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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…
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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…
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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.…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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“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…
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Romie Singh’s Masters is more than just one killer 12” dub plate surrounded by lord knows what. Masters is a wonderful reminder of the bit of delightful weirdness that Romie was able to capture in a bottle, some months in Hamburg, in 1986. Masters was an early collection of proto-future Pop from someone who managed…
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