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An avant pop/offbeat classic from John Cale and Terry Riley! We'll be fast to admit that Cale's solo stuff don't always float our boat – but this collaboration with minimalist composer Terry Riley is nothing short of an amazing. It's an album of mostly long modal instrumental tracks (with one vocal one) that grooves along in a spacey funky way. Riley plays piano, organ, and soprano sax – and Cale joins in on bass, guitar, viola, and harpsichord. The two of them groove together in these totally cool tracks that build and build, with minimal lines repeating over and over in endlessly fascinating groove – in a way that touches on a weirdly funky mode! The cut "Ides Of March" has the potential to be dancefloor groover in the jazz dance scene, and there's lots of other great tracks like "Church of Anthrax", "The Protege", and "The Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles".

Terry Riley's masterpiece, and an enduring classic that never grows old – and which never lapses into the hippy dippyness of some of his other work! The piece features 53 short musical passages, played in an order defined by the players, in minimal repetition, moving in and out of phase synchronicity – ever shifting, turning, and drifting – all to create a remarkable tapestry of sound, texture, and melody. This recording of the work is still the best, and it was produced with excellent care by David Behrman, as part of Columbia's great "music of our time" series. Wonderful throughout – and always a treat!

The coolest album so far from this compelling Norwegian combo – a set that's got a much more hypnotic feel than any of their other records – spinning out in a weird way that's kind of a combination of ECM jazz and Terry Riley! The tunes all have this slow pulsing sort of quality – not really atmospheric, as there's more going on musically – but kind of elliptical as they move along – always retracing territory while moving forward – and offering up a stunning mix of sax, clarinet, and electronics from Klaus Ellerhausen – who also throws in some field recordings too – plus bass from Roger Arntzen, and a mix of pedal steel, acoustic guitar, and banjo from Ivar Grydeland. Titles include "Breakfast Music", "Sliding Doors", "Fireplace", and "Swedish Country".

Sublime minimal sounds from Italian composer Robert Cacciapaglia – a record we'd rank right up there with the 70s best from Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass! Cacciapaglia follows in a tradition begun by other Italian modernists – like Giusto Pio and Franco Battiatto – but he also adds in phase-oriented playing that really opens things up – a beautifully lyrical vibe that's probably most close to Terry Riley in its hypnotic swell, but which is carried off here through complicated variations of strings, woodwinds, electronics, marimba, and some especially great vocal passages! The cover's as wonderful as the music – and the whole thing's a set we've treasured for years.

Early 70s greatness from Don Cherry – a double album's worth of profoundly spiritual soundscapes paired with lots of weird effects – and a very laidback groove overall! Tracks are written by Cherry, Terry Riley, Pharoah Sanders, and Nana Vasconcelos – and include performances by Don on trumpet, voice, and harmonium. Lots of cool percussion elements by the group, with some tabla and other Indian instrumentation. Titles include "Elixir", "Relativity Suite (Parts 1 & 2)", "Terry's Tune", "Hope", "The Creator Has a Master Plan", and "Resa".

Beautiful sounds from Karel Goeyvaeters – a Dutch minimalist with a really wonderful sense of tone! The album features two long pieces, both from the mid 70s – each using a variety of sounds in cyclical fashion – in ways that recall some of the best Terry Riley material of the time – even though some of the construction also echoes the approach of Philip Glass or Steve Reich! Karel really likes things to unfold in a subtle, sensitive way – and the tones move along in these patterns that are sometimes imperceptible, sometimes more striking – occasionally with a bit of dissonance, but often with these really lovely little sounds. Side one features "Pour Que Les Fruits Murissent Cet Ete" – and side two features "Op Acht Paarden Wedden".

A really wonderful little record – one headed up by John Zorn, but actually featuring instrumentation from the trio of Bill Frisell on guitar, Kenny Wollesen on vibes, and Carol Emanuel on harp! The mix of instruments is wonderful – and rings out here with gentle progressions that almost remind us of some Terry Riley projects in the 70s, but a bit more intimate and less minimal too – lots of gentle colors from the vibes and guitar ringing next to some more subtle progressions from the harp – all at a level that's way beyond jazz or familiar compositional music! Zorn composed, arranged, and produced – and titles include "The Nymphs", "Sacred Oracle", "Dance Of Sappho", "The Bacchanalia", "Ode To The Cathars", and "Apollo".

Beautiful sounds from Karel Goeyvaeters – a Dutch minimalist with a really wonderful sense of tone! The album features two long pieces, both from the mid 70s – each using a variety of sounds in cyclical fashion – in ways that recall some of the best Terry Riley material of the time – even though some of the construction also echoes the approach of Philip Glass or Steve Reich! Karel really likes things to unfold in a subtle, sensitive way – and the tones move along in these patterns that are sometimes imperceptible, sometimes more striking – occasionally with a bit of dissonance, but often with these really lovely little sounds. Side one features "Pour Que Les Fruits Murissent Cet Ete" – and side two features "Op Acht Paarden Wedden".

A long-overdue tribute to the legendary Moondog – one of the true visionaries of American music in the 20th Century! Moondog got his starts as a blind musician working the streets of New York at the end of the 40s, but he did so (as you'll note on the cover photo) with a range of unusual instruments of his own invention, and in a minimal, rhythmic style that linked together primitivism with higher musical ideals. Moondog's often been called "the father of minimalism" – and while his experiments of the 50s prefaced the work of Steve Reich, Terry Riley, and others, his work was also much more personal, and had an earthy intensity that's still tremendously powerful even decades later! This collection is one of the first to dip into the earliest of Moondog's recordings – his recordings for the Mars, SRC, Brunswick, and Moondog labels – which are presented here alongside selected tracks from his albums for Epic and Prestige, also of similar vintage. Nearly all the tracks here offer a very primitive blend of percussion that's sometimes mixed with unusual woodwind or stringed instruments – nearly all of Moondog's own invention – and the package also features some great notes on his long career, plus some photos that are as gripping as the music itself! Titles include "Down Is Up", "Big Cat", "Bumbo", "Rimshot", "Rabbit Hop", "Instrumental Round", "Be A Hobo", "Dog Trot", "Oasis", "2 W 46th Street", and "Why Spend The Dark Night With You".

Incredible work from Nico – easily one of her most haunting albums ever, and a huge step forward even from the sublime Chelsea Girl record! John Cale produced and arranged the album, and plays some extra-spooky harmonium throughout – an instrument that's got the same low, dead tones as Nico's vocals – which makes for a wonderfully haunting blend! Parts of the record echo the minimal explorations that Cale did with Terry Riley, but in a different way – with heroin definitely playing strongly as part of the aesthetic. The album's a gem through and through – definitely one of the few crucial solo works from Nico – and titles include "My Only Child", "All That Is My Own", "Afraid", "Janitor Of Lunacy", and "Abschied".

Early 70s greatness from Don Cherry – a double album's worth of profoundly spiritual soundscapes paired with lots of weird effects – and a very laidback groove overall! Tracks are written by Cherry, Terry Riley, Pharoah Sanders, and Nana Vasconcelos – and include performances by Don on trumpet, voice, and harmonium. Lots of cool percussion elements by the group, with some tabla and other Indian instrumentation. Titles include "Elixir", "Relativity Suite (Parts 1 & 2)", "Terry's Tune", "Hope", "The Creator Has a Master Plan", and "Resa". In a cool, trippy gatefold, too!

The last French album from Igor Wakevitch – recorded before eventually settling in India – and a very meditative set that possibly marks the trajectory of that move! The songs are longer than before, and filled with very hypnotic lines – somewhere in a space that echoes La Monte Young or Terry Riley, but still touched with all the darker corners and textures we live in Igor's earlier music! Voices intertwine with keyboards in a very weird way – almost whispers in the dark when they do appear, but with an elliptical sense of repetition that makes them more musical too – especially alongside Wakevitch's strong tendencies to really abstract the his keyboard sounds way past their roots. Titles include "Monks In the Snow", "Ramallah's Road", "Eriador", and "Taddy's Fruit Garden".

Hardly the kind of record you'd expect with the words "castle" and "country" in the title – a madly tripped-out sound library session that's equal parts psych funk and experimental sounds! Some of the shorter tunes are nice and funky – with raw, minimal drums and guitar that almost seem like they're going to veer off the track – a bit like the John Cale/Terry Riley experiments on Columbia. But other tunes are weirder and spacier – some with fuzzy electronics, others with a weirdly spacious, open use of guitar or piano – not really dreamy, but more tripped-out and long-form – almost a precursor to Spacemen 3. Titles include "City Sound Perspective", "Old Colours", "White Gladiator", "Green Water", and "Vision Of Shore".

John Zorn, inspired by the work of William Blake – on an album that's one of his most beautiful in years! There's a really lovely sound going on here – bright, and filled with hope – in ways we never thought we'd be hearing from Zorn many years back – music that's made not by John's own instrumentation, but by a group that features John Medeski on piano and organ, Kenny Wollesen on vibes, Carol Emanuel on harp, Trevor Dunn on bass, Joey Baron on drums, and Cyro Baptista on percussion! The sound is warm and very organic – a shade towards a Terry Riley minimal mode, but more lyrical overall – with an open, flowering quality that's wonderful right from the start. Zorn arranges and conducts – and titles include "An Island In The Moon", "The Hammer Of Los", "The Prophecy", "Marriage Of Heaven & Hell", "Night Thoughts", and "When The Morning Stars Sang Together".