Diego Olivas

Kyoko Furuya: 冷たい水 (1982)

2018/06/15

Here’s another album I’ve been holding off forever, waiting just for the right time of the year to share it. Kyoko Furuya’s 冷たい水 (otherwise known as Cool Water) embodies everything that was intriguing about the influential Japanese label Better Days’ short-lived existence. Kyoko Furuya’s 冷たい水 features a kaleidoscopic vision of what Japanese Pop can be…
Urszula Dudziak: Ulla (1982)

2018/06/12

Someone, somewhere, (maybe a massive Polish Jazz aficionado), is absolutely, positively going to hate me for doing this: but I have to profess/confess my absolute love for Urszula Dudziak’s Ulla. Riding that same copacetic wavelength as Maki Asakawa’s Nothing At All To Lose, Urszula Dudziak’s Ulla transformed someone known as the Yoko Ono, Linda Sharrock,…
POiSON GiRL FRiEND: Melting Moment (1992)

2018/06/08

I’m still venturing to think that 1992 must have been a very special time for Japan. If you caught my post about Hiroshi Fujiwara’s Subliminal Calm you would be wise to notice a shift in mindspace and soundspace taking hold then and there. Serious economic bubbles popping had led to a younger generation to grapple…
Larry Levan Featuring Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, Gwen Guthrie, Wally Badarou, Darryl Thompson: Padlock (Special Mixes) (1983)

2018/06/05

Life is something special, isn’t it? That’s something you can palpably feel in the music of Larry Levan. When he introduced music to the dancefloor he reimagined the music in a way the originals (possibly) never imagined. In a way he made that music everyone’s. Was Gwen Guthrie’s music ever truly hers? Was it ever…
Izumi Kobayashi: Coconuts High (1981)

2018/05/25

What is it today? Over here, in the U.S. it’s the Friday just before Memorial Day, a long holiday weekend. Yes, it’s that time of the year when our minds turn to summer — and at least my mind — it turns to music that’s even brighter, funkier, perhaps, something more suited for the weather.…
Miles Davis/Marcus Miller: Music From Siesta (1986)

2018/05/22

Marcus Miller, this is your redemption song. Marcus Miller. Marcus Miller, man, where do I begin? For so long, had I absolutely loathe what you did to one of my all-time favorite musicians. It was your slap bass that figuratively sunk Miles Davis’s career when he needed you the most — really. You were the…
Mebae Miyahara: Portfolio (1986)

2018/05/18

Now, I finally feel that we’re ready for an album like Mebae Miyahara’s Port･fo･lio. But first a huge thanks to Giacomo Lee for sharing it with me and, by extension, with us. Full of wonderfully gorgeous, lilting tropical techno-pop, Port･fo･lio should instantly remind you of all those artists you might have heard in the recent Walearic…
Mecano: Ya Viene El Sol (1984)

2018/05/15

What a shining moment. It took Mecano two albums to properly shake off being also-rans, to truly get to what made (or would make) them special. Mecano’s Ya Viene El Sol is an electro-pop album but it’s also one slippery enough to fit many other styles and genres, yet still come off as theirs. Outside…
Mix: 12. Toshifumi Hinata – 日向敏文

2018/05/11

Toshifumi Hinata, what can one say about Toshifumi? By far one of my favorite artists and composers, it’s not hard for me to talk about his career and music without ruminating over his work with some wild wanderlust affectation. I’ll spare you that, though, because you don’t need me fawning over one of my personal,…
Mix: 11. Many Songs About Love

2018/05/09

“Why are there so many songs about love?” that’s the heavy question posited by one Terry Day in “Luv, Luv, Luv”. As he goes about trying to deduce the many reasons we love one another, he fails to land on a specific motive. Terry figures it out the answer, and comes to it, as an…