ambient

Masatsugu Shinozaki (篠崎正嗣): A Roar Of The Tiger (1992)

2019/12/20

Winter heat from an unlikely source. Perhaps I’m showing my bias as a violinist, but I have to share another of my favorite (sadly unknown) releases from my fellow brethren. Another wonderful cross-thatched affair of fourth world and new age grooves not from the west but this time from Japan’s other uber-talented, and quite prolific,…
Steve Kindler: Automatic Writing (1985)

2019/12/18

Let’s do things in reverse. Let’s revisit the work of violinist Steve Kindler. Perhaps better known for his work with John McLaughlin and Jan Hammer, one would be surprised to discover how much more sweeping and romantic his solo work was. And it doesn’t get much more “sweeping and romantic” than his, sadly, nearly impossible…
Yukie Nishimura (西村由紀江): L’espoir (～レスポワール～) (1989)

2019/12/13

I told you things were going to get real here. Let’s get intimate. Let’s get closer to the work of Yukie Nishimura. Call it various names: neoclassical, ambient, new age, easy listening or BGM. You can call it anything you want but you can’t call it boring. Romantic is the key word here. Take one…
Mix: 35. Japanese Healing Music

2019/12/06

Certain things aren’t lost on me. Whenever I look at my time slot at LYL Radio I feel a sense of responsibility. Each month on Wednesday, I end their programming day. For some, it’s 11 PM Paris time. While for others (like myself) it’s 4 PM Central Standard time. While one part of the world…
Shiho Yabuki (矢吹紫帆): New Meditation (1990)

2019/11/22

Let’s hope this post posits something with clarity. You see, yours truly, has been mightily under the weather this week and propping myself up to put words on screen has been (equally) that much of a struggle. Thankfully, this week, Shiho Yabuki’s New Meditation the subject of this post, has provided perfect backgrounding music to…
Kip Hanrahan: Days And Nights Of Blue Luck Inverted (1987)

2019/11/19

American Clavé. What a name. Kip Hanrahan is one of those musicians that deserves, mightily, to be a large household name, but for reasons unbeknownst to me, never quite could break that final barrier. No matter how perfect his blend of outsider jazz and instantly “getable” ideas were. We’re worse off as a music culture…
Syun (旬): Landscapes (1994)

2019/11/15

Sometimes certain albums force you to ponder just how the heck that certain something was created. Syun’s Landscapes speaks of using fractal theory to both influence and create a lot of what you’re hearing here. Found on older Amiga, Mac and PC computers, software like VistaPro was responsible for creating virtual landscapes in an early…
Mark Nauseef: Wun-Wun (1984)

2019/11/12

Is it jazz? That’s a repetitive refrain that I’ve been proposing lately to this blog. Native New Yorker, Mark Nauseef’s Wun-Wun is classified under the jazz moniker but it doesn’t sound remotely like it. It all begins with percussive motifs that speak of improv and “free” ideas but settle into Pan-Pacific movements that require very…
Clement/Deschamps: Wolfsong Night (1994)

2019/10/29

There’s something I truly love about Tim Clément and Kim Deschamp’s Wolfsong Night that I can’t quite pinpoint. Atmospherically, it just puts you somewhere few albums would know how to actually get you there. Perhaps it’s a place many haven’t ventured to visit lately or often enough: the Canadian wilderness. As tied to its location…
Lou Harrison: La Koro Sutro (1988)

2019/10/22

Can you ever have too much gamelan? Not with Lou. Lou Harrison’s La Koro Sutro isn’t exactly what you expect. Known for his wonderfully imaginative blend of Asian and Baroque styles, the late/great Lou Harrison much like the more known minimalists — Steve Reich, Terry Riley, etc. — used a profound interest in “eastern” music…