Otomo Yoshihide / Keith Rowe / Taku Sugimoto - Ajar (2002)

What a fantastic line-up! What an overlooked gem!
Seriously, what do you hear when you think "guitar trio"? I'm willing to bet it's not this subdued, highly detailed soundscape from three great artists with radically different approaches to their instrument. All three musicians have been mentioned on this blog before. Not nearly enough Keith Rowe though - there must be some other out-of-print gems out there, fit for posting. I'll have to give this issue some thought. I'm not going to do the whole bio thing, suffice to say he is the grandaddy of contemporary electro-acoustic improvisation, and one of my favourite artists of all time, in any field. Need more intel? Have a wiki.
A decade-old release on the defunct Alcohol label (they also did Ground-Zero's 'Last Concert', in conjunction with Amoebic, and Toshimaru Nakamura's 'No-Input Mixing Board [3]', all on their own). All of their releases are pretty hard to get these days. This one came in a little cardboard thingy that could singe your retinas if you're not careful.
Bliss.
320kbps.

Michael Pisaro - Black, White, Red, Green, Blue (Voyelles) (2010)

Michael Pisaro is one of the most fascinating composers active today, but I feel like I've told you that already.

Winds Measure is one of the most fascinating labels active today, and I'm sorry I haven't mentioned that before. Run by Ben Owen (whose own field-recordings-based works, like the stunning '05012009 FP', you should really check out rather sooner than later) from New York, it specializes in minimal sound art, austere acoustic and electronic improvisation, field recordings, all kinds of gorgeous sounds and silences. Their releases always look beautiful too. Too bad many of them are in formats I have little patience (or not even the equipment) for, like tapes and 7"s - even an 8" lathe cut for God's sake.

Barry Chabala is one of the most fascinating guitarists active today, so I figured I'd point that out to you. He seems to have a special relationship with Michael Pisaro, and has played many of his compositions that require guitar (much like Greg Stuart when it comes to percussion), going as far as to set some of them for guitar himself. Several of these have been released in one form or another. He also does his own thing though, like on the 2 great new duo releases he put out himself just now on his Roeba label (one with Anne Guthrie, the other with Gosia Winter); both are highly recommended - get them here.

'Black, White, Red, Green, Blue (Voyelles)' was released on tape last year. It features 2 hours of music: an hour of gentle guitar notes, careful drones, and the spaces between, and an hour of the same with some added layers of tape hiss. Not for those in a hurry or those requiring stadium rock theatrics, this is still an unassumingly fine collection. 100 copies were printed, they are all gone now. Having finally come across an mp3 rip some good (anonymous) soul has put out there, I have decided to share it with you.