fourth world
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Don’t you just love listening to something that isn’t easily categorized? When I listen to Mikihiko Matsumiya’s 1994 debut, Mu-Myou (無明), I spend a moment trying to figure out what kind of music I’d like it to be, only to find that music has a right to remain mysterious and this haunting, lovely, album is…
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It’s not often I revisit works from artists I’ve already written about, but when I do, it’s because these other works shed light on a new dimension of their creativity. In today’s case, few artists reveal as many fantastic—and drastic—sides as Naoko Kawai through her work as The Gentle Wind.
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Life is something, right? When I conceived of my latest mix for my LYL Radio show, I wanted to capture a certain spirit: that of gently percolating music that bubbles at the edges but never quite reaches a boiling point. My thought was, “On certain trying days, we all need music that consoles us, that…
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One of the great things about autumn is that it presents an opportunity to share music that’s a bit more ruminative, something that takes its time to reveal its true colors. I’m reminded of this as I revisit Kuo Heng Chi’s underappreciated but surprisingly prescient, contemporary-sounding music, particularly his 鸽子与海 (The Dove and the Sea).
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Do you feel and see it? Isn’t “Spooky Season” unofficially around us? Whenever a certain air descends on most of us, I entertain certain kinds of records I normally wouldn’t. And in today’s case, on Norihiro Tsuru’s soundtrack to 人魚の傷 aka Mermaid’s Scar, it forces me to revisit a chilling story that really stuck with…
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With fall fully in season, I think now is a great time to turn over a few leaves I’ve neglected. Lately, my mind has been gravitating toward the music of Japanese singer Kuniko Fukushima and her 1983 leftfield turn, 夢幻 (Mugen).
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Don’t you just love it when the story writes itself? I say this because the story of Something In The Air has been written by the Danish band of the same name. For once, forget about what I think, focus on the music, focus on the noise of the air in your room – if…
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As I write, it sometimes takes me a beat to realize just how connected I am to a person’s story, just as much as I am to their music. Reflecting on the life of the recently departed Serge Guirao, whose long struggle with multiple sclerosis ended in 2021, I’m reminded that for some of us,…
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I hate the old saying, “they don’t make them like they used to.” However, in the case of Atsuko Okuno – better known as Iria – you could argue that she has always made herself into exactly what she wanted to be. From pioneering Japanese girl punk rocker to her wonderful left-field turn as a…
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Sometimes, it’s the combined power of simpatico ideas that yields the biggest payoff. I remind myself of this whenever I listen to the wonderfully sunny, “summery” music of Carole Serrat. Made in Japan but born in France, Carole’s OSE serves as a perfect gateway into a little-known bit of musical symbiosis.
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