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With Valentine’s Day upon us, I thought I’d share an album that’s one of those perfect mood makers. I’ve often said this: “I love love songs.” Most of my most treasured albums, songs, and mixes hover around that whole idea, “What is love?” And in today’s case, in Yoshiro Nakamura’s Literário it’s when does our…
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I have to admit: one of my deep regrets from my recent trip to Japan was missing out on visiting the storefront of today’s guest, Yohei Kunitomo. It was somewhere in Tokyo’s Shimokitazawa neighborhood that I lost track of time and lost my opportunity to visit Pianola Records – to really get a feel of…
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Often, if possible, I make an effort to read original liner notes to any of the albums I share. I do so because, usually, it gives me an idea (or alludes to a certain sentiment) of what the original artist was trying to convey with their work. However, more often than not, other writers (much…
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For any who’ve had first-hand experience with Japan, something that must have struck you as it did me is just how much background music plays a role in “filling a room” so to speak. Whether you’re at your local kombini, shuffling through a train station, or trying to sample a fragrance, some sort of instrumental…
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Few artists have done quite as much to advance the idea of a “nuevo canción” quite like Argentina’s Silvia Iriondo. Yet, perhaps, her most impressive work, 1990’s Silvia Iriondo remains quite a mystery. In it you hear Silvia – with help from Argentina’s experimental fusion and jazz scene – give voice to the little-admired music…
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One thing I love about conducting interviews is that these kinds of conversations always lead to new discoveries. It’s rare that I share a conversation with an artist I haven’t in some shape or form already introduced to you before. However, Makihiko Araki isn’t quite like any artist. As heard of Eiji’s wonderful mix for…
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The more one explores music, the more one discovers how open borders create the most interesting ideas and those living at the borderline have unique perspectives to share. Proof positive: Bebeto Alves’s forward-thinking “milonga” music. It’s his Danço Só – E Fico Assim Mais Oriental Me Invento Toda Manhã, created at the nexus of Argentina,…
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Sometimes, it feels like all it takes is a blink to miss something important. I say this because just weeks ago, on Dec. 30, in between major holidays, news trickled out of the untimely death of a Japanese enka giant. It was Aki Yashiro – that mainstay of all sake-loving drinkers – who succumbed to…
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Doesn’t it feel like sometimes all we need is a little push? When I hear Summer Lei’s debut, 我我是雷光夏 (I Am Lei Guangxia), I meditate on what we sometimes stand to lose simply by not taking that first step. Pastoral, experimental, and quite immediate, personal, and warm, rightfully, so much of what makes this music…
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Tue, May 10, 2022, 10:46 AM – so many things seem improbable, but looking at this time stamp, this is one of those that will sit with me for a while. You see, it was over two years ago that I mustered up some courage to seek out Noriko Sekiguchi and see if she was interested…
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