leftfield

Randy Tico: Earth Dance (1990)

2019/08/06

Don’t stop, can’t stop, the dance. Something else to fill your expanding Balearic canon: Randy Tico’s Earth Dance. Not quite jazz, world beat, tribal, or New Age, in 1990, in the dead heat of summer, Randy released on the aptly named Higher Octave Music record label a burner of a New Age album that put…
EG and Alice: 24 Years Of Hunger (1991)

2019/02/12

We could only be so lucky to age as well as EG and Alice’s 24 Years Of Hunger has. Now, it seems, I have to be the next one carrying the torch forward to promote this forgotten Pop masterpiece. In 1991, it was an unlikely blip on England’s music radar, appearing in a bright flash,…
Windsor Riley: The Move Of Life (1988)

2018/11/13

“Endlessly moving, always alive” no better words can describe this album than Windsor Riley’s own. There’s no way around it, The Move Of Life sounds lame on paper. A late ‘80s release, on another nameless record label, trying to peddle harmless instrumental music that would be at home on the Weather Channel or your local dentist…
I-Level: I-Level (1983)

2018/06/26

Thatcher’s England must have been a messed up time to grow up in, right? At the height of her pull, Essex group, I-Level, released a wonderfully romantic, uptempo electronic-R&B single called “Minefield” near after England’s ridiculous war with Argentina and promptly got banned from the radio. Trying to go for their third, hit single, with…
Izumi Kobayashi: Coconuts High (1981)

2018/05/25

What is it today? Over here, in the U.S. it’s the Friday just before Memorial Day, a long holiday weekend. Yes, it’s that time of the year when our minds turn to summer — and at least my mind — it turns to music that’s even brighter, funkier, perhaps, something more suited for the weather.…
Miles Davis/Marcus Miller: Music From Siesta (1986)

2018/05/22

Marcus Miller, this is your redemption song. Marcus Miller. Marcus Miller, man, where do I begin? For so long, had I absolutely loathe what you did to one of my all-time favorite musicians. It was your slap bass that figuratively sunk Miles Davis’s career when he needed you the most — really. You were the…
Mebae Miyahara: Portfolio (1986)

2018/05/18

Now, I finally feel that we’re ready for an album like Mebae Miyahara’s Port･fo･lio. But first a huge thanks to Giacomo Lee for sharing it with me and, by extension, with us. Full of wonderfully gorgeous, lilting tropical techno-pop, Port･fo･lio should instantly remind you of all those artists you might have heard in the recent Walearic…
Jean-Michel Gascuel: La Vie Continue (1984)

2018/04/20

Holding fast to some heartfelt theory, I do believe the best musicians aren’t always, exactly “musicians” themselves. Joining us today in our personal, illustrious group which includes Steve Hiett and Brian Eno, is native Frenchman Jean-Michel Gascuel. In the span of two years, from 1982 through 1984, Jean-Michel Gascuel released two albums C’Est L’Premier Pas…