Today’s Tom Sawyer

Last week marked the fifth anniversary of Kory Reeder’s Old Songs: Piano Preludes, a sweetly delicate collection of pieces performed by Richard P. John in Wales. It served as a launching pad for a new label called Sawyer Editions, a project Reeder describes as “an artistic collaboration between myself and artists around the world.”

Reeder issues new contemporary music releases in small batches from his home in Denton, Texas. The label’s identity combines the best qualities of American independence and European new music sensibilities. Sawyer Editions releases are unwaveringly tasteful. This is serious music for people who genuinely care about independent culture.

“I’m really looking for a clear voice and a sound that resonates with my aesthetic interests as well as something that complements the music it might be released with,” Reeder says. “I always do releases in batches of five albums and I consider how they resonate together, which makes my curation process slow but deliberate. I hope folks get a sense of the batches as collections rather than randomly allocated albums.” 

After a six- month break, Reeder was back in my inbox last month with a new batch of must-listens. 

Reeder is among my favourite curators. Follow him.

Also new this week

Five world premiers by women composers, all of them performed by U.S. percussionist Patti Cudd. Elainie Lillios, Kerry Hagan, Tiffany Skidmore, Heather Dea Jennings and Margaret Schedel are featured. In the album’s notes, Cudd says these works “challenged me to think like an architect of sound, building structures from rhythm, texture and electronic transformation.”

The brilliant young Brooklyn pianist Haeun Joo is joined by bassist Chris Tordini and drummer Steven Crammer on this sparkler. A powerful early-career statement.

U.K. artist Kayla Painter has joined the quiet details series with Tectonic Particles. A lot of ambient music has left me a bit flat in recent months — this one is a strong exception. Painter’s work borrows from the genre, while steering clear of its shortcuts. Listen closely.