fourth world

  • I’ve gotta admit. Few albums stump me to describe. Of the few that do, AQ! Ishii’s and Hiroko Taniyama’s 楠劇場 オリジナル・アルバム (Kusunoki Gekijou) must be up there in my personal canon. Much like Mariah’s うたかたの日々/ Utakata No Hibi, Aragon’s self-titled debut, and Godley & Creme’s Consequences, to name a few close brethren, so too does…

  • I hate giving you just a taste of anything but Né Ladeiras’s Corsaria has to serve as one today. Ambient and ethereal, Corsaria rightfully belongs in a certain pantheon of Portuguese music, much like the work of Zeca Afonso (and others), trying to bridge that gap between the moorless, Portuguese fado tradition and whatever new…

  • In light of everything that is currently happening at the time of this writing, I’d hate to add any dark energy into the world. For times like these, perhaps it’s a good occasion to revisit another work of the trailblazing Hiroki Okano. On ENN, (roughly translating to “circle”), we get to appreciate some of the…

  • It goes without saying that this is the silly season for me. While I would like to drop reams upon reams of knowledge on the ins and outs of Ms. Mio Takaki and her New-Tant, unfortunately, I have less time than normal to do so but I’ll do my best. As for those who appreciate…

  • As I grow older, I grow increasingly dumbfounded. There’s absolutely no reason Michel Lemieux shouldn’t be a household name now. Here I am looking at a video performance from his salad days and I see a superstar. Much like Peter Gabriel and Laurie Anderson, who he is both compared to in his Wikipedia entry, so…

  • More magic from the Salt Road. Hovering in between the space of other Awa Muse alumni comes another one from the East, from Osaka to be precise, Kosei Yamamoto’s East Ward. Hard to pinpoint, East Ward, focuses on a fourth world-esque blend of Japanese ambient New Age and jazz. And much like the works of…

  • Get your wet boots, we’re going off the salt road with the brilliant Japanese kalimba master and kalimba maker, Bun. Koh-Tao’s Tayu-Tayu is a furthering of a sound you were introduced to in Awa Muse’s wonderful fourth world compilation series, Shio-No-Michi. Here we get a chance to listen to what originally was a four piece…

  • Editor’s note: Ayuo was kind enough to email some corrections to my review. I’ve included them inline for readers to take in. It’s never easy to be the first in anything. Kazue Sawai’s whole career is a living testament to this with multiple convictions rendering their verdict on her choices. In 1987, she chose to…

  • To be completely honest with you, I’m still struggling to assess how to introduce you to Goffredo Haus’s Musiche Per Poche Parti. For many it will easily wear the crown of minimalism and experimental music. For others, who can get past its very silicon-based creation, it might speak to a fourth wave of electro-acoustic music…

  • Talk about being in the right place and at the right time. Normally, I’m not blessed with great timing but I consider myself fortunate to reach Randy Honea when he had his last copy of Still Life. Now sitting in front of me, in real life, was this, his album — a heady, moving mix…

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