[Music] Kenny Millions & Sergey Kuryokhin – Dear John Cage

Muteant Sounds is a net label out of Florida who have reissued a minor treasure. This album pairs saxophonist Kenny Millions (born as Keshavan Maslak) and pianist Sergey Kuryokhin in what is a minor minimal masterpiece.

This is a two-track album, with the first track going into an eerie minor-key romp for twenty-five minutes, giving one the chills. The second track gets a touch more noisy, but maintains the aura of a film noir soundtrack.

Though Kuryokhin has been reposed for around 25 years now, his influence in the Russian improvisational scene still looms large, as does Millons‘.

[Music] Akira Sakata & Chikamorachi with Masahiko Satoh – Proton Pump

Avant-garde bebop seems to be the most fitting way to describe this release featuring saxophonist Akira Sakata & Chikamorachi (drummer Chris Corsano and bassist Darrin Grey) along with pianist Masahiko Satoh.  No less than Jim O’Rourke gushes over the the musicianship of this improvisers, but this isn’t a racket-filled noise blast.  The musicianship is astounding, free, and engaging, something a lot of improvisers can’t seem to make happen unless they’re truly something special.  It seems that Sakata has been making music since the 1960s, so I have a bit of exploring to do on his previous work.