album of the month
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What better way to ease into spring than with an album that exemplifies that grand idea we call “rebirth”? Rebirth, more often than not, is defined by what one lets go in order to awaken something entirely different. And in the case of Mayumi Itoh, it’s about completely putting to bed a certain past so…
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There’s just something about Valentine’s Day that stirs me to share music steeped in that feeling. If you know me, you know I love “love songs.” I firmly believe that the hardest songs to write are those that touch on love (in its myriad meanings). It’s what led me this time around to cut to…
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One of my favorite things to discover and hear in music is how ideas translate across genres and borders. Listening to Midori’s Vortex Symphony, I get the sense that they share a similar spirit of discovery. Yes, this is “dream pop,” but it isn’t the dream pop we usually imagine – it’s the kind that…
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I can’t help but smile a little when I hear how brazenly Yuji Sugiyama begins what would become his sole release under the name Logik Freaks. On 1995’s Temptations of Logik Freaks – One Fine Day, the opening track, “Tekno Prisoner/Preacher,” starts as a hypnotic piece of Japanese ambient techno before being yanked out of…
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Don’t you just love listening to something that isn’t easily categorized? When I listen to Mikihiko Matsumiya’s 1994 debut, Mu-Myou (無明), I spend a moment trying to figure out what kind of music I’d like it to be, only to find that music has a right to remain mysterious and this haunting, lovely, album is…
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It’s not often I revisit works from artists I’ve already written about, but when I do, it’s because these other works shed light on a new dimension of their creativity. In today’s case, few artists reveal as many fantastic—and drastic—sides as Naoko Kawai through her work as The Gentle Wind.
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One of the great things about autumn is that it presents an opportunity to share music that’s a bit more ruminative, something that takes its time to reveal its true colors. I’m reminded of this as I revisit Kuo Heng Chi’s underappreciated but surprisingly prescient, contemporary-sounding music, particularly his 鸽子与海 (The Dove and the Sea).
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To quote a famous repartee: “Nevertheless, she persisted.” If one could attach a north star to Kay Huang (黃韻玲), it would be that – a persistence that paid off, showing the mettle she’s made of. With fall hovering in the air, and just days past its recent reissue and Kay’s birthday, let’s revisit (or more…
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As I write, it sometimes takes me a beat to realize just how connected I am to a person’s story, just as much as I am to their music. Reflecting on the life of the recently departed Serge Guirao, whose long struggle with multiple sclerosis ended in 2021, I’m reminded that for some of us,…
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Lately, I’ve been thinking about how we remember our past. As summer continues winding down and vacation time dries up, I’ve been reflecting on how we try to capture those special moments in the places we visit, whether on holiday or during a break from day-to-day life. How does one remember these experiential places? Increasingly,…
ambient art pop art rock balearic brazilian electro-acoustic england environmental music experimental fourth world Funk fusion japan jazz minimalist mpb neo-folk neoclassical new age walearic