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Iluso Records is an independent record label founded in 2013 by Michael Caratti and Álvaro Domene.

Our catalogue focuses on exploratory creative new music derived and informed by the fertile traditions of jazz, avant-garde metal, free-improvisation, western contemporary classical, and experimental electronic music.

We have featured works by artists who are dedicated to exploring the endless sonic possibilities that can be found within and beyond said genres:

Briggan Krauss, Colin Marston, Matthew Shipp, Elliott Sharp, Henry Kaiser, Mike Pride, Álvaro Pérez, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Colin Fisher, Lotte Anker, Pat Thomas, Eliane Gazzard, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Frode Gjerstad, Michael Bisio, Kirk Knuffke, Harvey Valdés, Ståle Liavik Solberg, Max Kutner, Terry Day, Sam Newsome, John Butcher, Dane Johnson, John Russell, Tom Rainey, Killick Hinds, Josh Sinton, Jason Ajemian, Chad Taylor, Rachel Musson, Chris Hoffman, Steve Beresford, Eli Wallace, Devin Gray, Brandon López, Aaron Quinn, Jason Nazary, Dominic Lash, Alex Ward, Ricardo Tejero, Javier Carmona, Rick Parker, Jeremy Carlstedt, Luke Barlow, Roberto Sassi, Santiago Horro, Sergio Mena, and Andrew Bassett.

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For all enquiries including artist bookings and purchase requests please contact the team at info@ilusorecords.com.

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The NYC Jazz Record reviews Expressed By The Circumference

The NYC Jazz Record

by John Sharpe:

Iluso Records founders guitarist Álvaro Domene and drummer Mike Caratti may live on different sides of the globe, but that doesn’t stop them getting together to make music on a regular basis, with the fruits of their collaborations released in short order on the label. On Expressed by the Circumference they are joined by multi-instrumentalist and Downtown sage Elliott Sharp. As well as electric guitar, he’s billed as playing electro-acoustic bass clarinet, though the emphasis falls firmly on the first part of that compound word.

Although the program includes three compositions, their freshness means that they sit comfortably alongside the six more discursive improvisations. Caratti’s drifting dirge-like title track soon opens up into animated sparring between Sharp and Domene, underpinned by tappy percussive coloration. Domene’s “Civil Tongue” and “Uncivil Tongue” intermittently reveal a skeletal framework, forged from a loping guitar and drum groove, round which Sharp circles like a moth drawn to a flame. For those who take pleasure in discerning intent amid seeming chaos (and that includes most free improv fans, right?) Domene often anchors the collectives with repeated motifs like the bottom-end figure on “Toad Style Blues”, which utilizes the range of his seven-string guitar.

Although Sharp’s name comes first on the sleeve, it’s unequivocally a group endeavor, with ensemble interaction paramount. The closest they get to a solo is when Domene emerges all guns blazing from the violet-tinged haze at the finale of jittery “Mr. Magnolia”. With the electronic manipulations, bass clarinet often sonically resembles a guitar, although at times the origins of particular sounds are only just distinguishable around the fraying edges of its phrases. It’s not until “In Your Head”, murmuring in dialogue with restless percussion, that the woodwind comes through in its unmodified state. But whatever instrument Sharp wields they hit on a winning tactic by adopting contrasting registers, exemplified during the bristling exchanges on “Morphinomania”.

Iluso Records is an independent
record label founded in 2013.
Our catalogue includes creative new music
from some of the world’s best music makers.