slip-n-slide, coiling, tumescent, love's last gasp. The deadline has been exceeded. - Sunik Kim

‘Almost Something’ is the debut release of the long standing collaboration between artist/dj Laura Not and Andrew Hulme of O Yuki Conjugate. The two pieces cover a musical domesticism, developed around location recordings made in London and Berlin. The duo, known separately for their considered and attentive handling of collaged textures, rhythms and ambiences, offer up a sonic landscape where fugitive moments of creation meet the concrete sounds of everyday life. The unfamiliar is what sticks and encourages repeated listening, moving you back and forth between cities, dissonance and harmony. The tone of the album has a sustained dustiness, shrouded in a thick smog where feedback tones and scrapings on thick metal lurch at you. Sounds that can one minute appear as distant aeolian sediments suddenly become compact and then break into shards - you’re constantly in motion. You could almost liken it to feeling transported to an inner city reconstruction of Gordon Monahan’s ‘Aeolian Winds Over Claybank Saskatchewan’, if it stretched between the tunnels of the underground and the dark corner of a household boiler room.

We use the same method of what we did on Responses (Zappak, 2022): being in a place for a whole afternoon, but not playing together. We took turns on recording solo piece, and each session was a responses to the former one. Even the length was same with the former album (each one 7 minute). Only one difference: on this time we played outside but last time we played in room. There were lots of limitations from the lack of alternation electric power (and also the hot temperature and mosquito). But the open fields brought some possibilities on the other hand. Same as the former one, Sun Yizhou selected and paired these solos into duos, and I did the mixing work. I drew the cover of Responses, which was designed by Leo Okagawa. Thank you Leo, for accepting my submission and releasing it in 2022. It was the starting place of our new work.----Zhu Wenbo

'GAX is the duo of Seymour Wright (alto saxophone) and Vasco Alves (gaita de fole) and ‘as tradiçōes/the traditions’ is their first published recording. They started playing together in 2008 as regular participants in Eddie Prévost’s weekly, London workshop. GAX have rarely performed publicly, which only adds to the pleasure of being able to share this inimitable first release. Seymour Wright is known for his solo work, the duos XT with Paul Abbott, @xcrxswx with Crystabel Efemena Riley, and GUO with Daniel Blumberg, as well as his part in larger groups including أحمد [Ahmed] and X-Ray Hex Tet. Vasco Alves has previously released a solo record with gaita de fole and electronics ‘Gaita Contra Computador’ on After Action Review. ‘Estrada Longa’ for synths and voice was released on Cafe OTO’s TakuRoku, and reissued by Feedback Moves in 2024. He currently leads the exploratory bagpipe ensemble As Rochas da Ajuda. As well as GAX, his other ongoing collaborations include OndaXoque (with Pedro Rufino), a duo with Margarida Garcia. He has also performed extensively as a part of VA AA LR with Adam Asnan & Louie Rice. '‘The traditions/as tradiçōes’ was recorded across two days in the summer of 2023. Both pieces accentuate micro-motions in the interplay between Alves and Wright’s instruments. ‘The traditions’ folds and cuts, placing silent blocks between the duo’s play of sounds. The physicality of the performers is audible through the psychoacoustic oscillations and investigation of rich overtones. On ‘As tradiçōes’ Alves and Wright each play layered glissandi spanning the entire side of the record. Squalls of air from bellows and lungs control the slow, rising movement, grounded by and juxtaposed with a drone from one of Alves’ chanters which sharply fizzles at the pieces’ end, leaving in its shadow a short, continued blast of complex high tones.The 10" record comes housed in a matt-finish sleeve designed by Vasco Alves and includes a fold out poster. The photographs on the front cover and "as tradiçōes" side label are taken from the book 'Gaiteiros de Sesimbra' published by Associação Portuguesa Gaita de Foles.' 

"Hailing from China, field recording/noise artist/poet Yan Jun, folk artist Xiao He, Guqin master Wu Na, multi-instrumentalist Li Daiguo and tea master Xijian are The Tea Rockers. The group was formed in October 2010 and released their debut album,Ceremony, in 2012 on the Israeli label EnT-T. Their second album 'Fictions' was an improvised performance recorded in Chongqing, June 2015. It was mixed and mastered by Lasse Marhaug, “the most serious tea drinkers in the entire European Noise scene”, and features calligraphy by Chinese artist Che Qianzi." "The music veers from austere to downright pretty… a case of Chinese musicians confronting their own traditions head-on." (The Wire) --- Li Daiguo / pipa, cello, vocals  Wu Na / guqin Xiao He / ruan, vocal, pedals and laptop Xijian / tea Yan Ju / electronics --- Modern Sky World Music (MW-007) May 2018

"Mamer met the legendary Japanese drummer Tatsuya Yoshida in 2014 at the 1st Tomorrow’s Festival, where the two first shared stage.Wild West Adventure consists of two discs titled “See the Mountain” and “See the River”, the album documents another fearless improvisation session of the duo recorded in October 2016 in Ürümqi. The album showcases both musicians’ remarkable ability as free improvisers and masters of their own instruments, and it takes its listeners to an epic adventure filled with explosive and enchanting dynamics of rock-oriented avant-garde music." --- Tatsuya Yoshida / drums, vocals Mamer / bass, vocals --- BADHEAD (B-051) May 2018

"Immaydey is the long-awaited debut album of Bande (meaning “bandit”, formed in 2012), one of the countless band projects of Mamer (IZ, Mekrop, Tat, 51 Rayon, Kunakar) but the only one among them that still performs with traditional Kazakh instruments. Bande is a three-piece band that builds up epic avant-rock soundscapes by distorting the sounds of traditional Kazakh instruments - dombra, kobyz and Sámi drum - with dazzling effects pedals. On stage, the members often turn up with masks and black robes as though performing a mystical ritual. Immaydey, the Umay Goddess, is the goddess of fertility and virginity in Turkic mythology, regarded as the eternal Earth Mother with mystic, almighty power. An ecstatic ritual, an epic riddle, and a psychedelic labyrinth, the album is a true milestone of Mamer’s decade-long battle with his own music traditions." --- Zhang Dong / sámi drum, bells  Mamer / all music, lyrics, vocal, dombra, kobyz  --- Modern Sky World Music (MW-011) October 2019

Red Scarf has been described as “a trio of madmen” who deconstruct, reassemble, and then decimate genre after genre, are clearly having a blast with their take on rock, free jazz, and noise. Consisting of guitarist Li Xing, drummer Deng Boyu, and saxophonist/flutist Lao Dan and formed in 2014, the band released their self-titled debut in 2016 on BADHEAD. In 2018, Red Scarf released their sophomore They Know We Know They’re Lying. Later in that year they supported krautrock legend Damo Suzuki on his Chinese tour.  Unlike their improvisation-based debut, They Know We Know They’re Lying showcases the bands ability to deliver tightly structured and carefully balanced prog-rock compositions characterized by harsh textures, rich dynamics, and wicked black humour. As reviewed by Live Beijing Music: “Take the soundtrack to Tom and Jerry, douse it in bath salts and you only have the slightest sense of the glorious mayhem found within Red Scarf’s frantic and beautifully assembled 2018 releaseThey Know We Know They’re Lying. A deep dive into the mouth of madness that pits renegade sax, high-pitched souna against a fierce battle between guitar and drums, eventually transforming into a symphony of metal-tinged breakdowns and free jazz roar before it once again jack knifes elsewhere…”  --- Li Xing / guitar, synthesizer Lao Dan / saxophone, bamboo flute, suona  Deng Boyu / drums   --- BADHEAD (B-052). May 2018. All Music: Red Scarf

6501 is the second band project of Ph (formerly known as Feruh), who founded the legendry Xinjiang rock band Puppet in 1991. The band was formed in 2015 in Ürümqi and is named after the first four digits of identity card numbers of Xinjiang Province. In 2018, 6501 released their debut 'End' on BADHEAD.  Nothing but Eye Travelis 6501’s second album. Compared with the music of Puppet, the songs of 6501 are evidently more compressed, confrontational, and explosive, which as believed stick closer to the authentic sound of rock. The lyrics are succinct, often sarcastic, and sung in almost a robotic manner. --- Ph / guitar, bass, vocal  Zhai Xiaoming / guitar, bass, vocal   Faruk / drums --- BADHEAD (B-062). December 2019. All Music & lyrics: Ph