Jim O’Rourke & Eiko Ishibashi

Long-time collaborators Jim O'Rourke and Eiko Ishibashi don't play outside of Japan frequently; their first three albums were all recorded live locally, and it took until 2023 before they took their improvised, unpredictable set overseas. It's those sets in France, Switzerland, Italy and Ireland that provide the source material for this year's 'Pareidolia' full-length, with Ishibashi on flute and both artists magicking up head-mangling electroacoustic soundscapes from their laptops. It's hard to predict exactly what they'll play from show to show, but there's clues to the content in their vast catalogs. Just check Ishibashi's eerie soundtracks to Ryusuke Hamaguchi's 'Drive My Car' and 'Evil Does Not Exist', or her song-based latest 'Antigone'; and O'Rourke's ongoing series of outerzone 'Steamroom' experiments, or his recent collaborations with Mats Gustafsson, Keiji Haino and Oren Ambarchi.