art pop
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Top down, shades on, it’s time to take Nico’s Valerie out for a spin. Featuring the sterling work of twin brothers Mamoru and Shigeru Shimada, Japan’s answer to America’s Alessi Brothers, so too does Valerie inhabit that same wander zone of genre-defying AOR. Not quite City Pop, not strictly Pop either, it shows all the…
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Maybe those who still vaguely remember England’s proto-Acid Jazz scene can better place Animal Nightlife in an appropriate context, but how in the heck did such a group not become a household name like Culture Club, Soul II Soul, and Spandau Ballet? Unfortunately, now tucked under the “where are they now” section, Animal Nightlife was…
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Editor’s Note: For today’s post we’re joined by Tristan Pollack sharing a wonderful recording (a collaborative work) between Japanese pop star Seri Ishikawa and totemic composer Toru Takemitsu. According to his bio: Tristan is a composer, musician, writer, born in Tokyo and based in New York City. He has scored original music for feature films…
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Hard to find descriptors for the late Pino Mango’s Australia. Belonging to that then rare breed of solo art pop artists like Peter Gabriel, Laurie Anderson, and earlier pioneering ones like Eno (and others of that ilk), the sound of Australia is moody, complex yet accessible, and sometimes an entire world onto itself. Heavily indebted…
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Let’s have a talk about cancel culture. I refuse to endorse any images that will promote racism of any kind. We punch up, not down, here. It’s for that reason I have to confront legitimately racist works, like the comics and anime behind Open Sesame’s! Chocolate Panic, with some modicum of introspection. Although the music…
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Some of my favorite artists are those that fluctuate along the same wavelength as yours truly. One of these is the incomparable Ayuo Takahashi. Never moored by any specific idea, his vision is expansive — all is fair game in his musical world. From English folk to mystic Persian devotionals, to electro and mutant funk,…
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First things first: Please go to Noka’s Youtube channel and hit “subscribe” to thank them for sharing this first. None other than sharing other fascinating nuggets of Japanese indie rock, punk, and techno, he made me make a snap decision. In light of all that’s going around us, rather than share another bit of (perhaps)…
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What happens if you mix the Everly Brothers and Kraftwerk? The answer you’re supposed to hear should be: Adolphson-Falk’s Med Rymden I Blodet. However, I don’t think it quite is. Taking inspiration from both those iconic bands yet doing something decidedly different, is what led me to write about one of Sweden’s least heralded pop…
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If it seems like this is becoming a yearly tradition here, who knows? It might be. Yes, it’s another mix of some of my favorite love songs for Valentine’s Day. If you know anything about me is that I’m a big softie at heart. And part and parcel with this comes my sincere (no pun…
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Truth be told, few records in my collection sound like Esther Ofarim’s Complicated Ladies. Well, truth be told, few albums will ever sound like it either…in anyone’s collection. A mixture of Israeli melismatic jazz with German liedermacher wouldn’t sound too out of the ordinary (at least in some circles). However, let’s say someone decided to…
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