Coming to Seattle

Source: Wayward Music Series, a monthly series of adventurous and experimental music presented by Nonsequitur at the Chapel Performance Space in Seattle’s Good Shepherd Center. Other sources — Gallery 1412, Vermillion Art Gallery and Bar, Substation & The Timbre Room Thursday, August 6 | 7:30 PM — Painting with Electricity — Future Spells, Six00 Salad Bowls, and Eric Muhs present ambient electronics, voice, computer sound, and live tape processing.

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AMN Picks of the Week: Boud Deun / Michael Columbia / Fields of Hay / Enneads / MZ.412

Here is where I post, at a frequency of about once a week, a list of the new music that caught my attention. All of the releases listed below I have heard for the first time recently and come recommended. Boud Deun - Churches (1997/2026)Michael Columbia - Mirrors, Shapes, Objects (2026)Fields of Hay - A Circle of Skin (2026)Enneads - Enneads (2026)MZ.412 - The Nar Mattaru Curses (2017/2026)

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REDCAT Announces Fall 2026 Experimental Music Programs

REDCAT, CalArts’ multidisciplinary arts center in downtown Los Angeles, has announced a fall season featuring new music, improvisation, experimental jazz, electronics, and interdisciplinary performance. Wild Up: Democracy Sessions Wild Up returns to REDCAT for two programs examining music as a form of collective and political action. On October 10 at 8:00 PM, Order and Its Others brings together Sofia Gubaidulina’s…

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The Free Jazz Collective Reviews

The Free Jazz Collective publishes reviews and features devoted to free jazz and improvised music. These reviews appeared between July 29 and August 4, 2026. Mats Gustafsson / Kimmo Pohjonen – Two Balls Are Enough, 2026, Trost (August 4, 2026; Eyal Hareuveni) Miroslav Vitouš, Michel Portal, Jack DeJohnette – Mountain Call, 2026, ECM (August 3, 2026; Ferruccio Martinotti)

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BIMHUIS Opens 2026–27 Impro Focus Series

Amsterdam’s BIMHUIS will open its 2026–27 Impro Focus series in August with concerts spanning free improvisation, avant-jazz, electroacoustic music, and solo experimentation. The series begins on August 27 with DaughterDaughter, a new quartet featuring saxophonists Amalie Dahl and Camila Nebbia, cellist Elisabeth Coudoux, and drummer Sun-Mi Hong. On August 29, trumpeter Peter Evans performs with Petter Eldh and Jim Black…

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Experimental and New Music at Bowerbird: August–October 2026

Philadelphia presenter Bowerbird has announced several upcoming performances spanning creative improvisation, experimental sound, deep listening, and contemporary chamber music. Maria Grand and Shakoor Hakeem Saturday, August 15, 2026, at 8:00 p.m.The Perch, 2321 Emerald Street, Philadelphia María Grand and Shakoor Hakeem meet in a saxophone-and-percussion duo performance. Grand is a composer and improviser whose work moves between contemporary jazz, collective improvisation, and interdisciplinary practices.

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ZeroMoon Selects the Best of Bandcamp for July 2026

Washington, D.C. experimental label ZeroMoon has published its Best of July 2026 playlist, gathering 12 tracks from releases it describes as “obscure, obtuse, and overlooked.” The 88-minute collection ranges across free improvisation, noise, experimental electronics, post-punk, and extreme metal. Featured artists include Stina Stjern; Wenchi Lazo and Luciana Bass; Joanna Mattrey, Camila Nebbia, Camilo Ángeles, and Violeta García; Doodswens; Hexeneiche; Fletina; HS & ABH; Dry Cleaning; Chansons du Crépuscule; Doombringer; Ex Spiritist; and Viande. Listen to ZeroMoon’s Best of July 2026 playlist on Bandcamp.

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Psychotropic Wonderland Reviews

Psychotropic Wonderland covers experimental, psychedelic, electronic, ambient, noise, and other unconventional music. Kevin Drumm/Taku Unami – Zero Talk, 2026, Erstwhile (July 28, 2026; Tony D’Amico) Sun Ra | Merzbow – Strange City, 2016/2026, Cold Spring (July 9, 2026; Tony D’Amico)

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Musique Machine Reviews

Musique Machine is an independent magazine covering experimental, cult, and underground music, sound, film, books, and related arts. Bålsam – Soñador, 2026, Dronarivm (August 3, 2026; Josh Landry) Hawkwind – Sonic Assassins 1977, 2026, Atomhenge/Cherry Red (July 31, 2026; Roger Batty) Jana Irmert – Messengers (Original Soundtrack), 2026, Superpang (July 30, 2026; Colin Lang) HIIIT – SIIIX, Vol.

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Another Place Show, August 3, 2026

Source: 90.9fm WDCB. Chicago journalist and jazz aficionado Andy Pierce hosts "Another Place" Sundays at midnight. The show explores creative music, jazz and the avant-garde, and delves into the longer, more complex compositions and improvisations in jazz.

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Fringes of Sound Reviews

Fringes of Sound covers independent experimental, ambient, noise, electronic, and other music outside the mainstream. Ryan Huber – Witching Hour, 2026 (July 31, 2026) Fletina – Ineffectual States, 2026 (July 30, 2026) Two Steppes / Greyon Greene – split, 2026 (July 29, 2026) Colossal Letdown – Brainscraper, 2026 (July 28, 2026) Grimório de Abril – Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, 2026 (July 27, 2026)

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New and Experimental Music in New York City: August 2026

New York’s August calendar includes the TIME:SPANS Festival, residencies by Matana Roberts and Steve Coleman at The Stone, Pamela Z, JACK Quartet, Talea Ensemble, Yarn/Wire, Ikue Mori, Zeena Parkins, and other adventurous performers and composers. The month’s principal event is the TIME:SPANS Festival, running August 8–22 at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music. Wednesday, August 5 7:30pm — Living Music: Nadia Sirota and Gabriel Cabezas…

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All About Jazz Reviews

All About Jazz publishes daily reviews, interviews, and features covering jazz and improvised music from across the stylistic spectrum. Voo Voo – Voo Voo Runs the Voodoo Down (August 1, 2026; Maciej Stasiowski) Gerry Hemingway with Izumi Kimura, Frank Gratkowski and Christian Weber – Live at Bau 4, 2026, Hat Hut Records (August 1, 2026; Glenn Astarita) Gerry Hemingway – Live at Bau 4, 2026, Hat Hut Records…

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This Is Darkness Selects 25 Dark Ambient and Experimental Releases for July 2026

This Is Darkness has published its July 2026 edition of Frozen in Time, featuring 25 recent and rediscovered releases spanning dark ambient, drone, electroacoustic music, noise, ritual electronics, field recording, and experimental composition. Among the selections are MASAIDEN’s YŪRA, a meeting of ritual ambience, throat singing, industrial textures, and field recordings; T. Mikawa and Gensai Hasegawa’s The Unstructurized Sea…

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Big Bar Sundays and BwO Presents in New York — August 2026

Two Lower East Side series offer adventurous jazz, improvisation, and experimental music throughout August. Sunday performances take place at Big Bar, 75 East 7th Street, while BwO Presents returns to First Street Green Art Park at 33 East 1st Street. Sundays at Big Bar Sunday, August 2 | 9–11pmClarinetist Ben Goldberg joins Kurt Kotheimer, Kenny Wollesen, and an additional performer to be announced.

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AMN Reviews: Enneads (Phyllis Chen / Hamir Atwal / Zach Layton) – Enneads (2026; Bandcamp)

A few times a year I get to use the phrase "sounds like nothing else" when describing a new album. This is one of those times. Billed as doom jazz, Enneads is the trio of Phyllis Chen on piano, Hamir Atwal on drums, and Zach Layton on 17-string bass. Aside from Layton's custom instrument, the group's main thrust is its focus on overtones as a structural grounding.

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A Closer Listen Reviews

A Closer Listen covers instrumental and experimental music, including ambient, electronic, modern composition, soundscape and adventurous forms of rock and jazz. Tristan da Cunha – Maris Stella, 2026, Boring Machines (August 1, 2026; Richard Allen) Ori Kaplan & Lihu Melamed – Reverie, 2026, Batov Records (July 31, 2026; Richard Allen) Intertoto – Siccar Point, 2026, What About Never (July 30, 2026; Richard Allen)

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Four New and Forthcoming Releases from New Amsterdam Records

New Amsterdam Records has announced four recent and forthcoming albums from Kaoru Watanabe, Charlotte Greve, Francesca Gaza, and Andrew Yee. Kaoru Watanabe’s The Arch, due September 18, draws on the composer and multi-instrumentalist’s background in traditional Japanese music, jazz, improvisation, and electronics. Produced by William Brittelle with Shahzad Ismaily as executive producer, the ten-track album combines shinobue and ryuteki flutes, taiko, koto, and other Japanese instruments with synthesizers, saxophone, piano, harp, layered improvisation, and electronic processing.

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Three New Solo Releases from Neuma Records

Neuma Records will release three albums centered on the double bass and flute on August 21, 2026. Composer, bassist, and electronics performer Kyle Grimm brings the double bass to the foreground on forever eve, a collection of five works for solo bass and electronics. The program includes two pieces by Grimm alongside compositions by Aaron Wyanski, Maria Kaoutzani, and Ken Steen.

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Coming to Downtown Music Gallery 

Source: Downtown Music Gallery. August 4th:6:30: GUILLERMO GREGORIO - Solo Clarinet with Tapes7:30: INVISIBLE GUY: BEN GOLDBERG - Clarinet / MICHAEL COLEMAN - Synth8:30: ANTON PONOMAREV - Alto Sax / ADAM LANE - Bass / PATRICK GOLDEN - Drums August 11th:6:30: BEN GOLDBERG - Clarinet7:30: ALEXANDER WU - Electronics / ROBERT KARPAY - Cello8:30: MATT HOLLENBERG - Guitar - Bass VI / RON ANDERSON - Guitar - Bass / LARRY KWARTOWITZ - Drums

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AMN Reviews: Milton Michaeli / Asaf Shchori / Hamid Drake – Universal Butterfly (2026; 577 Records)

Modern creative jazz is a fluid genre that covers a large swath of ground, from sparse, textural improv to dense, swinging pieces. Here, the trio of Milton Michaeli on piano, Asaf Shchori on double bass, and Hamid Drake on drums are focused mostly toward the latter. Full of up-tempo playing and hinting at going outside without doing so that often, …

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Reviews You May Have Missed – July 2026

Here is a recap of the reviews we published in July 2026. AMN Reviews: M.B. (Maurizio Bianchi) – M.U.U.N.H. 31.04.1982 (1982/2026; Eighth Tower Records) (7/26/2026) — Across two extended tracks, Bianchi creates a ghostly and hypnotic post-industrial sound world in which machine noises pulse and oscillate, metallic tones vibrate, and damped percussion repeats within a monolithic wall of noise. AMN Reviews: Mark Hjorthoy – The Static Between Heartbeats (2026; ZeroK)

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Jazzword Reviews

Jazzword publishes reviews by Ken Waxman covering improvised music, free jazz, and other exploratory forms. The Tomeka Reid Quartet – Dance! Skip! Hop!, Out of Your Head (July 27, 2026; Ken Waxman) Stein/Smith/Shead – Five Nights in the Midwest, Irritable Mystic Records/Balance Point Acoustics (July 27, 2026; Ken Waxman) Lionel Garcin – Volatilités, Montagne Noire (July 27, 2026; Ken Waxman)

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Coming to Chicago

Listings drawn primarily from Now Is, supplemented by calendars from Elastic Arts, Constellation, The Hungry Brain, the Frequency Festival, and the University of Chicago. Saturday, August 1 Ken Vandermark’s Field Kitchen Uptown Orchestra, with Josh Berman, Indira Edwards, Garrett Frees, Ben Hall, Mike Khoury, Nick Macri, Beth McDonald, and Sharon UdohGreen Mill, 4802 N.

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Good Experimental Music: July 2026

Source: Good Experimental Music. This time around: guitar and banjo essays, vocal drones, a meeting of four improv stalwarts, and instruments crafted out of abandoned plows.

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Untethered Sounds an Acousmatic Summer Playlist 

Source: Weirdosphere. As we prepare for the midsummer magic of Lughnasadh, we give gratitude to plentiful Earth and the bounty she bestows. From nectarines, peaches, and raspberries to chokecherries, Zwetschgen, and Charentais melon, summertime is goodeatin’ time, whether you’re poolside, dockside, oceanside, or simply patioside, between the Weber and the Igloo. Michael Eisenberg is an avid, deep listener of Acousmatic music, which he defined and explained in a previous article.

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William Basinski Marks 25 Years of The Disintegration Loops in Detroit and Chicago

William Basinski will commemorate the 25th anniversary of The Disintegration Loops with performances in Detroit and Chicago this November. The composer will present the landmark ambient work as a l…

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Matthew Shipp’s Black Mystery School Pianists Wins an American Book Award

Pianist and composer Matthew Shipp has received a 2026 American Book Award for Black Mystery School Pianists and Other Writings, published by Autonomedia in 2025. The book collects Shipp’s essays o…

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Park Avenue Armory Announces Fall 2026 Historic Room Programs

New York’s Park Avenue Armory has announced its Fall 2026 programming for the restored Board of Officers Room and Veterans Room, with several events of particular interest to experimental and conte…

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Coming to Los Angeles

Sunday, August 2 Roxy Green and Applied Communications — The Smell, Downtown Los Angeles, 8:30 p.m. Roxy Green appears with Washington, D.C. experimental project Applied Communications for an all-ages program of underground experimental and lo-fi music. Thursday, August 6 The Signal Tour: f.mph, Lionmilk, Kitsune Kawai, and JANET — 2220 Arts + Archives, Historic Filipinotown, 7:30 p.m. The lineup brings together ambient jazz, hazy lo-fi music, organic synthesizer textures, and experimental electronics.

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