fourth world
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Hard to describe what’s going on in Triangulus and Björn J:son Lindh. The closest analog I could think of would be what would happen if the Alan Parson’s Project relocated to the island of Majorca and replaced their members with Swedish electro-acoustic minimalists. Imagine a very math-y (complex, musical time signatures galore) version of Balearic…
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These are the things that surprise sometimes. I went into researching some background story behind Hajime Mizoguchi’s deeply affecting Halfinch Dessert and wound up uncovering that their is some meaning behind this album. Hajime Mizoguchi was born and raised in Tokyo. By the age of eleven he had chosen to educate himself in the ways…
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Nothing makes one cringe more than when someone tries to “modernize” traditional music. The issue isn’t with modernization but with trying to will it so that “traditional” music has no way of becoming modern other than by adding modernity to it. What does this all mean? It means that the jaw-dropping music of Italian quartet…
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When conceiving my latest mix all I could think about was the works of master Impressionist painters. Where other painters try to highlight the contours and contrasts shapes, objects, and environments have between each other, these Impressionists tried to understand connections found among still and moving life. It’s an understanding of the beauty of gradients…
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We might not all be able to know the way to get on that righteous path but there are signals that could help us get there. These are ones found merely by observing that walk to it, in others. Adrian Sherwood’s experimental reggae and dub label On-U Sound wouldn’t have been what it came to…
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Heavy, shamanic, tectonic Fourth World music from French-American composer, of Cherokee descent, Steve Shehan. Primarily a percussionist, Steve developed his own improvisational recording method to be able to capture the moody, spiritual, polyrhythmic music of his favorite Indonesian music tradition, working to translate it to modern environs and add other non-Western influences from the Middle…
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What’s this? Just some sweet, sweet Lusophonic magic, from the great African island nation of Cabo Verde. Music fitting that jaw-dropping album cover. The self-titled debut from brothers Gérard Mendés (also known as Boy Gé Mendes) and Jean-Claude Mendés displays the intriguing combination of Creole Portuguese-African polyrhythms, American boogie, and Brazilian samba the duo became huge stars among the Cabo Verde diaspora…
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I always hate to say never, but I’ll wager that you’ll never find another giant of fado music quite like José “Zeca” Afonso. A massive influence in the cultural milieu that transformed Portugal from a closed-off fascist state into one striving to understand its colonialist role and work towards rectifying it through freedom of thought…
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Deeply intricate and esoteric experimental percussion music from Netherland’s own Paleis Van Boem, which aptly translates to “Palace of Boom”. Now known – if you’re Dutch that is! – for their film and TV soundtracks, Paleis Van Boem actually had roots in the lecture halls of the Rotterdam Conservatory. This duo consisting of Martin Vonk and…
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I am you. You are me, Coste Apetrea Airborne cover man. I feel you, ADIDAS sweatpants-tucked-in-full-length-fishing boots man. I get you, oversized-cardigan-above-open-buttoned-linen-shirted-friend. I know you, man trapped in between seasons dude. Is it warm enough to put away winter’s festoons and enjoy warmer moods with cooler duds? Your picture doesn’t tell me the full story.
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