fourth world
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Ok, I’ll faint ignorance on this one but is it enough for me to pass up this opportunity? No. For all of my life, I’ve never stepped inside the realm of Swarovski. From a distance I’ve seen their impeccably lit stores, full of impossibly well lit, spotless floors, salespersons decked out in formal attire, and…
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Forgive my roundabout way to get back to the healing music of Japan’s Awa record label. I feel like we should go back to Okinawa and discover where it all began. It is on しおのみち (Shio-No-Michi) that Hideaki Masago rounded up like minded Japanese musicians to fashion a label that could tap into ethnic music…
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This might sound like yet that same old story: Noted folkloric or jazz muso discovers drum machines, synths, and samplers, proceeds to turn into both a sweeping statement unlike anything else in their oeuvre/pisses old fans off. I can play Madlibs with my write-up for Joan Bibiloni’s For A Future Smile and substitute Lisboa-native Júlio…
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Although the mind behind rotating Southeast Asian supergroup Asiabeat has always been gifted Malaysian percussionist (and Fulbright Scholar) Lewis Pragasam, on Spirit Of The People, the heart of Japan moved him towards a sound that’s quite indefinable. Decamping in Singapore, in 1991, Lewis was joined by Makoto Matsushita, Chito Kawachi, and friends Mohd Nor, Nantha…
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Don’t stop, can’t stop, the dance. Something else to fill your expanding Balearic canon: Randy Tico’s Earth Dance. Not quite jazz, world beat, tribal, or New Age, in 1990, in the dead heat of summer, Randy released on the aptly named Higher Octave Music record label a burner of a New Age album that put…
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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…
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Somehow, it’s becoming a recent recurring theme of mine to highlight outside the box music creators. Some of my favorite albums are those by artists whose first creative outlet isn’t exactly music per se. On Poema A Dos Voces we’re treated to such a spectacular vision by Basque poet, sculptor, psychologist and singer-songwriter, Ana Benegas…
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Can I say something? I’m beginning to empathize more with the creative mindset of one Henry Kawahara than with one of Hiroshi Yoshimura. I say this not to inflame any passions but because I’m appreciating how he comes to terms with creating his kind of music. Far from the studied, mannered, ambient, Japanese kankyo ongaku,…
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I’m trying to parse out of Danny’s own bio what could help explain his Every Island. In his own bio, Danny Heines highlights his notable percussive, acoustic guitar fret-tapping technique and an ability to overtone throat sing as keen things he does. On Every Island, what’s notable is how more nuanced his skills are over…
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Sometimes the best ideas come to you on-the-fly. Truth be told, I completely forgot about this month’s mix for LYL Radio. For the first time in a good long while, I had been strapped for time, making space to plan for a long vacation. So, if I had to carve out time for it, it…
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