fourth world
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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…
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There’s always a lovely melodicism to Italian minimalist music. Lately, I’ve been fascinated by the works of little known Italian record label Stile Librero for that reason. Let me introduce you to a slice of this spirit, through the work of harpist Andrea Piazza who released his gorgeous debut album dubbed Tirtaganga on it.
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There’s a palpable meditation hovering around Lyu Hong-Jun’s masterwork 大地の詩, otherwise known as “Songs Of The Earth” or “Earth Songs”. Recorded for pioneering Japanese prefab home maker Misawa Home, landing place of equally pioneering musical works by Hiroshi Yoshimura and Yutaka Hirose, this album was supposed to provide another soundtrack to the unique, holistic experience they were selling. It’s…
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Guest Mix by Klas Trollius Editor’s Note: I thought about what FOND/SOUND reader Klas states below: “connected to place-making (by creating a certain atmosphere, specific to the time and place of a recording) and displacement (by transporting you to a mental, perhaps fleeting place in your own mind)” and it made me truly understand his mix, in…
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Illustration by Laura Gomez I usually don’t gravitate towards writing about something I didn’t include in a mix but I just have to make an exception this time, with the final volume of the Japanese New Age and Ambient series I created for NTS. Satoshi Sumitani’s “金の星と銀の星” (Kin No Hoshi To Gin No Hoshi) from 不思議の森～Forest…
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