The This is Our Music logo Designed by Petter Eldh

The new year is a time for new ventures, turning new pages. A musician-led initiative launches today, Monday 1 January 2018. It is entitled This is Our Music – the name being a nod of recognition to Ornette Coleman.

This is our Music is a monthly collective mixtape which will be uploaded on Mixcloud (LINK). The first one was released today (and will continue to be released on the first of each month) and will feature tracks from some of Europe’s most exciting musicians, as well as some very special guest appearances (full track listing below):

It can include things that musicians are currently working on, or live recording, or a previously unissued track – from the musicians who choose to submit something that month.

The idea is to create a way of releasing music fluently and easily as a group, and to also give a glimpse of works in progress. The tracks are combined into one long mixtape, listened to by the group, and then it is uploaded to Mixcloud.

The idea is to share output among the musicians in the collective – “a way of releasing music collectively and being inspired by each other,” said one of them. It is about building and extending a community of musicians and encouraging collaborations and common projects for members of the group, who are based in different centres all over Europe. Many of the musicians involved already know each other, but a practical result will be that it will open up the individual scenes in which they work to musicians who are based in other cities.

This is Our Music – the initial group of twenty-one musicians consists of:

James Allsopp
Matt Bourne
Ingebjørg Loe Bjørnstad
Sean Carpio
Tom Challenger
Kit Downes
Petter Eldh
Nathaniel Facey
Ruth Goller
Pablo Held
Laura Jurd
Lauren Kinsella
Chris Montague
James Maddren
Kathrin Pechlof
Lucy Railton
Rory Simmons
Robert Stillman
Jeff Williams
Matt Wright
Jason Yarde

We asked the group what would happen if a radio producer was interested in broadcasting a track? The group can be contacted via Messenger on their Facebook page (link below) and the individual tracks – registered to publishers – will normally be made available.

The January This is Our Music Tracklist

1
Petter Eldh – Ext Mind
GAEST (Frans Petter & Peter Bruun) feat. Tim Berne

2
Ruth Goller – Song for JJ
Ruth Goller

3
Laura Jurd – Freedom In Sight
Laura Jurd, John Edwards & Seb Rochford

4
Lucy Railton – Improvisation: Skaholt Cathedral
Lucy Railton, Kit Downes

5
Tom Challenger – Awol
Dice Factory (Tom Challenger, Dan Nicholls, Tom Farmer & John Scott)

6
Robert Stillman – Marriage is a Goodly Thing (for Lisa and Elliot)
Robert Stillman

7
Jason Yarde – Show Us Afore Ye Go
Jason Yarde, Elaine Mitchener

8
Pablo Held – Haiku Kit
Pablo Held, Kathrin Pechlof, Kit Downes & Sean Carpio

9
Sean Carpio – Instagram Drumming
Sean Carpio

10
Jeff Williams – Improvisation
Jeff Williams

11
Chris Montague – Rendered
Chris Montague, Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian & Calum Gourlay

12
Kit Downes – Field Recording: Vik Beach, Iceland
Kit Downes

13
Ingebjørg Loe Bjørnstad – Duv
Ingebjørg Loe Bjørnstad

14
Rory Simmons – Kilgore Pt.1
Rory Simmons

15
Lauren Kinsella – Folk Song for Rosie (by Paul Motian)
Lauren Kinsella, Kit Downes

16
Kathrin Pechlof – Elegie (by Christian Weider)
Kathrin Pechlof Trio (Kathrin Pechlof, Christian Weider & Robert Landfermann

17
Matt Wright – Etching Hanoi
Matt Wright with samples of Evan Parker & Toma Gouband

18
James Maddren – Mushi Mushi (by Dewey Redman)
James Maddren, Julian Siegel & Calum Gourlay

LINKS: This is our Music Facebook page
This is Our Music on Mixcloud