Diego Olivas

Mix: 26. New Age East & West 1979-1993 (Guest Mix by Should Be Asleep)

2019/05/17

If you’ve followed this blog you’re probably wondering: “Where the hell has he been?” Well, I’ve been taking a break to rediscover some of the music I’ve had little time to catch up on. You guys have to believe me that I take direction just as well as I look for new directions to take.…
Interview: Hiltzik & Greenwald

2019/05/10

Normally, here’s the space where I begin to wax poetically about an album I wish others would take the time to discover. Hiltzik & Greenwald’s Views From A Distance is one of these albums I wished I had copious amounts of history to draw from. It’s one of those albums I hoped someone else had given…
Mix: 24. Sueño Con Mexico

2019/04/19

For this mix for LYL Radio I was feeling more than a tinge of nostalgia. Somehow, one day, hearing the plaintive tones of Pat Metheny’s “Sueño Con Mexico” got me reminiscing about where I come from and how much of the music I love comes from music that triggers memories of things I heard when…
Mich Live: Message From Heart (1986)

2019/04/12

When we last left now Dr. Mitsuru Sawamura, it was 1989 and he had released a wonderful unclassifiable bit of Japanese New Age Jazz on Wacoal’s Newsic label (home of Yoshio Ojima, Motohiko Hamase, and Yoshiaki Ochi). Now, I want us to go back a few years, when he debuted as a solo artist, as…
Brian Slawson: Distant Drums (1988)

2019/04/09

It’s not often you encounter the work of a percussionist who is as wildly as inventive as one can be, yet can be prone to veering off where (he should know better) that none should follow, such is Brian Slawson’s Distant Drums which gets an unequivocal recommendation from me. Mr. Slawson is much like your…
Everything Play: Everything Play (1992)

2019/04/05

As winter gives way to springtime, I thought it would be nice to revisit our Japanese post-New Age friends at Everything Play. This time around we’ll travel to their self-titled third release on Mr. Hosono’s Panam label with solo mastermind Sohichiro (or Souichiro, depending on the release) Suzuki being joined by newfound musical partner (ex-Flipper’s…
Naná Vasconcelos & The Bushdancers: Rain Dance (1989)

2019/04/02

Far be it from me to write anything definitive on the work/life of the late, great Brazilian percussionist Naná Vasconcelos, but let me take a stab to write about a sleeper favorite of mine. Naná Vasconcelos’ Rain Dance wasn’t released on any formative label like ECM, or released with any audacious artist like Milton Nascimento,…
Takio Ito & Takio Band: TAKIO-ソーラン節 (1988)

2019/03/29

One hasn’t lived until they’ve experienced the force of nature that is Takio Ito’s voice. If you’ve encountered the soul stirring vocal stylings of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Cesária Évora, Jacques Brel, and James Brown, you’ve come close to experiencing the sheer power of Japan’s own “folk” icon. Takio Ito’s TAKIO-ソーラン節 is an undisputed classic…
Vízöntő: Villanypásztor (1987)

2019/03/26

Népzene, or Hungarian folk music, has always been a quietly influential, if not leftfield, version of music. A mix of Old Central Europe and even older nationless Europe, népzene has moved greats like Bela Bartok, Franz Liszt, all the way to Martin György to toy with transforming its deep pentatonic melodies through all sorts of…
Mix 23. Stronger Than Pride

2019/03/22

I always found it odd that a musical style tailor made for our generation is both a) little-known (outside of Anglophile circles) and b) devoid of noted umbrella genre. Sophisti-Pop is a made-up termed coined after the fact. Musicians like Paul Weller, Sade, Paul Buchanan, Green Gartside, Roddy Frame, and Paddy McAloon, might have (in…