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

Hiiro Issiki – 1000 Plateaux

1000 Plateaux is the debut record by Hiiro Issiki, a Japanese composer.  I don’t find too much information on Issiki’s background, but this record is a musical chimera, sprouting patterns and shapes at will, yet maintaining cohesion, and in many parts, beauty.  What a stunning piece of work this is! Continue Reading