new age

Rubaja and Hernandez: High Plateaux (1987)

2019/05/21

Here’s another leftfield one from the Windham Hill label. A high mixture of Latin American rhythms, warm digital synthesis, and exploratory brass instruments, High Plateaux by the Argentine-Mexican duo of Bernardo Rubaja and Cesar Hernandez, cement itself as one of the high points and sadly little, further defined areas of little-known Latin American New Age…
Interview: Hiltzik & Greenwald

2019/05/10

Normally, here’s the space where I begin to wax poetically about an album I wish others would take the time to discover. Hiltzik & Greenwald’s Views From A Distance is one of these albums I wished I had copious amounts of history to draw from. It’s one of those albums I hoped someone else had given…
Mix: 24. Sueño Con Mexico

2019/04/19

For this mix for LYL Radio I was feeling more than a tinge of nostalgia. Somehow, one day, hearing the plaintive tones of Pat Metheny’s “Sueño Con Mexico” got me reminiscing about where I come from and how much of the music I love comes from music that triggers memories of things I heard when…
Mich Live: Message From Heart (1986)

2019/04/12

When we last left now Dr. Mitsuru Sawamura, it was 1989 and he had released a wonderful unclassifiable bit of Japanese New Age Jazz on Wacoal’s Newsic label (home of Yoshio Ojima, Motohiko Hamase, and Yoshiaki Ochi). Now, I want us to go back a few years, when he debuted as a solo artist, as…
Brian Slawson: Distant Drums (1988)

2019/04/09

It’s not often you encounter the work of a percussionist who is as wildly as inventive as one can be, yet can be prone to veering off where (he should know better) that none should follow, such is Brian Slawson’s Distant Drums which gets an unequivocal recommendation from me. Mr. Slawson is much like your…
Everything Play: Everything Play (1992)

2019/04/05

As winter gives way to springtime, I thought it would be nice to revisit our Japanese post-New Age friends at Everything Play. This time around we’ll travel to their self-titled third release on Mr. Hosono’s Panam label with solo mastermind Sohichiro (or Souichiro, depending on the release) Suzuki being joined by newfound musical partner (ex-Flipper’s…
Takio Ito & Takio Band: TAKIO-ソーラン節 (1988)

2019/03/29

One hasn’t lived until they’ve experienced the force of nature that is Takio Ito’s voice. If you’ve encountered the soul stirring vocal stylings of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Cesária Évora, Jacques Brel, and James Brown, you’ve come close to experiencing the sheer power of Japan’s own “folk” icon. Takio Ito’s TAKIO-ソーラン節 is an undisputed classic…
Uman: Chaleur Humaine (1992)

2019/03/12

Uman, pronounced (YOO-mahn), was a unique group. Vacillating from many visions — world music, ambient, jazz, and many uncategorizable things — this French sibling duo has never been a group to easily pigeonhole. Chaleur Humaine, their debut, I think, is a perfectly birthed idea of what they can do. Chaleur Humaine exists in that gray…
Hideki Mitsumori (光森英毅): 彩 Colours (1990)

2019/03/08

I’m at a loss what to classify the late, great Hideki Mitsumori’s 彩 Colours as. It’s obviously heavily indebted to world music and to all sorts of ethno-music flavors but it’s completely digital with no acoustic instrument in sight. Much like Apsaras, the previous band he led, keyboardist Hideki Mitsumori trades in Japanese New Age…
Do’ah: World Dance (1988)

2019/03/05

A call to worship, that’s what do’a, the original Arabic-Persian name for New Age group Do’ah means. World Dance by Do’ah slots into that imperfect crevice where good ideas fall prey to bad ones (due to appearing over earnestness) look for one false move to write off the whole shebang written as unnecessary/dated. If you’ve…