Diego Olivas

Uman: Chaleur Humaine (1992)

2019/03/12

Uman, pronounced (YOO-mahn), was a unique group. Vacillating from many visions — world music, ambient, jazz, and many uncategorizable things — this French sibling duo has never been a group to easily pigeonhole. Chaleur Humaine, their debut, I think, is a perfectly birthed idea of what they can do. Chaleur Humaine exists in that gray…
Hideki Mitsumori (光森英毅): 彩 Colours (1990)

2019/03/08

I’m at a loss what to classify the late, great Hideki Mitsumori’s 彩 Colours as. It’s obviously heavily indebted to world music and to all sorts of ethno-music flavors but it’s completely digital with no acoustic instrument in sight. Much like Apsaras, the previous band he led, keyboardist Hideki Mitsumori trades in Japanese New Age…
Do’ah: World Dance (1988)

2019/03/05

A call to worship, that’s what do’a, the original Arabic-Persian name for New Age group Do’ah means. World Dance by Do’ah slots into that imperfect crevice where good ideas fall prey to bad ones (due to appearing over earnestness) look for one false move to write off the whole shebang written as unnecessary/dated. If you’ve…
Mieko Shimizu ( 清水三恵子): 桃天夢-Totem- (1988)

2019/03/01

Totem proves there’s more than one genius behind the Shimizu family tree. Rightfully, it gives you a peek into the deeply brilliant leftfield ideas of Mieko Shimizu, joining brother Yasuaki Shimizu as another unique branch from that musical lineage. Finding herself in the UK, in 1988, Mieko signed with Chris Cutler’s (of Henry Cow), of…
Mekong Zoo: Minimal Dance (1995)

2019/02/26

Let’s do things recursively. Mekong Zoo’s Minimal Dance is exactly as its written — dance music with minimal gestures. Minimal Dance is the unlikely collaboration between two quietly pioneering Japanese female musicians and another intriguing one from England. A hybrid mix of world music, jazz, ambient, neoclassical, and burgeoning techno, it’s piece together all these…
Mix 22. The Look Of Love

2019/02/22

Call me a hopeless romantic but I love love songs. This is, what, my third mix about love? Perhaps it’s because I try to empathize with the sentiment. Perhaps because I love the feelings it wrings out of you. I’m just hopelessly in love with love songs. This mix tries to collect some current, not-so-current…
Jang Pil-Soon (장필순): Suddenly/In My Little Heart (어느새 / 내작은 가슴속에) (1989)

2019/02/15

Heretofore, I bear witness that someone is going to come along and school me on my knowledge of K-Pop (and possibly Jang Pil-Soon herself). Therefore, whatever I’m going to write about Jang Pil-Soon’s 어느새 / 내작은 가슴속에 (which roughly translates to Suddenly/In My Little Heart) might require a huge asterisk beside it. It’s with romance…
EG and Alice: 24 Years Of Hunger (1991)

2019/02/12

We could only be so lucky to age as well as EG and Alice’s 24 Years Of Hunger has. Now, it seems, I have to be the next one carrying the torch forward to promote this forgotten Pop masterpiece. In 1991, it was an unlikely blip on England’s music radar, appearing in a bright flash,…
Keita: Healing Feeling (1993)

2019/02/08

Oh, that healing feeling. Heaven knows I’ve been needing it more than usual, lately. Thankfully, I’ve had just the prescription for when life gives you some sour as hell lemons: Keita’s Healing Feeling. All is right in the world, for just 60 minutes, when I fire up the old laptop and hear Keita pitter-pattering about.…
Sanford Ponder: Etosha – Private Music In The Land Of Dry Water (1985)

2019/02/05

Sanford Ponder’s Etosha – Private Music In The Land Of Dry Water holds distinction for many things. One of them is being the first ever release on Peter Baumann’s, of sometime Tangerine Dream fame, Private Music record label. Another is for being a complete showcase of the sheer emotion (and promise) one can pull out…