Cuneiform Records is an independent record label

Independent record label

An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

 based in Silver Spring, Maryland

Silver Spring, Maryland

Silver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...

.

The label releases a mixture of musical styles, including progressive jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, modern fusion music

Fusion Music

Fusion Music is a sub genre of Reggaeton. Calle 13 helped introduce this genre, and are the most famous artists to sing it. It's also known as Alternative Reggaeton. Danny Fornaris is the most famous producer in this sub-genre, known as its Luny Tunes...

, progressive rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

, the Canterbury Scene

Canterbury Scene

The Canterbury scene is a term used to loosely describe the group of progressive rock, avant-garde and jazz musicians, many of whom were based around the city of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s...

 (and related artists) and electronic music

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

. Cuneiform has introduced many notable new acts over the years, in addition to documenting work of the past, such as its release of the entire Heldon catalog and several archival Soft Machine recordings. The label operates in tandem with a mail-order retailer, Wayside Music, which dates back to 1980.

Artists

Artists who have released albums or reissues on the label:

• Afuche
• Ahleuchatistas
  Ahleuchatistas
  Ahleuchatistas are an American instrumental math rock duo that mix influences of jazz, progressive rock, avant-garde, and experimental to create a unique sound. The band was formed in Asheville, North Carolina in November 2002....
  
  
• Ahvak
• Arkham
  Arkham
  Arkham is a fictional city in Massachusetts, part of the Lovecraft Country setting created by H. P. Lovecraft and is featured in many of his stories, as well as those of other Cthulhu Mythos writers....
  
  
• Beat Circus
  Beat Circus
  Beat Circus is a band from Boston, Massachusetts fronted by multi-instrumentalist / singer-songwriter Brian Carpenter, who has been its only constant member since its inception.-Musical style:...
  
  
• Birdsongs Of The Mesozoic
  Birdsongs of the Mesozoic
  Birdsongs of the Mesozoic is a musical group founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1980.The music of Birdsongs of the Mesozoic is almost entirely instrumental, and incorporates many different musical elements; critic Rick Anderson writes, "Very few bands have ever managed to straddle the worlds of...
  
  
• Raoul Björkenheim
  Raoul Bjorkenheim
  Raoul Björkenheim is an American jazz guitarist. He was born to Finnish parents. His mother is actress/singer Taina Elg . He lived in the USA until he was 15 years old, when his family returned to Finland...
  
  
• Blast
• Blixt: Bill Laswell, Raoul Björkenheim, Morgan Ågren
• Bone
• Boom
• David Borden
  David Borden
  David Borden is an American composer of minimalist music.In 1969, with the support of Robert Moog, he founded the synthesizer ensemble, Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company in Ithaca New York. Mother Mallard performed pieces by Robert Ashley, John Cage, Terry Riley, Philip Glass, and...
  
   / Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company
  Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company
  Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company, formed in 1969 by David Borden, was the world's first synthesizer ensemble, predating groups like Tonto's Expanding Head Band and Tangerine Dream. David Borden was in close contact with Dr. Robert Moog and was one of the first musicians to use his...
  
  
• Boud Deun
• Chris McGregor
  Chris McGregor
  Christopher McGregor , was a South African jazz pianist, bandleader and composer born in Somerset West, South Africa.- Early influences :...
  
  's Brotherhood of Breath
  Brotherhood of Breath
  The Brotherhood of Breath was a big-band created in the late 1960s by South African pianist/composer Chris McGregor , essentially an extension of McGregor's previous band The Blue Notes....
  
  
• Cartoon
  Cartoon (band)
  Cartoon is a nu-jazz act based in Cork in the Republic of Ireland. The band is a collective consisting of up to 10 members between singers, musicians and producers.The members are:*Bob Jackson *Darragh O'Connor...
  
  
• George Cartwright
• Chainsaw Jazz
• Cheer-Accident
  Cheer-Accident
  Cheer-Accident is an American indie rock ensemble headed by Thymme Jones. Jones took the name of the band from a Hallmark Cards shopping display, and first formed the group in 1981 with singer Jim Drummond and drummer Mike Greenlees.-Biography:...
  
  
• Guigou Chenvier
• The Claudia Quintet
  The Claudia Quintet
  The Claudia Quintet is an "eclectic post-jazz" ensemble formed by drummer and composer John Hollenbeck.-Personnel:*Drew Gress – double bass*John Hollenbeck – drums, percussion, composition*Matt Moran – vibraphone*Ted Reichman – accordion...
  
  
• Graham Collier
  Graham Collier
  James Graham Collier OBE was an English jazz bassist, bandleader and composer.-Life and career:Born in Tynemouth, Northumberland, on leaving school Collier joined the British Army as a musician, spending three years in Hong Kong...
  
  
• Cosmologic
  Cosmologic
  Cosmologic is a cooperative avant-jazz quartet originally from San Diego, composed of saxophonist Jason Robinson , trombonist Michael Dessen, percussionist Nathan Hubbard, and bassist Scott Walton.-Discography:...
  
  
• Robert Creeley
  Robert Creeley
  Robert Creeley was an American poet and author of more than sixty books. He is usually associated with the Black Mountain poets, though his verse aesthetic diverged from that school's. He was close with Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Allen Ginsberg, John Wieners and Ed Dorn. He served as the Samuel P...
  
  
• Curlew
  Curlew (band)
  Curlew is an experimental free jazz group founded by saxophone player George Cartwright in 1979. Members of the band have included cellist Tom Cora, guitarists Davey Williams and Fred Frith, and bassist Bill Laswell.-Discography:*Curlew...
  
  
• The Danubians
• Carlo De Rosa's Cross-Fade
• Dead Cat Bounce
• Elton Dean
  Elton Dean
  Elton Dean was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello and occasionally keyboard....
  
  
• Delivery
  Delivery (band)
  Delivery was a British blues/progressive rock musical group, formed in the late 1960s. The band was one of the wellsprings of the progressive rock Canterbury scene....
  
  
• Daniel Denis
• Deus ex Machina
  Deus Ex Machina (band)
  Deus Ex Machina is an Italian Progressive rock group. Members include Claudio Trotta , Alessandro Porreca Maurino Collina , Alessandro Bonetti Fabrizio Puglisi and Alberto Piras .-Discography:...
  
  
• Djam Karet
  Djam Karet
  Djam Karet is an instrumental progressive rock band based in Topanga, California. The band was founded in 1984 by guitarists Gayle Ellett and Mike Henderson, bassist Henry J. Osborne, and drummer Chuck Oken, Jr....
  
  
• Doctor Nerve
• Paul Dunmall
  Paul Dunmall
  Paul Dunmall is a British jazz saxophonist who plays tenor and soprano saxophone as well as the baritone and the more exotic Saxello and the Northumbrian pipes.He has a long discography on the Duns Limited Edition label....
  
   Octet
• Forrest Fang
• Far Corner
• Fast 'N' Bulbous
• Forever Einstein
  Forever Einstein
  Forever Einstein is an avante-garde band formed in 1989, described as a, "very smart trio," consisting of percussionist John Roulat, bassist Kevin Gerety, and guitarist Charles O'Meara, aka C.W. Vrtacek. Past members include original bassist Marc Sichel and Jack Vees...
  
  
• Forgas Band Phenomena
• Fred Frith
  Fred Frith
  Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
  
   / Henry Kaiser
• Peter Frohmader
• Gilgamesh
  Gilgamesh (band)
  Gilgamesh were a British jazz fusion band in the 1970s led by keyboardist Alan Gowen, part of the Canterbury scene.-History:...
  
  
• Grits
• Gösta Berlings Saga
• Guapo
  Guapo (band)
  Guapo is a British experimental rock/art rock band formed in the mid 1990s by drummer/percussionist Dave Smith and guitarist/vocalist Matt Thompson...
  
  
• Gutbucket
• Hamster Theatre
• Happy Family
  Happy Family
  Happy Family is an NBC sitcom that debuted in fall of 2003.-Premise:John Larroquette and Christine Baranski star as Peter and Annie Brennan, soon-to-be empty nesters who could not be happier about it. But when their youngest son Tim flunks out of community college, Peter and Annie cannot escape...
  
  
• Happy the Man
  Happy The Man
  Happy the Man is an American progressive rock band from the 1970s specializing in virtuoso instrumental tracks within complex time signatures.-Early days:...
  
  
• Healing Force
• Heldon
  Heldon
  Heldon is a French electronic rock band created in 1974. The name of the band was taken from the 1972 novel The Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad....
  
  
• Lars Hollmer
  Lars Hollmer
  Lars Gustav Gabriel Hollmer was a Swedish accordionist, keyboardist and composer whose work draws on influences ranging from Nordic folk tunes to progressive rock. He has been a member and/or founder of over half a dozen groups, most of whose work has been recorded at The Chickenhouse, his well...
  
  
• Hugh Hopper
  Hugh Hopper
  Hugh Colin Hopper was a progressive rock and jazz fusion bass guitarist. He was a prominent member of the Canterbury scene, as a member of Soft Machine and various other related bands.-Early career:...
  
  
• The Hosemobile
• Hughscore
• Harry Miller 's Isipingo
  Harry Miller (jazz bassist)
  Harold Simon 'Harry' Miller was a South African jazz bass player.Miller began his career as a bassist with Manfred Mann, and came to settle in London...
  
  
• Isotope
  Isotope (band)
  Isotope was a British jazz-rock band based around guitarist Gary Boyle.Boyle founded the band in June 1972 and a first album, Isotope, was largely composed by keyboardist Brian Miller. Jeff Clyne was on bass and Nigel Morris was on drums. However, Clyne and Miller left in 1974 to be replaced by...
  
  
• Richard Leo Johnson
• Henry Kaiser
  Henry Kaiser (musician)
  Henry Kaiser is an American guitarist and composer.Recording and performing prolifically in many styles of music, Kaiser is a fixture on the San Francisco Bay Area music scene. He is considered a member of the "first generation" of American free improvisers.-Biography:His grandfather was the...
  
  
• Dave Kerman
  Dave Kerman
  David Kerman , better known as Dave Kerman, is a United States experimental rock drummer and composer, best known as the founder and member of the Los Angeles avant-rock group 5uu's. He is also a member of the Belgian progressive rock band Present and the Israeli avant-rock band Ahvak...
  
   / 5uu's
  5uu's
  The 5uu's were an American avant-rock group founded in Los Angeles, California in 1984 by drummer-composer Dave Kerman. The group released their first album in 1986 and recorded a second in 1988 with Motor Totemist Guild, a similar band from the area. The two groups merged in 1988 to form U Totem...
  
  
• Kombinat M
• Krakatoa
• Steve Lacy
  Steve Lacy
  Steve Lacy , born Steven Norman Lackritz in New York City, was a jazz saxophonist and composer recognized as one of the important players of soprano saxophone....
  
   - Roswell Rudd
  Roswell Rudd
  Roswell Rudd is a Grammy Award-nominated American jazz trombonist and composer....
  
   Quartet
• Bill Brovold's Larval
• Led Bib
  Led Bib
  Led Bib are a modern jazz group from London, England. Their fourth album, Sensible Shoes, was shortlisted for the 2009 Mercury Prize.- History :...
  
  
• Machine and the Synergetic Nuts
• The Mahavishnu Project
• Matching Mole
  Matching Mole
  Matching Mole was a short-lived UK progressive rock band from the Canterbury scene best known for the song "O Caroline". Robert Wyatt formed the band in October 1971 after he left Soft Machine and recorded his first solo album The End of an Ear...
  
  
• Mats/Morgan Band
  Mats/Morgan Band
  Mats/Morgan Band is a band that features Morgan Ågren and Mats Öberg. Morgan is a drummer and composer and Mats is a keyboard player and composer. The band is a showcase for their virtuosic skills on their respective instruments as well as their compositional skills...
  
  
• Rob Mazurek / Sao Paulo Underground
• The Microscopic Septet
  The Microscopic Septet
  The Microscopic Septet is a jazz septet, founded in 1980 by saxophonist Phillip Johnston. They played frequently in New York City, toured, and recorded until they disbanded in 1992. In late 2006, when their four albums were re-released along with previously unreleased material as two double CDs,...
  
  
• Piero Milesi
  Piero Milesi
  Piero Milesi was an Italian musician, composer, and music arranger.-Biography:Milesi began his career by studying cello, composition, and experimental electronic music. He joined the International Folk Group of Moni Ovadia in 1977 as a performer and composer.The composition Modi was created...
  
  
• Phil Miller
  Phil Miller
  Phil Miller is an English progressive rock/jazz guitarist who was part of the Canterbury scene.He was a member of the bands Delivery, Matching Mole, Hatfield and the North, National Health, Short Wave and has since worked in solo projects and in his band In Cahoots, which he founded in 1982...
  
   / In Cahoots
• Steve Miller / Lol Coxhill
  Lol Coxhill
  Lowen Coxhill, generally known as Lol Coxhill is a free improvising saxophonist and raconteur...
  
  
• Miriodor
  Miriodor
  Miriodor is a Canadian musical group in the field of what is known as Rock in Opposition; the band combines jazz, progressive rock and chamber music into a powerful sound reminiscent of better known artists like Univers Zéro or Art Zoyd...
  
  
• Virgil Moorefield
  Virgil Moorefield
  Virgil Moorefield is a composer and intermedia artist. Moorefield's work focuses primarily on live acoustic performance, electronic processing of acoustic signals, and live visual music . CDs of his composer-led ensembles have been released on several labels, including Tzadik, Cuneiform, and Innova...
  
  
• Motor Totemist Guild
• The Muffins
  The Muffins
  The Muffins are an American Maryland-based progressive rock/avant-jazz group. They were formed in Washington, DC in the early 1970s and recorded four albums before disbanding in 1981. In 1998 the group reformed and recorded a further five albums and a DVD...
  
  
• Mujician
  Mujician
  Mujician is an improvisational jazz quartet founded in 1988.The group's pianist, Keith Tippett, played briefly with King Crimson and also works with his group Centipede; the group's drummer is named Tony Levin, though he is not the same Tony Levin who played in King Crimson...
  
  
• National Health
  National Health
  National Health were a progressive rock band associated with the Canterbury scene. Founded in 1975, the band included members of keyboardist Dave Stewart's band Hatfield and the North and Alan Gowen's band Gilgamesh, the band also included guitarists Phil Miller and Phil Lee and bassist Mont...
  
  
• NDIO
• NeBeLNeST
• Nucleus
  Nucleus (band)
  Nucleus were a pioneering jazz-rock band from Britain who continued in different forms from 1969 to 1989. In their first year they won first prize at the Montreux Jazz Festival, released the album Elastic Rock, and performed both at the Newport Jazz Festival and the Village Gate jazz club.They were...
  
  
• Otolithen
• Ed Palermo Big Band
  Ed Palermo Big Band
  The Ed Palermo Big Band is a big band that has been active for nearly 30 years playing the compositions and arrangements of their leader and namesake Ed Palermo. They are best known for the arrangements of the music of Frank Zappa that Palermo has prepared for them...
  
  
• PFS
• Philharmonie
• Picchio dal Pozzo
• Planeta Imaginario
• Positive Catastrophe
• Present
  Present (band)
  Present is a Belgian progressive rock group formed by guitarist Roger Trigaux in 1979.- Biography :Trigaux was a founding member of Univers Zero and participated on the first two albums. After Heresie he left Univers Zero to concentrate on his own vision and founded Present...
  
  
• Proto-Kaw
  Proto-Kaw
  Proto-Kaw is an American progressive rock band. Featuring Kansas guitarist Kerry Livgren, the group is a reformation of a band formed in the early seventies which served as the direct precursor to Kansas.-History:...
  
  
• Pip Pyle
  Pip Pyle
  Phillip "Pip" Pyle was an English-born drummer from Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, who later resided in France...
  
  's Bash!
• Radio Massacre International
  Radio Massacre International
  Radio Massacre International are a trio of British musicians, Steve Dinsdale , Duncan Goddard , and Gary Houghton . They specialize in improvisational experimental electronic music, utilizing vintage synthesizers and sampled sounds alongside electric guitar. They are also leading exponents of the...
  
  
• Rattlemouth
• Alec K. Redfearn
  Alec K. Redfearn
  Alec K Redfearn is a musician and composer based out of Providence, Rhode Island. He has composed music for dance, theater, and film. His primary instrument is the accordion...
  
   & The Eyesores
• Revolutionary Snake Ensemble
  Revolutionary Snake Ensemble
  The Revolutionary Snake Ensemble is an improvisational brass band based in the Boston area that specializes in playing New Orleans second line brass band music, as well as other modern improvised celebratory music. Led by saxophonist Ken Field, the group's colorful costumes and creative...
  
  
• Jason Robinson
• Ray Russell
  Ray Russell (musician)
  Raymond 'Ray' Russell is an English session musician who is primarily a guitarist. He is also renowned as a record producer, composer and session musician....
  
  
• Siamese Stepbrothers
• Wadada Leo Smith
  Wadada Leo Smith
  Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith is a trumpeter and composer working primarily in the fields of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation.-Biography:...
  
  's Golden Quartet
• Soft Machine
  Soft Machine
  Soft Machine were an English rock band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene, and helped pioneer the progressive rock genre...
  
  
• Sotos
• Stick Men
  Stick Men (band)
  Stick Men were a new wave/no wave band from Philadelphia. Fronted by guitarist/painter/sculptor Peter L. Baker and keyboardist B.A.L. Stack, the earliest Stick Men lineup formed in 1977 and went through various member changes before settling on the group that would tour and record together in the...
  
  
• John Surman
  John Surman
  John Douglas Surman is an English jazz saxophone, bass clarinet and synthesizer player, and composer of free jazz and modal jazz, often using themes from folk music as a basis...
  
  
• Thinking Plague
  Thinking Plague
  Thinking Plague is a United States avant-rock group founded in 1982 by guitarist/composer, Mike Johnson, and bass guitarist/drummer, Bob Drake. Based in Denver, Colorado, the band has been active off and on since 1982, taking on a number of musicians over the years...
  
  
• Steve Tibbetts
  Steve Tibbetts
  Steve Tibbetts is a Saint Paul-based American guitarist known for an original approach to both composing and sound-forming. Tibbetts views the recording studio as a tool for creating sounds...
  
  
• Time of Orchids
  Time Of Orchids
  Time of Orchids was a NYC-based avant rock band founded in 1999.Two of the band's albums feature renowned female vocalists. Kate Pierson performs on "Much Too Much Fun" while Julee Cruise of Twin Peaks fame sings on "Sarcast While"....
  
  
• U Totem
• Univers Zero
  Univers Zéro
  Univers Zero are an instrumental Belgian band known for playing dark music heavily influenced by 20th century chamber music. The group's name has had three variant spellings, the others being Univers Zéro and Univers-Zero....
  
  
• University of Errors
• Upsilon Acrux
  Upsilon Acrux
  Upsilon Acrux is an American progressive rock band from Los Angeles, originally from San Diego, California.-History:Upsilon Acrux first appeared on record on a 1998 compilation entitled Trummerflora 2. Soon after they contributed a song to a compilation entitled Before the Pirates Came. They went...
  
  
• Uz Jsme Doma
• Volapük
• Von Zamla
• C. W. Vrtacek
• Gary Windo
  Gary Windo
  Gary Windo was a jazz tenor saxophonist.He came from a musical family in England and by age six took up drums and accordion, then guitar at 12, and finally saxophone at 17. He lived in the United States in the 1960s, but returned to England in 1969...
  
  
• Rich Woodson's Ellipsis
• Robert Wyatt
  Robert Wyatt
  Robert Wyatt is an English musician, and founding member of the influential Canterbury scene band Soft Machine, with a long and distinguished solo career...
  
  
• Yang
• Zaar