environmental music

Akira Sakata (坂田明): Silent Plankton (1991)

2020/06/26

Take a look at the image above. What you see is an image of a creature belonging to the Daphnia genus. Entirely microscopic in size, a plankton that’s aquatic in nature, and unable to move (or to put it precisely: float) without something else propelling it along — much like certain jellyfish — it’s both…
Toshiya Sukegawa (助川敏弥): Bioçic Music – Astrology (バイオシック・ミュージック「星座」) (1993)

2020/04/17

Let’s take what we can from the late Toshiya Sukegawa’s Bioçic Music – Astrology. Another album in the little understood (or heard) environmental music genre, this album tries to add its own notch to a new totem other composers experimented with in Japan around this period. Graceful, meditative, and quite quiet it was meant to…
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…
Mayumi Miyata, Midori Takada: 「星雲」～サウンド・フォレスト・シリーズ (Nebula) (1987)

2019/10/18

If we can thank the heavens for something today, it is for bringing together Mayumi Miyata and Midori Takada. Released as part of CBS/Sony’s short-lived Sound Forest (サウンド・フォレスト・シリーズ) series,「星雲」～サウンド・フォレスト・シリーズ (Nebula) presents a different aesthetic within that series idea of “environmental music”. Not necessarily made to attract electronically-minded listeners, Nebula is a nebulous blend of truly…
Satoshi Sumitani (住谷智): 思議の森～Forest Marvelously～ (1986)

2019/08/30

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…
Hiroya Minakuchi + Missing Link (水口博也): Dolphin (1993)

2019/08/02

There’s a moment in Hiroya Minakuchi + Missing Link’s Dolphin that never ceases to take my breath away: a minute into “The Cradle Of The Ocean”, the sound of actual dolphin speech mingles with a plaintive piano melody to deliver a sublime aquatic ballad that exudes what I think is perfect example of “womb music”.…
Jun Kawabata (川端潤): Mind Migration (Voyage To The Whale) (1992)

2019/08/01

Disclaimer: you’re not going to hear any music on Jun Kawabata’s Mind Migration (Voyage To The Whale). What you’re hearing on this release is the kind of healing music little known on this side of the world. In the early ’90s CBS Sony created a record sublabel dubbed “Aqua Planet” combining three things: aquatic themed…
Steve Kindler and Teja Bell: Dolphin Smiles (1987)

2019/07/30

I’ve stopped commenting about album covers but I really should pick that thread again. Just look at Andrew Annenberg’s glorious artwork for Steve Kindler and Teja Bell’s Dolphin Smiles. It’s rare that an album cover captures entirely the mood within an album, and wouldn’t you know it, it perfectly encapsulates what you’ll hear here. A…
Jonathan Goldman: Dolphin Dreams (1988)

2019/07/29

This post might not make much sense in the future but today it’s a bite-sized review of Jonathan Goldman’s epic womb music dubbed: Dolphin Dreams. Originally released in 1988, on cassette, under the auspices of nascent American New Age label, Spirit Music, Dolphin Dreams provided a “sonic environment for relaxation, meditation, and the birthing process.”
Keita: Healing Feeling (1993)

2019/02/08

Oh, that healing feeling. Heaven knows I’ve been needing it more than usual, lately. Thankfully, I’ve had just the prescription for when life gives you some sour as hell lemons: Keita’s Healing Feeling. All is right in the world, for just 60 minutes, when I fire up the old laptop and hear Keita pitter-pattering about.…