japan – Page 2 – Listen To This

Nobuo Ariga – SHERBET, 1987

Delighted to share a record here after a long hiatus, and delighted that it’s this one. (Hello, hi! Thank you for your patience, and for being here, and for the sweet emails that I haven’t responded to because I don’t know how to email anymore, sorry!)

SHERBET is one of the more apt album titles that comes to mind–it feels like a candy-toned icy sugar cloud. (Also realizing as I type this that my boyfriend was correct when he said a few years back that sherbet is due for a resurgence in interest–it does seem like the most proto-vaporwave dessert, no? Suddenly consumed with a strong desire to bust out my ice cream machine.)

Nobuo Ariga only released three records under his own name, none of which seemed to pick up much traction as it took me a long to track this one down, but he was prolific as a writer and session musician on a ton of other pop releases. If you like any of the following, you will probably like this record:

The Beach Boys
jingly Christmas bells in non-Christmas songs
Ice Choir
fretless bass
city pop
judicious use of reverb

Enjoy, thanks for being here, more soon!

download

[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 43

My most recent episode of Getting Warmer for NTS Radio is a mix of future escapist pop and lo-fi loneliness, with a few off-kilter moments of muddled optimism–just a few of the conflicting facets of the experience of being alive in April 2020! Thanks for being here, sending love to you and yours. Mp3 download is here if you’d like it.

Tracklist:
1. John Martyn – Over The Rainbow
2. Michael Small – Alone in the Night
3. Bill Evans – What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life? (Quartet)
4. Irma Thomas – It’s Starting To Get To Me Now
5. Toshifumi Hinata – Broken Belief
6. The Sundays – Here’s Where the Story Ends
7. Владимир Леви, Ким Брейтбург – Млечный Садf
8. Roy Orbison – Only the Lonely
9. David Garland – I Am With You
10. Penguin Cafe Orchestra – Flux
11. Roxy Music – Always Unknowing
12. Sven Grünberg – Kuulake Koik
13. Googoosh – Mikham Aroom Begiram
14. Masami Tsuchiya – Fear for the Future
15. Iegor Reznikoff – Alleluia Ego Sum Pastor
16. Sally Oldfield – Morning of My Life

25 Favorite Releases of 2019

In the spirit of the season, I wanted to share some of my favorite releases of the year. Such a brooding year for music, with some really strong aesthetic and political statements and boundary-pushing uses of both guitars and electronics, suggesting many exciting changes on their way in the next decade. Obviously this isn’t meant to be exhaustive or authoritative; just some personal highlights. Quite a few of these are giant major label releases, so I’ll be taking down those download links quickly or leaving them off accordingly. Let me know if links are broken. Happy new year!

Previously: 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015

	A.C. Marias – One Of Our Girls, 1989 buy / download
	The B-52’s – Cosmic Thing, 1989 buy / download
	The Blue Nile – Hats, 1989 buy / download
	The Cure – Disintegration, 1989 buy
	De La Soul – 3 Feet High And Rising, 1989 buy
	dip in the pool – Retinae, 1989 download
	Forrest Fang – The Wolf At The Ruins, 1989 buy / download
	Galaxie 500 – On Fire, 1989 buy
	Harry Case – In A Mood, 1989 download
	The Hilliard Ensemble – Pérotin, 1989 buy / download
	Haruomi Hosono – Omni Sight Seeing, 1989 download
	Inner City – Paradise, 1989 buy
	Janet Jackson – Rhythm Nation 1814, 1989 buy
	Joan Bibiloni – Born, 1989 buy / download
	Julee Cruise – Floating Into The Night, 1989 buy
	Kate Bush – The Sensual World, 1989 buy
	Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine, 1989 buy
	Nirvana – Bleach, 1989 buy
	Pauline Oliveros, Stuart Dempster & Panaiotis – Deep Listening, 1989 buy / download
	Piero Milesi & Daniel Bacalov – La Camera Astratta, 1989 buy / download
	Pixies – Doolittle, 1989 buy
	Ryuichi Sakamoto – Beauty, 1989 buy
	Soul II Soul – Club Classics Vol. One, 1989 buy
	The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses, 1989 buy
	Woo – It’s Cosy Inside, 1989 buy / download

[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 39

Here’s my most recent mix for NTS Radio, in which I’m still on an autumnal tip. Psychy acoustic folk, dreamy shoegaze, and a really gorgeous, tears-inducing children’s choir rendition of a song from my childhood favorite, Watership Down. I hope you like it, and that you’re staying warm! You can download an mp3 version here.

Tracklist:
1. Woo – Fanfare
2. Eloy – Horizons
3. A.C. Marias – Looks Like
4. Maxine Funke – Make That Dream
5. April Stevens & Nino Tempo – You’ll Be Needing Me Baby
6. Esther & Abi Ofarim – Every Night
7. Woo – When You Find Your Love
8. Kyu Sakamoto – 上を向いて歩こう
9. Hydroplane – Wurlitzer Jukebox
10. Judee Sill – Jesus Was A Cross Maker
11. Colin Blunstone – Misty Roses
12. The Small Choir Of St. Brandon’s School – Bright Eyes
13. Ichiko Hashimato – A Stranger In Paradise
14. Cocteau Twins – Round
15. Linda Cohen – Madman Samba
16. Karen H. Oznick – I Miss You
17. Scribble – Mother Of Pearl

[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 36

Here’s my newest episode of Getting Warmer for NTS Radio, also marking my show being three years old! I tried to get slightly out of my wheelhouse with this one and be a little braver about mixing genres and moods, but it still feels very airy and spacey and summery to me. I hope you like it. Mp3 download is here if you’d like it. Flyer image by Eric Epstein.

Tracklist:
1. Sandy Salisbury – Come Softly
2. MJ Lallo – Before Brazil
3. Goddess in the Morning – Ucraine
4. UCC Harlo – Ceres
5. Yumi Murata – TOKIの音
6. CFCF – Closed Space
7. Enno Velthuys – In the Royal Woods
8. Annie Haslam – If I Loved You
9. Kissing the Pink – How Can I Live
10. Mouth Music – Hoireann O
11. Matt Bianco – Half A Minute
12. Masashi Kitamura + Phonogenix – ヴァリエイション・III
13. All In One – Rich Man, Poor Man
14. Sth Notional – Yawn Yawn Yawn
15. Björk – Come To Me

Guest Mix: Appel d’Air Vol. 2

Guest post by John Also Bennett (JAB / Seabat / Forma). JAB’s debut solo album Erg Herbe was released on Shelter Press earlier this year.

This mix was compiled as the second volume in my “Appel d’ Air” mix series, the first volume of which is available here. It takes its name from the Michel Redolfi album of the same name. I’m always looking for music that uses flute or wind instruments, open spaces, and environmental sound in tandem, even if these conditions are only met loosely. In this collection I included two pieces of music originally composed as environmental music for video games (“Inside The Deku Tree” from Legend of Zelda and a Resident Evil Save Room theme), both of which were designed to color the atmosphere of a virtual space, and both of which use flute (albeit electronic). Eva-Maria Houben’s “ein schlummer (a slumber)” uses flute and organ and their reverberations inside a large cathedral: the near silences between notes as the reverb tails off are as important as the notes themselves. I also included one of my own compositions, “Chanterai por mon coraige,” recorded in a decrepit mill in the French countryside, pictured above. Like many of the pieces included on this mix, the sound of the space in which the piece was recorded plays a role in the composition; in this case evening crickets and the churning of a nearby creek. You can download an mp3 version here.

Tracklist:

1. Daniel Kobialka – Organic Eternity (Excerpt)

2. Koji Kondo – Inside The Deku Tree (Legend of Zelda – Ocarina Of Time)

3. Mary Jane Leach – Downland’s Tears (Excerpt)

4. Vijay Raghav Rao – Raga Malkauns – Alap and Gat n Jhaptal

5. Jim Fassett – Symphony Of The Birds (Third Movement)

6. Eva-Maria Houben – ein schlummer (a slumber)

7. Steve Roach – Spectre

8. Mamoru Samuragochi – Resident Evil – Save Room (2002 Remake)

9. Harold Budd with Jon Gibson – How Vacantly You Stare At Me

10. Che Chen & Robbie Lee – This Was The Only Place That Was Green

11. JAB – Chanterai por mon coraige

12. Jefre-Cantu Ledesma – Joy

[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 34

Hello! I’m still here, still up to my ears in food projects, still missing sharing music, and still very much looking forward to getting back to it. In the mean time, here’s my most recent episode of Getting Warmer for NTS Radio. This one is very spacey, with lots of reverb and a few psychy things. You can download an mp3 version here. Thanks as always for listening, and happy spring <3

Tracklist:
1. Gigi – Abay
2. Jun Miyake – Third Eye
3. Aragon – かかし
4. Francesco Messina – Comunicazioni Interne
5. Nuno Canavarro – Segredos M
6. Mychal Danna – Inanna
7. Bryan Ferry – Boys And Girls
8. Goddess In The Morning – 14
9. The Millenium – The Island
10. Yoshiaki Ochi – Dawning
11. Masayuki Sakamoto – Psy’chy
12. Quigley – If I Could Fly
13. Gigi – Guramayle (Slight Return)
14. Curt Boettcher – Lament Of The Astral Cowboy

[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 33

Here’s my newest episode of Getting Warmer for NTS Radio. I was working on this as news was breaking about the fire at Notre Dame cathedral, so I was thinking a lot about sacred music and sacred spaces, but also about the hard lines we draw between devotional music and non-denominational music that still embodies some aspects of reverence for the divine, and what it means to enjoy music or other aesthetic remnants of religions that we don’t necessarily subscribe to or think are problematic. Some of this music is explicitly religious, and some of it isn’t. I hope you like it! You can download an mp3 version here.

Tracklist:
1. Skin – Blood On Your Hands
2. Roberto Musci – Lidia After The Snow
3. Kenji Kawai – 謡II (Ghost City: Chant II)
4. Les Nouvelles Polyphonies Corses With Hector Zazou – Eramu In Campu
5. Sœur Marie Keyrouz – L’Apostikhon de l’Office de Mercredi Saint (Prière de Marie-Madeleine) “Ya Rabbi”…
6. Sainkho Namtchylak – Haragannig
7. David Hykes & The Harmonic Choir – Kyrie Opening
8. Dead Can Dance – Wilderness
9. Geinoh Yamashirogumi – カライ・モーメ (さあ行きましょう、娘さん)
10. Urszula Dudziak – Po Tamtej Stronie Gory
11. Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir – Kalimankou Denkou
12. Dead Can Dance – The Host Of Seraphim
13. Jocelyn Montgomery With David Lynch – Alleluia
14. Geinoh Yamashirogumi – Kleenex
15. Elena Ledda & Mauro Palmas – Sett’ispadas De Dolore

[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 32

This month’s mix for NTS Radio is predictably a spring wish fulfillment dream–lots of lush, green sounds, animals, a Dip In The Pool song that sounds uncannily like Scritti Politti, Gal Costa doing a live version of “Volta” that makes me cry forever, and the original and excellent version of “Kokorowa,” which you may have heard covered by Love, Peace & Trance. I hope you like it! You can download an mp3 version here if you like it. Cover image is by Hirō Isono.

I also wanted to apologize for how quiet it’s been around here recently–I’m very much still here and appreciate that some of you have reached out to check in! I generally try to avoid too much cross-promotion, but I have a food project that has been keeping me unbelievably busy for the past few months and I’ve been struggling to keep up. I’ve been missing having music be an active part of my life and am very much looking forward to stepping back into it. Thanks always for reading and being here 💙

Tracklist:
1. Sally Oldfield – Night of the Hunters Moon
2. Waak Waak Djungi – White Cockatoo
3. Hajime Mizoguchi – A Giraffe And The Moon
4. Steve Hillage – Garden of Paradise (excerpt)
5. Pili Pili – Be In Two Minds
6. Killing Time – Kokorowa
7. Gal Costa – Volta (Live)
8. Katsutoshi Morizono & Bird’s Eye View – Imagery
9. Dip In The Pool – A Quasi Quadrate
10. Ryuichi Sakamoto – Dolphins
11. All In One – Come Live With Me
12. Today’s Latin Project – Danza Lucumi
13. Tomoki Kanda – Everybody Wants To Rule The World
14. Sunstroke – Nothing’s Wrong In Paradise
15. Taeko Ohnuki – 祈り (Inori)

25 Favorite Releases of 2018

In the spirit of the season, I wanted to share some of my favorite releases of the year. Such a nuts year for music, with huge leaps of brilliance happening in so many radically different genres! Obviously this isn’t meant to be exhaustive or authoritative; just some personal highlights. Quite a few of these are giant major label releases, so I’ll be taking down those download links quickly or leaving them off accordingly. Let me know if links are broken. Happy new year!

Previously: 2017 | 2016 | 2015

	Baby Ford – Ford Trax, 1988 download
	Brian Keane with Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Dinçer Dalkılıç, & Emin Gündüz – Süleyman The Magnificent OST, 1988 buy / download
	Cocteau Twins – Blue Bell Knoll, 1988 buy
	Cowboy Junkies – Trinity Session, 1988 buy
	Dead Can Dance – The Serpent’s Egg, 1988 buy
	Enya – Watermark, 1988 buy
	Eric B. & Rakim – Follow The Leader, 1988 buy
	Fingers Inc. – Another Side, 1988 download
	Geinoh Yamashirogumi – Symphonic Suite AKIRA, 1988 buy / download
	Harold Budd – The White Arcades, 1988 buy
	Leonard Cohen – I’m Your Man, 1988 buy
	Lorad Group – Sul Tempo, 1988 buy / download
	Maria Rita – Brasileira, 1988 buy / download
	Mary Margaret O’Hara – Miss America, 1988 buy / download
	Motohiko Hamase – #Notes Of Forestry, 1988 buy
	Nuno Canavarro – Plux Quba, 1988 buy / download
	Prefab Sprout – From Langley Park To Memphis, 1988 buy / download
	Prince – Lovesexy, 1988 buy
	Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, 1988 buy
	Sade – Stronger Than Pride, 1988 buy
	The Sugarcubes – Life’s Too Good, 1988 buy
	Talk Talk – Spirit Of Eden, 1988 buy / download
	Vangelis Katsoulis – The Slipping Beauty, 1988 download
	Womack & Womack – Conscience, 1988 buy
	Yoshio Ojima – Une Collection des Chainons I & II: Music For Spiral, 1988 download