Imagine the raw intensity of people like Peter Brötzmann or Frank Wright in combination with the glowing hymns of Albert Ayler or the intergalactic spacemelodies of Sun Ra. The Finnish Rauhan Orkestri has to be one of Europe’s most exciting new free jazz outfits, filled with a rarely encountered joyful energy floating on a fantastic search into the free realms of the outer possibilities of sound. No cause for intellectual drama here, Antti Tolvi, Ville Jolanki (reeds), Jaakko Tolvi (percussion) and Tero Kemppainen (bass) need no more then the direct physical contact between body and instrument for their sonic onslaughts that in no time go from hectic outbursts to warm and mellow soft blows. .. feature :: by Bart de Paepe

Raven Chacon's work is as unique as it is loud. Chacon's Navajo heritage has played an integral role in shaping his experience and in turn inspiring and formulating his music and ideas about art. Suffice to say, he's an extremely interesting artist with a lot of interesting ideas. From his solo work to the blistering noise of KILT to the more subdued and organic sounds of Cobra//Group and everything in between, Chacon keeps busy with a multitude of projects. Perhaps most important is CANOE/NACAP, which sees him travelling to various reservations around the country and teaching young Native musicans about experimental music. He's influencing a whole new generation of rippers... feature :: by Brad Rose

Over the past two years, UK artist Richard Skelton has been releasing small run documentations of his own musical explorations through his Sustain Release label. These recordings are always exquisitely packaged, in materials and imagery that really invoke the feel of the recordings locked away on the discs. Place and space play a big factor in Skelton’s creative process, transporting the listener to the environment in which the music was originally recorded... feature :: by Cory Card