Tombed Vision label showcase at Islington Mill

Fresh from being named Cassette Label of the Year by The Quietus for 2014, the proceeding six months has seen the Manchester-based Tombed Visions label already produce half a dozen beautifully packaged releases, running the gamut of frenzied free jazz, spoken word gloom and panoramic bliss ambience that have garnered critical acclaim in The Wire, Drowned In Sound and the aforementioned The Quietus. Taking over the Islington Mill club space, the label is showcasing talent from its most recent and most intriguing artists. Anglo-Polish trio Shepherds of Cats (pictured) take the headline slot on their first ever tour in the UK. Creating an intensely strange but totally bewitching mix of chamber music, free improvisation, absurdist humour and spacious atmospherics, these self-confessed and aptly titled ‘hunters of sound’ sculpt their compositions out of vacant silences, showering you with audial oddities like falling confetti. Saxophonist Sam Andreae, whose brutalist solo album for the label has had critics raving, will be bringing his singular approach to the instrument to the stage for one for the first times. Rather than focusing on melodic content, through specific mic placements and digital processing, Andreae has turned his sax into a monstrous and mutated beat generator whose sound shares more in common with experimental techno than any traditional jazz soloist. Opening the bill is a first time stand-off between label owner David McLean on sax and Golden Lab head honcho and guitar arsonist Nick Mitchell, which threatens be a blow out of Sonny Sharrock/Peter Broztmann-esque proportions. And don’t forget to bring your spare pennies, as their will be a sprawling merch table featuring wondrous releases from TV, Golden Lab, Fanfare Records and new Islington Mill based distribution centre for all things strange, compelling and forward-thinking Ono Tesla.

Mon 6 Jul, Islington Mill, 1 James Street, Salford, M3 5HW, 7.30pm, £5 OTD,