fourth world

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…
Carla Bley (with Steve Swallow): Night-glo (1985)

2019/12/11

I’ll be completely honest. Lately, it’s been getting harder to carve out time to write for this blog. After a long moment in time, I’ve finally found a degree of it to do other things that vie just as much for my attention. Yet, I still feel the need to share things with you. Maybe…
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…
Lucio Battisti: Anima Latina (1974)

2019/11/26

Albums as unique as Lucio Battisti’s Anima Latina are rarely the product of one person’s/band single vision. It’s easy to forget how little by little Lucio was baiting his audience — mostly Italian and rarely big outside of mainland Europe — into letting him explore places his own influences had gone before. He did all…
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…