jazz

Oscilation Circuit: Série Réflexion 1 (1984)

2018/02/16

Here’s another worthy album for the canon of Japanese minimalism, Oscilation Circuit’s Série Réflexion 1. Released in 1984, by Sound Process, ostensibly a new part or truncation of Satoshi Ashikawa’s “Wave Notation” series, Série Réflexion 1 perfectly presents another facet of the label’s promotion of minimal music. This time around we get a feel of livelier stuff than any of…
Gabriela: Altas Planicies (1991)

2018/02/06

Gabriela Marrone’s Altas Planicies is the very quiet work of a true pioneer. Born of rural, Argentinian descent, but cosmopolitan via adolescent growth, Gabriela took what could have been a forgettable life as a diplomat’s daughter and used it as a way to develop personally into the inspirational force she came to be.
Jorge Degas & Marcelo Salazar: Muxima (1987)

2018/01/30

Tread lightly, oh you who hate slap bass. Jorge Degas and Marcelo Salazar’s positively radiant Muxima has only two roles pushing all songs along: drum and percussion. Apropos they would remix Matisse’s “The Dance” into their own Afro-centered interpretative design. Deep, deep, Brazilian jazz funk that frequently oversteps its boundaries to go into the realm of…
Gontiti (ゴンチチ): Legacy Of Madam Q (1987)

2018/01/12

I hate to say it but Osaka guitar duo Gontiti (pronounced Gon-Chi-Chi) really nailed it when they called themselves the creators of “The Most Comfortable Music On Earth”. You see, I first encountered the music of Gontiti in the most unlikeliest of likeliest places. On some fateful day, I was with my partner at a…
Martin Kolbe + Ralf Illenberger: Colouring The Leaves (1979)

2018/01/09

The early instrumental work by German guitar duo Martin Kolbe and Ralf Illenberger is quite breathtaking. When one hears of a guitar duo, immediately one assumes the worst: verbose technicality over concise emotion, bluesy runs used as crutches to help them work together, and a general lack of understanding of what a duo is (and…
Toshifumi Hinata: Story (1987)

2017/12/15

I wish I had a great way to describe the beauty of Toshifumi Hinata’s music, more so, the beautiful music you’ll find in Story. I’ll skip over his background, which you can peruse here, in a previous post, so that we can get to the meat of the album. Though not quite as dark/moody as…
Takami Hasegawa (長谷川孝水): L’Ecume Des Jours (日々の泡) (1983)

2017/11/10

These are the kind of stories that make me smile. Truth be told, there is desperately little story out there to tell of Takami Hasegawa’s sole release L’Ecume Des Jours (a nod to Boris Vian’s novel Froth on the Daydream…). Singer-songwriter Takami Hasegawa from Fukushima decides to release an album of Gallic-style, Les Disques du…
Mix: 6. Eastern Jungle

2017/10/03

It took two guiding lights to shepherd me through this mix I created for Mexico City’s brilliant Mitamine cultural curation blog. First, I knew the beginning had to start with Lins & Ford’s “Fast Roads” and it’s end had to be with Kyoko Koizumi’s “Eastern Jungle”. They felt like thematic book ends to something bigger. What was…
Edson Natale: Nina Maika (1990)

2017/09/29

These are the kinds of albums that really live with you. Sao Paolo native, Edson Natale’s name may be the lead on the album cover, his visage may be the one seen folding in the background (with guitar in hand), but its those other small names around him that make Nina Maika such a beautiful…
Steve Hiett: Down On The Road By The Beach (1983)

2017/09/22

You can always hear music in Steve Hiett’s photography. You can definitely hear the music on the cover of his solo debut, Down On The Road By The Beach. Heavily saturated with color, mesmerizingly flash-lit, and warmly off-center, this image was like an Edgar Degas painting come to life – albeit one fashioned with Miami’s…