balearic

  • When I wrote about Rie Miyazawa, I knew I’d have to come back to share another interesting side trip she’d take. In this case, it’s Rie’s work with Tadashi Namba and Takeshi Itoh on Tokyo Elevator Girl (東京エレベーターガール), a fascinating coda to her inspiring early ‘90s period, a soundtrack to Japanese TV drama of the…

  • Do you know who I don’t envy? Pop stars. Out of all the careers or aspirations one can hold in the music business, none holds a candle to the sheer amount of stress, anxiety, work, and all-encompassing human problems that one will endure to simply make it as a pop artist. Rockers, jazz artists, and…

  • Out of all the things I remember about my time in Japan, funny enough, one thing I can’t seem to forget is this: just how “French” so many things are. Walking down the street, shopping around, looking for a bite to eat (or just a place to relax), more often than not, you’re bound to…

  • As the year begins to draw to a close, my mind goes back to some of the people we lost this year. I’m thinking of artist’s artists like Alan Rankine, Pharoah Sanders, Tina Turner, and YMO greats (like the sorely missed Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi). In this year full of great loss, at the…

  • Is it: “Everything new is old again?” or is it: “Everything old is new again?” Before I left for my visit to Japan, I was freshly reminded of this paradox by (friend of the blog) Chris Morris’s YouTube share of an autumnal neo-folkloric favorite of mine: Begoña Olavide’s Salterio – one I reminded myself to…

  • Looking back, it feels like my relationship with Endy goes back more than recently. Trolling through my Discogs orders I see that my oldest purchase from the man behind Groove Bunny Records was in 2017 – a copy of Mich Live’s Message From Heart which y’all finally got a chance to listen to in 2019.…

  • It’s late summer again. Like before, I’m drawn to music that evokes feelings found at the corners of each such season. And in today’s case, it’s that pull of the sea (or a life aquatic) that reminds us that life keeps moving, as much as we keep exiting, stage left. It’s something you hear in…

  • Many moons ago, someone interviewed me and asked me (to paraphrase them), “What makes you pick what you share on the site?”Now, if I remember correctly, I think I answered: “most of the time, it’s great music tied to a great story.” It’s with this in mind that today let’s do things a little differently.…

  • Timing. Isn’t that what life’s all about? If you’re there at the right moment, it all works out. If you’re there late, you’re at someone else’s fate. If you’re there too early, all that effort might not be for naught. If you’re speaking about Japan’s Kusu Kusu (and their album, 世界が一番幸せな日 (Sekai Ga Ichiban Shiawase…

  • There is no harder thing for a music reviewer to do than categorize music that’s, quite simply, uncategorizable. Especially so when it’s trying to pigeonhole or describe Chito Kawachi’s jaw-droppingly, unclassifiable 1993 debut, チトチック/クラクラ (CHITOTIHC/KULA-kura). 

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