Wayward American outsider ensemble Smegma perform 40 years of music in one 34 minute movement including- Vout #1&2, Mystery Riff, Majestic Hydra, L.S.D. Bomb, The Bub Walk, and others. All Music Composed and played by Ju Suk Reet Meate, Dennis Duck, Ace Farren Ford, Rock and Roll Jackie, Madelyn Villano, and with Special Guest, Rogue Iiniki. Recorded 10 October 2013 at Cafe OTO by Jonathan McHugh. Mixed by James Dunn. Mastered by Andreas [LUPO] Lubich at Calyx, Berlin. Photo by Fabio Lugaro.

Fine trio bringing together Evan Parker with AMM - John Tilbury and Eddie Prévost - recorded as part of the week of concerts in October 2014 organised to celebrate Evan Parker's 70th birthday. --- Evan Parker / saxophonesEddie Prévost / percussionJohn Tilbury / piano --- Recorded live at Cafe OTO on Wednesday 22 October 2014 by James Dunn. Mixed by John Chantler. Mastered by Andreas [LUPO] Lubich at Calyx, Berlin.

After rinsing us clean of 2k15, Jamal Moss returned to OTO on New Year's Day for a totally improvised set with London legends Mark Sanders and Orphy Robinson. By the power of the third eye the trio tune into sub-conscious frequencies to cancel your Netflix subscription, corrupt your hard-drive and re-align your chakras. Weirdly therapeutic. "In his spoken word passages, Moss presents a dystopian vision of a planet ravaged by rapacious capitalism - its people disconnected from their history and culture by consumer technology."  Stewart Smith, The Wire --- Jamal Moss / turntables, electronics Mark Sanders / percussion Orphy Robinson / vibraphone --- Recorded by Shaun Crook on Friday 1st January 2016. Mixed by James Dunn. Mastered by James Dunn. Original photo by Dawid Laskowski --- Tracklisting: 1. Priming The Population Thru Subversive Experimental Sonic Gestures (62mins) 

Pleased to present the full recording of Pat Thomas' moving tribute to Duke Ellington on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of his birth. According to Thomas, Ellington "never stopped discovering, never played the same tune in exactly the same way twice", and the same could be said here. The tunes are all there, but they emerge unpredictably, warped and hammered through the body of the piano in Pats own way. The second set was an hour long, with Pat rolling through 'Rockin’ in Rhythm', 'Isfahan' and 'In a Sentimental Mood' in a collage of heavy harmonics, serious swing and a wicked appreciation for exploration. An absolute pleasure to be in the room for this one, and tremendously happy to share the recording.  "Deconstructing and reconstructing as part of the interpretative process is second nature to Thomas. The obvious is kept at his arm’s length so from tangential start points, unforgettable melodies would creep back to plant flags firmly in the ground." - London Jazz News Tracklisting: 1.Prelude to a KissSolitudeTake the ColtraneSophisticated LadySatin DollSerenade to Sweden 2.Rockin’ in RhythmMood IndigoIsfahanIn a Sentimental MoodI Got It Bad and That Ain’t GoodHeavenDo Nothing Till You Hear From MeDay DreamCome SundayCaravan Cover art by Billy Steiger.

A sweaty palmed recollection of the night we first saw Triple Negative - three defiantly generous and original beings who shook us warmly out of a stupor with this show. Split between the baffling overlay of audio and their completely compelling presences onstage it was hard to know how to process what was happening, at once riveted to the spot and then overwhelmed with the fierce urge to leave the room until we could come back with something better to say for ourselves. Will leave an indelible mark on your brain.   --- 1st ever TN live show, Cafe OTO, Jan 6 2018  Putative track sublisting: Go Decay!; Mercurial Seal; The Fire of Hate; Towers, Open, Fire; Fresh Borg Shining Fight/Agitator; Born in the Wrong Time/Destroyer/Buddy/Under the Void (ft. Brigitte Fontaine, Babyfather, Areski, David d'Ath, Peter Gutteridge, Cameron Bain, Herman Meville, Peter Perrett and Celia Mancini) --- Madame Tlank / voice, violin, glockenspiel, grand piano D.Velimirovich / soprano saxophone voice clinical wasteman / backing tape, voice, Yamaha SU-10, gtr --- Mixed live & recorded by James Dunn; post-mixed/"mastered" by clinical wasteman (i.e. James is not to blame for anything)

One of Stockholm’s most versatile and probing pianists returned to OTO last Autumn, and we're pleased to release both sets from the evening - a solo and a special duo. Having met in 2014 when playing with Johan Arrias, Lisa Ullén and Welsh violinist Angharad Davies reunite for a gorgeously spacious set. Both extremely technically accomplished but led by a sensitivity to so many musics, their duo set is a highlight.  --- Lisa Ullén / piano Angharad Davies / violin --- Recorded live at Cafe OTO on Sunday 14th October 2018 by Shaun Crook. Mixed and mastered by James Dunn. 

Textures Festival returned to OTO back in April, opening with a ferocious new quartet featuring Swiss composer and saxophonist Antoine Chessex together with free music giants Pat Thomas, Steve Noble and John Edwards. Dissonance dominates and condenses the quartet to near saturation, then respirates - chopped up by Thomas' hammered clusters and shaken down by Steve Noble into a grinding tenor saxophone and double bass texture. This is a wonderfully paced and fierce first meeting.   --- Antoine Chessex / saxophone John Edwards / double bass Steve Noble / drums Pat Thomas / piano --- Recorded live at Cafe OTO by Shaun Crook on Sunday 12th December, 2016. Mixed and mastered by James Dunn. Photo by Dawid Laskowski. 

First time trio of Lebanese musician, writer and illustrator, Mazen Kerbaj, joined by Angharad Davies on violin and Sholto Dobie on self built organ and wind chime. Mazen's super extended technique often sees him morph his trumpet into a collection of metal tubes and bells; adjustable passageways for air to pass through and mutate into sound. A meeting with Davies and Dobie makes sense - both are incredibly talented at finding new phonetics in their practice with a sly sense of humour. Unearthly drones materialise, surprisingly delicate as they hover, burble and destabilise.  --- Mazen Kerbaj / trumpet Angharad Davies / violin Sholto Dobie / self built organ, wind chime --- Recorded live at Cafe OTO by Shaun Crook on Wednesday 25th September, 2019. Mixed and mastered by James Dunn. Original image for artwork by Mazen Kerbaj. 

Tongue Depressor (New Haven, CT) is the duo of Henry Birdsey and Zach Rowden. They write, improvise, and perform music that draws from the fields of drone, harsh noise, and church music, often using microtonal tunings. Soon to have an LP on Kali Malone & Maria W Horn's label Xkatedral, the pair are super prolific, having issued eleven releases already on a host of small cassette labels (Thalamos, Pidgeon, Obsolete Staircases, via their own fair hand). Primarily fiddle players, they switched up the instrumentation for their OTO show, bringing in a microtonal organ and lap steel. The result is spooky, sensitive and totally saturating. --- Henry Birdsey / lap steel, fiddle Zach Rowden / microtonal organ, fiddle --- Recorded live at Cafe OTO on Saturday 9th November by Shaun Crook. Mixed & mastered by Tongue Depressor. 

Diane Cluck was one of the earliest people to play at Cafe OTO, first performing in in June 2008, just a few months after we first opened. We’ve been lucky enough to have her return to OTO half a dozen times since.  This recording is taken from her sold out April 2014 residency where she performed over two nights with cellist Isabel Castellvi. Hang player Manu Delago also guests on four of the songs. --- Diane Cluck / voice, guitar, squeezeboxIsabel Castellvi / cello, voice, autoharpManu Delago / hang (7, 8, 17, 18) --- Recorded by James Dunn at Cafe OTO on Friday 11 April 2014. Mixed by James Dunn. Mastered by Rupert Clervaux at Grays Inn Road, London. Photograph by Dawid Laskowski.

Super happy to have dug this out of the archives - the final night of the great French double bass player, improviser and composer, Joëlle Léandre's 2015 residency. Léandre was joined by Scottish improvising vocalist and dancer, Maggie Nicols, and drummer Roger Turner for both nights, and the second of the two saw sparks fly. Solo, Léandre is formidible - melodious, angry, rousing. Her voice breaks through the bass like McPhee's through a trumpet - there's joy, there's humour, and it's 100% intense. Léandre and Nicols have a long history together - 1982's Live at The Bastille with Lyndsey Cooper still stands strong - and their trio with Irène Schweizer as 'Les Diaboliques' is totally unique. Here, both performers are totally at home with with each other and with their sounds - there's depth, unpredictability, intensity and delirious humour. A treasure to share all five pieces, and we hope for another Léandre residency some day soon!  “A true, real artist. Stubborn. Visionary. Uncompromising. Intense. Tender and poetic at moments, raw and angry with the world at other times. She is unconcerned by style, and definitely stays far away from stylistic and formal mannerisms that are needed to placcate the reviewers and the hip audiences. She integrates music as music, and delivers it as music, using elements from tribal rituals over classical finesse to jazz expressionism and avant-garde search for new approaches, yet turning it all into something else, something more authentic, more innovative and - interestingly enough - also more universal.” – The Free Jazz Collective --- Joëlle Léandre / double bass, vocals  Maggie Nichols / vocals Roger Turner / percussion --- Recorded live at Cafe OTO on Wednesday 18th March, 2015 by Mark Jasper. Mixed and mastered by James Dunn. Photo by the wonderful Dawid Laskowski. 

Glorias Navales are five member ensemble based in Santiago, Chile. Their jam is somewhere between Chilean folk music (ala Violeta Parra) and ramshackle post-Velvets psychedelia. Crafted on acoustic guitars, rabel and bombo chino (drum), this recording teases out lines from their stunning debut LP 'Cofradia Nautica' on Graham Lambkin's KYE, taking new, fuzzed out trips along the way. This particular show made Clive Bell's end of year list. --- Tracklisting: 1. 12.4.17 - 41:19 --- Recorded live at Cafe OTO by Shaun Crook on Wednesday 4th April 2017. Mixed and mastered by Jimmy Dunn good again. 

Delighted to release this fierce first time duo from two of our favourite saxophonists. Brotzmann-esque heft and gritty melodies from Trzaska, fused with Wright's tonal punctuation packs this one full of intensity which escapes the routine.  --- Mikolaj Trzaska / saxophone Seymour Wright / saxophone --- Tracklisting: 1. 12.9.16 - 36:46 --- Recorded on Friday 9th December 2016 by Shaun Crook. Mixed and mastered by James Dunn. Photo by Dawid Laskowski. Artwork by Oli Barrett. 

Six months on and finally into summer we're buzzed to share the recording of Chicago footwork originator and pioneer RP Boo alongside ever-radical, longstanding collaborators Seymour Wright and Paul Abbott in a special New Years Eve trio. RP Boo, Seymour and Paul share a fascination with the musical history of Chicago – a source of which is of continual nourishment to their ongoing practice. While RP Boo’s footwork takes from the rhythmic structures of Chicago house and the samples, grooves and melodies of 60’s/70’s Chicago soul, disco and R&B, Seymour and Paul share a fascination with these musics, and bring to this lineage a long term engagement with Chicago’s jazz traditions, from Baby Dodds to the AACM. Expect spurred soul cut with condensed, triggered kit drums and sax. Samples from The Fog, Gerald Levert, Tweet and Evanescence (!) --- RB boo / cdjs Seymour Wright / alto saxophone (actual and potential) Paul Abbott / drums (real and imaginary) --- Recorded live at Cafe OTO on Tuesday 31st December 2018 by Shaun Crook. Mixed and mastered by Paul Abbott. Photo by Dawid Laskowski.

After touring together in 2016, Paul Dunmall's joyous Quintet returned to OTO last winter. Known for his past collaborations with saxophonist Elton Dean and drummer Tony Bianco, and his work with improvising quartet Mujician (with pianist Keith Tippett, bassist Paul Rogers, and percussionist Tony Levin), Paul's work as a writer really shines brightest with this Quintet. The first set showcases totally new material - The Soultime Suite - and the second an emphatic rendition of 2016's Dreamtime Suite. Pure melody switches through pennywhistle, trumpet, tenor and alto with an elated rhythm section keeping things high energy. "When I listen to Paul, which is a great pleasure, and when I play with him, I hear the whole history of everything. You hear the history of the saxophone. You hear what Yusef Lateef called 'The Great Tradition'. That's the type of artist I want to be, one that reflects, as Paul does, the great tradition." Hamid Drake in conversation with Soweto, BBC. “Ever since I heard UK sax colossus Paul Dunmall with Keith Tippett’s Mujician quartet, I knew that there was something special, spiritual about his (tenor) sax playing. Nobody has a sound like him, he is in a class of his own!” – Bruce Lee Gallanter, Free Jazz Collective --- Paul Dunmall / tenor & alto saxophone, pennywhistle Hamid Drake / drums & framedrum Percy Pursglove / trumpet Steve Tromans / piano Dave Kane / bass --- Recorded live at Cafe OTO on Thursday 8th November 2018 by Shaun Crook. Mixed and mastered by James Dunn. Artwork by Paul Dunmall. 

Members of psychedelic Russian / Israeli collective Staraya Derevnya rarely get to perform live together, so it's with huge pleasure that we are uploading this one. After spending a week holed out in our Project Space, the group emerged to present 45 minutes of curious, home-brewed folk psych wonk made with objects, percussion, vocals and homemade instruments.  Live animated projection makes a large impact on each of their improvisations so be sure to check out the video of the night too."They play a kind of psychedelic folk with wind-up toys, shouting, buzzy sounds and with live animated drawings – out of some foggy scribble emerges a head, then a bug thing grows tentacles and sucks ectoplasm out of the head, then stuff starts spinning around and then a phoenix rises." - Lee Fisher, NARC magazine "Staraya Derevnya make bewitching music that seems impossible to place in terms of direction and intention, like climbing into a cab only to realise its not a cab at all." - TUSK --- Amos Ungar / dulcimer, sampler Danil Gertman / digital drawing Gosha Hniu / percussion, toys, cries and whispers Grundik Kasyansky / feedback synthesizer, objects Maya Pik / synthesizer, rocking chair, melodica Ran Nahmias / silent cello, theremin --- Lyrics by Arthur Molev. Mixed and mastered by Gosha Hniu from the original recording made by Shaun Crook. Filmed by Heliana Trovato, Sam Way,  Filippo Mira and Patrick Farrell. Video edited by Heliana Trovato. Huge thanks to Tsip Nahmias and to the wonderful people at Cafe OTO and Tusk Festival - this wouldn't have happened without you! http://www.starayaderevnya.co.uk

Nearly an hour of rhythmic explorations from tonbak player Mohammad Reza Mortazavi. His first vinyl release on Padre Himalaya was stocked by Hardwax - the comparisons between his technique and techno are evident. Live in a hot room, his playing barely ceases, and the organic polyrhythmic patterns he creates command a hypnotic force. --- Mohammed Reza Mortazavi / tonbak, daf --- Recorded live at Cafe OTO on Friday the 8th of June by Shaun Crook. 

Subterranean saxophones and self made instruments from the first time collaboration between Takahiro Kawakuchi and Seymour Wright. Using everyday horns powered by homemade airpumps, Kawaguchi generates swelling peals and perforates them with pinches of his tabletop valve box. Having laid three saxophones on the floor, Wright live mixed their feedback from the back of the room, producing undulating gargles which bubble under Kawaguchi and surface in the gaps. Neither artist simply 'investigates the specifics of space' but instead fully regurgitages the innards of their dreamt up instrument with devilish humour.  --- Takahiro Kawaguchi / self-made instruments, self-made objects Seymour Wright / 3 alto saxophones and their feedback --- Recorded live at Cafe OTO on Tuesday 7th August by Shaun Crook. Mixed and mastered by James Dunn. Photo by Seymour Wright. Artwork by Oli Barratt.