album of the month

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…
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…
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…
Exotics: Library (1983)

2019/02/01

Faceless and nameless, but not without their charms. Library by Exotics is a fantastically twisted album that orbits between the worlds of power pop and electronic mutant funk. You’d think such a one-off would come out of nowhere, but there were seeds of who the Exotics were (and what they aimed to do) elsewhere.
Ken-Ichiro Isoda (磯田健一郎): ナチュラル・トリップマジエルの星 (1990)

2019/01/18

Someone’s going to look back at this post and wonder: “why the hell did this guy write so much about what amounts to be adult lullaby music”. Well, stopping “theoretical person” in their track, I do so because this kind of music is unlike much else you’ll hear today. Ken-Ichiro Isoda’s ナチュラル・トリップマジエルの星, which (don’t…
Kenneth Nash: A Touch Of Nash – Music From A Far Away Place (1987)

2019/01/15

For those looking elsewhere for inspiration, you can turn your heads away from Japan, for just a moment. Let’s look back toward these United States. Here’s another gem from the forgotten Music West record label. Perhaps that label’s crown jewel, Kenneth Nash’s A Touch Of Kenneth Nash: Music From A Far Away Place epitomizes the…
Tomoyuki Asakawa (朝川朋之): Relaxation Music Harp and Wave(1991)

2019/01/11

This next one, for me, has been pretty special ever since I received it. It took me a while to pinpoint why exactly I loved Tomoyuki Asakawa’s Relaxation Music For Harp And Wave. Everytime I put it on bits and pieces of familiarity crept into my subconscious. I kept thinking the whole time: “I’ve heard…