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One of my favorite things to see on an album are liner notes listing guitar tunings used within. As a musician myself, I see a certain humility in doing this for others, because in essence you’re exposing some of the magic you had to conjure up for others. I think doing so, I think you’re…
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Life sure has it mysteries. Years ago, I encountered Naoki Asai’s gorgeous Aba · Heidi and had to share an album I feared would be lost to time. Privately pressed, and featuring an eclectic mixture of Lewis Caroll-like psychedelia and jangly post-punk (think Pale Fountains, The Smiths, etc.), its accompanying haunting design signaled that Aber…
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For those still clinging on to their last bit of summer, there’s always a bit of it near the Mediterranean. Somewhere near Sanremo, I imagine as this centrally-located American, there’s a perfect day being soundtracked by the music on one Mario Rosini (and in this case) joined by Pino Daniele. Balearic du jour, New Age…
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And now some jazz… *Quietly watches all my readers’ eyes glaze over*. For those who can appreciate the bigger “jazz” picture, here’s Hiroki Miyano’s D / I/ V /E /R /G /E. Showcasing Hiroki Miyano’s wonderfully elegant guitar playing, D / I/ V /E /R /G /E takes great pains not to rock the boat…
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We all have our palette cleansers. For me, musically, it’s “acoustic” music. I know I have a large readership that appreciates the more electronic, out there, musical selections…but truth be told, when I’m listening to music for relaxation I prefer far more “simple” music. That’s not to say that we should think of simply-sounding music…
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I hate to apologize for doing this, but once again you’re hearing in a mix of mine some jettisoned-off idea I had once tried to write about. What is “nouvelle chanson française”? Simply translated, it means the new French song. Somewhere, a sorely confused Wikipedia article tries to explain it off as some genre stylistic…
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We’re back in the thick of it. Divining that perfect balance of nature and melody, Satoshi Sumitani now joins us in this long journey through Japanese environmental music. Part of CBS/Sony’s quite forward-thinking environmental music imprint, Sound Forest, 不思議の森～Forest Marvelously～ (or Fushigi no mori, Mysterious Forest) took ideas that were taking root in Japan’s New…
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Ok, I’ll faint ignorance on this one but is it enough for me to pass up this opportunity? No. For all of my life, I’ve never stepped inside the realm of Swarovski. From a distance I’ve seen their impeccably lit stores, full of impossibly well lit, spotless floors, salespersons decked out in formal attire, and…
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Truly no one is a prophet in their own land. Simply scroll down and look at the all Japanese superstars of boogie, funk, AOR and all other sorts of genres backing up British-born singer Loretta “Zoé” Heywood. Members of Mariah, the elite boogie duo of Yuji Toriyama and Ken Morimura, shall I continue? Mr. Logic…
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