Semba Kiyohiko (仙波清彦): Jasmine Talk (1996)
How does one capture the enormity of someone like percussionist Kiyohiko Semba? Do you focus on his early work as a key…
July 31, 2025
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Category: album of the month
279 records
Takagi Kan (高木完): Artman (アートマン) (1997)
As a writer, one of the toughest things to gauge is just how deep you want to go down the rabbit hole…
July 17, 2025
Keiji Itsukashi (嚴樫圭司): Tender Tone (1998)
No one needs a reminder of how delicate history is. But I’m reminded of it quite vividly whenever I listen to the…
June 5, 2025
Hideo Hasegawa (長谷川英郎): メディテーション ブラックホール (Meditation Black Hole) (1998)
Let no one tell you different: describing ambient or so-called “environmental” music can sometimes feel like more of an art than a…
May 22, 2025
Plus (プラス): Cross Power Flower (クロスパワーフラワー) (1992)
Blessed are those who have background info to work from. I say this because I need to come clean about the album…
May 15, 2025
Missa Fukuma (福間未紗): フェスタ マニフェスト (Festa Manifesto) (1999)
Before I introduce you to Missa Fukuma’s Festa Manifesto, I’d be remiss if I didn’t share how I first encountered her music.…
May 8, 2025
Mari Hamada (濱田マリ): 編む女 (The Knitting Woman) (1997)
One of the wonders of digging into history is realizing how life has a way of shaking out differently than you expect.…
April 17, 2025
Harumi Kitagawa (北川春美): Love & Flowers (ラブ・アンド・フラワーズ) (1991)
When I listen to Harumi Kitagawa’s Love & Flowers, I’m instantly transported to what I love about music. It’s its ability to…
April 3, 2025
Mayumi Itoh (伊東真由美): 美人声 (Beautiful Voice) (1992)
What better way to ease into spring than with an album that exemplifies that grand idea we call “rebirth”? Rebirth, more often…
March 13, 2025
Kohshin Satoh (佐藤 孝信): Arrston Volaju (アーストンボラージュ) (1990)
There’s just something about Valentine’s Day that stirs me to share music steeped in that feeling. If you know me, you know…
February 13, 2025
Midori (ミドリ): Vortex Symphony (ヴォルテックス・シンフォニー) (1992)
One of my favorite things to discover and hear in music is how ideas translate across genres and borders. Listening to Midori’s…
February 6, 2025
Logik Freaks (杉山勇司): Temptations of Logik Freaks – One Fine Day (1995)
I can’t help but smile a little when I hear how brazenly Yuji Sugiyama begins what would become his sole release under…
January 23, 2025