Near, yet far – clear, yet tar. Square choruses roundly abound, whilst reaching angels fail to see. Grasp this – that explorations are manifold, within and without.
Featuring clarinet and effects.
Unsound Sounds of Porto is a compilation dedicated to experimental music produced in the city of Porto, bringing together artists working in the realms of noise, improvisation, minimalism, and other non-conventional sonic practices. Rather than offering a unified or institutional vision, this collection seeks to open a window onto an underground scene that remains active and constantly shifting, often existing at the margins of established circuits.
It encompasses a wide range of practices — from structured compositions and studio pieces to digital collages, analog and hybrid experimentation, as well as recordings captured in real time. This plurality results in a palette where lo-fi recordings coexist with more refined productions, exploring both the raw materiality of sound and the possibilities of digital manipulation.
As a document, Unsound Sounds of Porto registers a community in transformation; as a listening experience, it proposes a fragmented yet coherent and narrative journey through the many forms of sonic inventiveness inhabiting the city’s interstices.
Curated by: Paulo Couto / ETIKÆTIKETA
Chipmunk! Chipmunk!
Featuring cajon, synthesizer, shaker, flute, water bottle, and vox.
It’s another debut in the MiMi Records catalog. From the Japanese capital, we receive “Structure Out”, an album by Tiger A that is truly a work of art, where piano improvisation and the blend of ambient sounds go hand in hand, creating a unique auditory experience.
The fusion of flowing melodies with ethereal sonic textures induces a state of contemplation, where the boundaries between music and visuals fade away. The production is subtle yet impactful, inviting deep immersion.
This album is a testament to Tiger A’s ability to tell emotional, transcendent stories through his piano. An album to be listened to without any reservations.
To learn, and to make – fingers are frequently waggled. Levers depressed – strings struck – hammers rebounded. Somewhere in there, the millionth note.
Featuring piano.
The most we can readily fit in our head is three things, and so achieving more requires the focus to complete those tasks, and the discipline to proceed to the next. Staying in place requires motion – making progress requires acceleration.
Featuring clarinet.
Semi-structured plans. Partial tonality. Improvised approach. Musical outcomes?
Fingers find things.
Featuring improvised baritone saxophone accompanied by a randomly generated modal sequence of synthesized voice and electric keys. Released on Netlabel Day 2025.
This collection of lost tapes is intended to be a kind of Audio Kaleidoscope. All are total improvisations recorded live by Studio 112 & Ed End (mostly between 2019-2020) at the Cave Haven in Foucherans. Straight after the Shagreen Tape we continued to record more colors. Halas, I have only one life and still so much music waiting to be achieved. So despite ideally we wanted to add a spoken word to one track of each album (and perhaps we lose a few tracks in time) this remains instrumental music. This is a quite trippy collection of bootlegs.
Dedicated to all the lovers of the rainbow LGBTQIA+ struggling for our right to live and be proud of who we are.
Also these 6 improvised albums were part of the netlabel contribution to the netlabel day 2025 https://netlabelday.org/netlabel-day-2025-releases/
Charm, lost – innocent. For want of clasp, the charm descended unexpectedly to locales unforeseen. It joins other once-charming brethren, evolving from expressions of personal joy to memories of the strangeness of circumstances. Retrieval is unlikely, but if you do discover charms, remember from whence they came.
Featuring piano, synth, and arpeggiator.
A reflection on a world of feeling—human, artistic, and political—through the natural dynamic of the master-disciple relationship.
RōSHI explores the ineffable within this bond, emphasizing a chain of transmission where the hidden essence is perpetually renewed.
The installation (Dec 2022):
Music and video engage with Francisco Trabulo’s work in a timeless dialogue, suggesting a continuous, universal essence where death holds no meaning.
The performance (17 Dec 2022):
Ephemeral sonic elements are added to this ongoing flow, marking a unique moment that complements the installation. Life stories intersect, and transmission occurs.
Recorded live at the Vila Nova de Cerveira International Art Biennial, by Marco Lima (Hertzcontrol)
Note/Thanks:
The performance includes excerpts of Francisco Trabulo’s voice from a 2006 academic documentary by Joana Ferreira, Ana Maria Silva, and Bruno Costa (ESE-IPVC), produced within the Olhar o Real workshop – Ao Norte.
“Fim Do Maio Ou O Princípio Da Incerteza” is the latest album release by Anomalia Rodrigues (the project of the multifaceted Paulo Couto) and the artist’s second album with another alter ego on MiMi Records.
Here we have a project of free and experimental improvisation, recorded in a single take with a primitive smartphone and no post-production editing.
This lo-fi work captures the raw and spontaneous essence of sound creation, exploring minimalist textures and dense atmospheres. With six tracks that move between ambient, no-wave, and post-rock. It’s an album that challenges conventions and invites attentive listening.
An album that is a manifesto of artistic freedom and sonic authenticity.
Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.
Featuring improvised bass clarinet.
Starting from somewhere, and going someplace. Mislaid mariachi, mothballed in space. Is it a party? Is it a wake? Perhaps it is neither, but is simply displaced.
Featuring a mariachi band from “El Mariachi”, a virtual instrument developed by Libre Wave.
GoH-828: Sonic Archaeology – The Chaining of Cerberus
Mythology-themed organic ambience, where synth drones mix with restless distorted guitar and object improvisations melted into two long pieces placed somewhere in a crossroad of meditative distraction, storytelling fever and ceremonial awe. A very special conceptual album of it’s very own quality.
Halfway to a thousand, rushing along – passing and weaving through the throng. Whether miles or meters, the goal isn’t near – but it is the journey that we must hold dear.
Featuring jazz quartet of piano, upright bass, drum kit, and clarinet.
Suffering, like all sensation, comes in finely varying degrees. Pain can be debilitating, or simply a distraction – or sometimes, a ghost.
Featuring clarinet.
An event, not quite right – but, it works. Unindicated, not unerring, simply suggestive. Follow the suggestion, and vindicate retroactively. Resonances rebound, and eventually align.
Featuring improvised piano.
This is the latest release from Japanese multi-instrumentalist Reiko Nonoyama.
This work, consisting of only two tracks and it’s the third in the series titled “Solo” In this album, Nonoyama explores the sonic possibilities of free improvisation, playing drums, piano, and percussion.
“Solo 3” reflects her intimate and experimental approach, which is a hallmark of her musical journey.
An album that offers a unique auditory experience, combining elements of free jazz and sound art, and stands out as an authentic expression of Nonoyama’s creativity.
On July 6, 2017, a gathering took place at El Foro, that is, Madrid, Spain. In La Tortuga de Lavapiés, a very active social and cultural center in the neighborhood, we witnessed a four-part concert organized by Eventos Latimeria / Almudena Villar. The beautiful title of the sound recording you now hold in your hands — “Madrid Austral” — is also her creation.
Javier Piñango, Juan Antonio Nieto, and Mika Martini each offered a solo piece before coming together in a joint performance. A memorable evening, further validated by its release as a record, as it includes a sound document by the great Juan Antonio Nieto aka Pangea, who crossed the Rainbow in Madrid on February 27, 2022.
And who are they? A brief introduction…
JAVIER PIÑANGO. MADRID, 1962.
A key figure in the sonic landscape since the 1980s. Summarizing his work and career in just a few words would be impossible.
A few of his activities include:
Director of the international experimental music festival Experimentaclub and of the experimental music dissemination project of the same name. Co-director of the Ibero-American artistic exchange and cultural cooperation project Experimentaclub LIMb0. In short, nearly forty years of dedicated work within the Spanish avant-garde sound scene across many fronts: musician, cultural programmer, founder of record labels, music journalist…
As a musician, Javier Piñango‘s sonic body of work is vigorous and tactile, with the power of analog instruments such as his inseparable Korg MS-20 synthesizer.
Ode from Javier Piñango to the Korg MS-20: «A few more words for and about the Korg MS-20. I’ve always considered it, in some way, to be a punk-era synthesizer. Probably first for purely chronological reasons — Korg manufactured it in 1978 and it remained in production until 1983. Secondly, because its excellent price-to-quality ratio made it an affordable tool compared to other synthesizers, opening up access to synthetic means for many noisy, unorthodox, and transgressive musicians. Finally, because of its own special characteristics, it perfectly matched the ‘do-it-yourself’ spirit of punk: it was a two-VCO, semi-modular, patchable synthesizer whose fantastic and versatile connection panel allowed for a vast range of creative possibilities. Add to that the MS-20’s uniquely thick sound, and you have a simply fantastic synthesizer.»
JUAN ANTONIO NIETO AKA PANGEA. MADRID 1961 / MADRID 2022.
His presence lives on in us — a beautiful human being and a masterful sound artist.
Juan Antonio collaborated with great creators across the world. His works have been featured in art installations in numerous countries.
“The main idea behind my music is to explore the evocative power of sounds, outside of the conventional elements found in most musical compositions, such as rhythm or melody. The different timbres must stand on their own, and it is their interaction that brings emotional content to the work, aiming to establish a bond between the composition and the listener. These sounds — harsh, even irritating on their own — acquire an entirely different dimension when combined.”
And now, the guest of the evening, Hugo Espinosa Chellew. Written like that, many might say: All right, and…?
But everything changes when we say:
MIKA MARTINI. SANTIAGO DE CHILE, 1967.
With studies in architecture, a degree in design, and a relationship with music that began in 1996, he gave life to his alter musicus Mika Martini in 2004:
“I began my solo music work in early 2004, with a clear objective: to rescue and blend sounds from the Chilean ethnic heritage with abstract elements, drawing on techniques such as microsampling and minimalism. In parallel, I also developed work more closely tied to experimental music and electronic improvisation.”
To date, Mika Martini has released 12 albums under his name, in addition to appearing in compilations and collaborative works. On July 1, 2005, he co-founded the label Pueblo Nuevo Netlabel, which now boasts over 240 published albums and counting. He was also part of the collective Electroacoustic Community of Chile (CECh) — and the story could go on. In 2011, he gave birth to another alter musicus: Frank Benkho — music that is playful, analog-digital, and full of energy. Hyperactive? Perhaps.
“I make music according to the people I meet.”
RauLuz (@rauluzdog).
In Madrid Austral on 30.06.2024.
Filipe Miranda from Portugal gave us an opportunity for sharing one of his album. Movimento (Movement) consists of four tracks, overall it has laid-back atmosphere.
Music and choreography improvisation session with Filipe Miranda and Joana Jardim, for the project’s first rehearsal at Viana do Castelo (Teatro Casino Afifense), in 2019. Recorded live on stage, rehearsal environment, with a Zoom H1n. Guitar by Filipe Miranda.
Something discovered – invented, considered, imagined. Set aside. Forgotten. Lost. Mourned. Wondered. Mythologized. Lionized. Reconsidered. Reinvented. Replaced?
Featuring improvised piano.
Are kiss of promised springtime you. Lonely long makes seem that the winter. Are breathless evening hush of the you. A brink lovely of on that the song trembles.
This reordering of “All The Things You Are” features a jazz quintet of alto saxophone, vibraphone, piano, upright bass, and brushed drums.
