Thrill Jockey have announced the signing of duo Ryley Walker and Charles Rumback. The pair are prepping their second collaborative album for release on Thrill Jockey this fall, with more news and music to follow. Ahead of that, Walker and Rumback will be giving a special preview of music from the new record at Sonic Transmissions Festival on June 13.

Walker and Rumback are pillars of Chicago's free-improv scene. Prolific collaborators and accomplished improvers, the duo forged an immediate friendship and indelible chemistry through live performances in and around the city.

Cannots, their first recording together captures the freeform energy and emotional weight of those live performances, compiling psychedelic instrumental pieces that recall the sun-scorched sonic landscapes of Marisa Anderson, the legendary jams of Sandy Bull and Billy Higgins, or Neil Young circa Dead Man. 

The latest offering from Long Branch Records is three musicians; two brothers and a married couple. This is Koj. Together they give life to a sound that is full of contrasts, sometimes roaring, untamed and raw, as the ocean that inspires them, other times delicate, fragile and minimalistic.

Singer and Guitarist Alina von der Gathen says “‘Deep Waters’ talks about being reckless, not caring for your own life enough to protect it from literally being swallowed by a deep, dark ocean. It depicts the image of someone standing at the edge of a cliff and pondering over the idea of jumping into the vastness of the sea, letting it take you whole. There will most likely be a time in each of our lives where we feel so hopeless, that we don’t want to go on.”

“We are trying to run from it, we are trying to plead with some higher power to free us, we want to get rid of all the darkness we carry. But let’s face it, that simply won’t work and neither would it serve us in the long run. So, we either jump to put an end to our own life or we have the courage to go on, face the darkness, let it shape us, like the ocean does the landscapes. Only one part of the original song ‚survived’ the recording session. The rest of the music and lyrics have been written in a tiny cottage in Denmark, very close to the ocean, but without any treacherous cliffs.”