minimalist

Shiho Yabuki (矢吹紫帆): New Meditation (1990)

2019/11/22

Let’s hope this post posits something with clarity. You see, yours truly, has been mightily under the weather this week and propping myself up to put words on screen has been (equally) that much of a struggle. Thankfully, this week, Shiho Yabuki’s New Meditation the subject of this post, has provided perfect backgrounding music to…
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…
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…
Mayumi Miyata, Midori Takada: 「星雲」～サウンド・フォレスト・シリーズ (Nebula) (1987)

2019/10/18

If we can thank the heavens for something today, it is for bringing together Mayumi Miyata and Midori Takada. Released as part of CBS/Sony’s short-lived Sound Forest (サウンド・フォレスト・シリーズ) series,「星雲」～サウンド・フォレスト・シリーズ (Nebula) presents a different aesthetic within that series idea of “environmental music”. Not necessarily made to attract electronically-minded listeners, Nebula is a nebulous blend of truly…
David Friesen: Inner Voices (1987)

2019/10/15

Here’s hoping this writeup lasts not much longer than David Friesen’s meditative Inner Voices. What exactly was David Friesen’s Inner Voices? Much like Eberhard Weber in Europe, in America, David was that kind of quicksilver, enigmatic, bass player that played on countless “jazz” records spanning from bebop, free jazz, modal, and other chin scratching, heady…
Mix: 30. Moods For Digital Gardening (Guest Mix By Paradise Is A Frequency)

2019/10/11

Mix Cover by Huiqian Wu For the longest, I’ve badgered a record label based out of St. Louis, Missouri — Paradise Is A Frequency — to share a mix of theirs on my radio show. For me, it all started with them reaching out years ago, sending out a digital handshake into the void saying…
Dagobert Böhm: Acoustic Moods (1987)

2019/10/01

One of my favorite things to see on an album are liner notes listing guitar tunings used within. As a musician myself, I see a certain humility in doing this for others, because in essence you’re exposing some of the magic you had to conjure up for others. I think doing so, I think you’re…
Mario Rosini: Mediterraneo Centrale (1992)

2019/09/24

For those still clinging on to their last bit of summer, there’s always a bit of it near the Mediterranean. Somewhere near Sanremo, I imagine as this centrally-located American, there’s a perfect day being soundtracked by the music on one Mario Rosini (and in this case) joined by Pino Daniele. Balearic du jour, New Age…