album of the month
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The more I listen to Yang Xiao-lin’s 禧樂 (I Take You There), the more I’m impressed by how malleable folklore is. In the original liner notes, the words “elegant, pure, psychedelic, lively, remote and modern” are thrown as adjectives to describe this album. Myself, at first, I thought each word seemed to contradict the other…but…
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While I was writing about “Korea’s Madonna”, mentally, my mind going elsewhere, as well, thinking about that other Madonna: the late, great, Minako Honda. Putting myself, mentally in their shoes, I kept thinking about how as a young woman (especially of that ‘80s era) all the nonsense they must have gone through to simply: a)…
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As I start to look ahead, toward future travels, today I’m touching back on an album and an idea that I felt has guided me in some way, recently. It’s hard to pinpoint what Jun Kawabata accomplished on his 1997 release, 『Absolute Elsewhere』 but one doesn’t need to put a stake in the ground to…
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If y’all can count on one thing about me, it’s on this: I’m unafraid to promote adult music. Years of listening has led me to tuck away a special place for artists or music that gets by not on sonic gimmicks or complexity but on a certain amount of grace and sophistication. It’s what makes…
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“Wherever I’ve been and gone, wherever I have gone, the blues are all the same…”, truer words could not exist to place Lee Jung-Sun’s music somewhere under the sun. Over a decade removed from his debut, it’s what drove his most unlikely masterpiece 9집 雨 (which roughly (?) translates to: A House Rain “Rain” —…
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It’s not often you recognize “genius” straight away, yet it’s not often you get to hear such precocious brilliance of the likes seen in Yukiyo Nakamura. From her debut in 1989 to her latest work, what could have turned out as a different kind of musician, blossomed into their own kind by finding her true…
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“Now and again, we meet for tea. This is our universe: cups of tea. We have a beautiful cosmos, you and me.” It’s not often that we’re confronted with the secrets of life. It’s not often that we’re presented with such revelation (laced with equal parts comedy and profundity). A zen kōan said with a…
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You know, some days I’m grateful I have a platform to highlight music that others might pass on. It’s why you get to hear albums like the late, great, Chika Ueda’s いつも 2人で (Always 2 People). While others might describe it as “more adult contemporary pap”, think of it as milquetoast, and file it under…
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Who knows where the time goes? Because, apparently, lately it’s me. Through some fated collusion of circumstance and consequence, both personal and external, I’ve spent most of my day tied to a phone, tied to things out of my control. With the holidays – at least in America – upon us, what precious moments I…
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Here’s something that not many are afraid to admit: a lot of us hate to be lost in the wilderness. It’s its metaphysical definition that many people struggle with. Just who enjoys being an outlier in the world? Yet, there are some of us, like Kim Doo Soo who’s best work comes when remaining steadfast…
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