We Want Sounds! is on a roll! They started off the year with a stunning collection of funk which I had the absolute joy of reviewing a coupe of weeks ago, and now this! Dixie Fever is a collaborative effort from guitarist Makoto Kubota, along with Takashi Onzo on bass, Yosuke Continue Reading
Japan
Kiyoshi Yamaya, Toshiko Yonekawa, Kifu Mitsuhashi – Wamono Groove: Shakuhachi & Koto Jazz Funk ’76
Traditional Japanese instruments meet rare groove?? Yes, please! From Wamono’s Bandcamp site: Following the already classic Wamono A to Z trilogy, we are delighted to present an exceptional collection of jazz funk / rare groove tunes recorded in the mid-seventies at the Nippon Columbia studios by three giants of Japanese Continue Reading
Kawol Samarqandi and George Christian – Telegraph Paths
The Internet, for all the garbage one finds on it, amazes me some days. This album, a collaboration of a friend of the blog, George Christian (out of Brazil), collaborates with Kawol Samarqandi (based in Japan) and release this collection on a Spanish record label, Bestiar and an Australian label, Continue Reading
Celer – In Light Of Blues
Will Long is Celer, an ambient music composer living in Japan and therefore, a relatively close expatriate neighbor of mine. He releases a lot of music, as is the fashion with some highly competent composers these days, but his work feels like a cut above. Though this album has 12 Continue Reading
Ikuro Takahashi – しりえないものとずっと
An’archives, a French experimental music record label, has released しりえないものとずっと (Forever With The Incomprehensible) by legendary drummer and percussionist Ikuro Takahashi. Takahashi has worked with the likes of Keiji Haino’s power-trio Fushitsusha, Seishokki, High Rise, Ché-Shizu, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Kousokuya, LSD March and Nagisa Ni Te. This kind of Continue Reading
Makoto Kawabata, Richard Pinhas, Manongo Mujica, Juan Luis Pereira, Hiroshi Higashi – Alturas
What we have here is an experimental music supergroup. Makoto Kawabata and Hiroshi Higashi of acid-psych lords Acid Mothers Temple team up with the legendary guitarist Richard Pinhas (famed as the leader of the band Heldon, and still very much active under his own name). Joining them are two musicians Continue Reading
Stijn Hüwels & Tomoyoshi Date – 遠き火、遠き雲’ (A Distant Fire, A Distant Cloud)
laaps Records is a French label releasing quality ambient music. This one seems to be their latest, a calming wash of sounds composed by Belgian composer Stin Hüwels in collaboration with the Brazilian-Japanese composer and sound artist (and emergency room doctor!) Tomoyoshi Date. The music is a mix of organic Continue Reading
Kawabata Makoto and Baisong Wu – Rivers And Mountains
Though there are heavy tensions at the moment between the governments of Japan and the People’s Republic of China (sic), this compilation proves that there is peace through psych. Psychedelic music is the medium both the legendary guitarist of Acid Mothers Temple, Kawabata Makoto and Chinese acid-folk musician Baisong Wu, Continue Reading
Hideki Umezawa & Andrew Pekler – Two Views Of Amami Oshima
Electroacoustic music inspired by painting and field recordings done in the Ryuku Islands off the coast of the Japanese mainland. This definitely caught my attention. Edições CN out of Antwerp, Belgium released this album in 2020, and it features the works of Japanese composer Hideki Umezawa and the Samarkand, Uzbekistan Continue Reading
Hozan Yamamoto 銀界 – Silver World (1971) (Full Album)
Though long out-of-print, this album screams for a proper reissue. The album combines a fine jazz quartet with Yamamoto’s sublime shakuhachi playing. The personnel on this album were: Bass – Gary Peacock Drums – Hiroshi Murakami Piano – Masabumi Kikuchi Shakuhachi [Bamboo-Flute] – Hōzan Yamamoto