fourth world
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Népzene, or Hungarian folk music, has always been a quietly influential, if not leftfield, version of music. A mix of Old Central Europe and even older nationless Europe, népzene has moved greats like Bela Bartok, Franz Liszt, all the way to Martin György to toy with transforming its deep pentatonic melodies through all sorts of…
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Uman, pronounced (YOO-mahn), was a unique group. Vacillating from many visions — world music, ambient, jazz, and many uncategorizable things — this French sibling duo has never been a group to easily pigeonhole. Chaleur Humaine, their debut, I think, is a perfectly birthed idea of what they can do. Chaleur Humaine exists in that gray…
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I’m at a loss what to classify the late, great Hideki Mitsumori’s 彩 Colours as. It’s obviously heavily indebted to world music and to all sorts of ethno-music flavors but it’s completely digital with no acoustic instrument in sight. Much like Apsaras, the previous band he led, keyboardist Hideki Mitsumori trades in Japanese New Age…
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A call to worship, that’s what do’a, the original Arabic-Persian name for New Age group Do’ah means. World Dance by Do’ah slots into that imperfect crevice where good ideas fall prey to bad ones (due to appearing over earnestness) look for one false move to write off the whole shebang written as unnecessary/dated. If you’ve…
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Totem proves there’s more than one genius behind the Shimizu family tree. Rightfully, it gives you a peek into the deeply brilliant leftfield ideas of Mieko Shimizu, joining brother Yasuaki Shimizu as another unique branch from that musical lineage. Finding herself in the UK, in 1988, Mieko signed with Chris Cutler’s (of Henry Cow), of…
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Let’s do things recursively. Mekong Zoo’s Minimal Dance is exactly as its written — dance music with minimal gestures. Minimal Dance is the unlikely collaboration between two quietly pioneering Japanese female musicians and another intriguing one from England. A hybrid mix of world music, jazz, ambient, neoclassical, and burgeoning techno, it’s piece together all these…
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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.…
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Sanford Ponder’s Etosha – Private Music In The Land Of Dry Water holds distinction for many things. One of them is being the first ever release on Peter Baumann’s, of sometime Tangerine Dream fame, Private Music record label. Another is for being a complete showcase of the sheer emotion (and promise) one can pull out…
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How do we get beyond the “fourth world” ideas thought of by early progenitors of it, like Eno and Jon Hassell? We begin by seeing it, hearing it, through the eyes/ears of those who felt a need to connect to other traditions as it could form part of their own. The classic idea was to…
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For those looking elsewhere for inspiration, you can turn your heads away from Japan, for just a moment. Let’s look back toward these United States. Here’s another gem from the forgotten Music West record label. Perhaps that label’s crown jewel, Kenneth Nash’s A Touch Of Kenneth Nash: Music From A Far Away Place epitomizes the…
ambient art pop art rock balearic brazilian electro-acoustic england environmental music experimental folk-rock fourth world Funk fusion japan jazz minimalist neo-folk neoclassical new age walearic