Tag: Japan
-
A front runner for compilation of the year: ‘Tangent’ captures rare and secret weapons by expert selectors John Gomez and Nick The Record
Tangent is out now and is one of the front runners for best compilation of 2024 – with rarities galore selected by renowned diggers and DJs, John Gomez and Nick The Record, who run the aforementioned parties. To celebrate ten years of one of London’s most loved underground club nights, Mr Bongo have launched what…
-
Yama Warashi’s ‘Dividual Individual’ – having had different guises in Bristol and London – is the latest from the Japanese artist in meditative pop mode
Yoshino Shigihara – as Yama Warashi – is a Japanese artist who brings a range of influences into her own unique sound on Dividual Individual via Prah Recordings. Yoshino is now in London and is producing pop as Yama Warashi, having been based in Bristol and a co-founder of the now defunct Maloya-influenced and raucous…
-
Minoru ‘Hoodoo’ Fushimi is Left Ear Records 25th release – ‘Hakodate Lady’ mutates Japanese enka genre into darker and abstract versions – a fitting celebration for a wonderfully diverse label
We love Minoru Fushimi and his unique approach to music in the early 1980s – check out his interview with us after his In Praise of Mitochondria compilation was released in 2017 on Left Ear Records – now his catalogue is being revisited for the 25th release on this fantastic label, with a special 7″,…
-
Virtuoso pianist Koki Nakano releases glorious second album, ‘Pre-Choreographed’ – it adds to impressive catalogue of Nø Førmat! label
The new album from Koki Nakano is a beautiful production – Pre-Choreographed is out today and is the second release from the Japanese neoclassical pianist – issued through his label home Nø Førmat! (also a stable to Oumou Sangaré and Mélissa Laveaux). Album track Bloomer features Japanese choreographer Mariko Kakizaki and was shot on location…
-
Minyo Crusaders’ new LP ‘Echoes of Japan’ is a fantastic fusion of Oriental folk and flavours from the Caribbean and Africa
Minyo Crusaders rework historic Japanese folk songs (min’yō) with Latin, African, Caribbean and Asian rhythms on their debut album Echoes Of Japan, and it is out now on Mais Um. The band’s distinctive min’yō vocals glide over grooves that join the dots between cumbia, Ethiopian jazz, Thai pop, Afro funk and reggae. The songs on the album…
-
Ambient soundtrack for Japanese consumers: Light In The Attic compiles “environmental music” and feature visionaries of the genre
Kankyō Ongaku translates as “environmental music” and collectively describes the soundscapes and acoustics – as well as incidental music – that soundtracked the spaces and experiences of 1980s Japan. During Japan’s booming export of manufacturing and design products, corporations began to invest in art and music to enhance the user and consumer experience. A rage of artists…
-
Minoru ‘Hoodoo’ Fushimi interview
In Praise of Mitochondria begs so many questions. This collection features some of the most innovative and cohesive examples around of supreme proto-electro, vocoder jams and electro-funk music in the world music spectrum. What was happening in Minoru’s world? It’s as if his music was made in isolation from the rest of the movement, while…
-
New material and reissues from Japan display musical diversity of nation
One of the recent highlights has been the super-funky, super flaky LP by Shintaro Sakamoto. The former Yura Yura Teikoko guitarist smashes it with his Hawaiian lap steel guitar on this, the fourth solo album by this pioneer. When Sakamoto duets with robot voices (Purging the Demons) we are hearing something unique. Love Is Possible…
-
Left Ear select best of Minoru ‘Hoodoo’ Fushimi on new compilation ‘In Praise of Mitochondria’
In Praise of Mitochondria celebrates the output of Minoru ‘Hoodoo’ Fushimi who self-released four albums of unique proto-electro and rap explorations. They were released on two vinyl LPs and two CDs between 1985 and 1992 and now the ever trusty Left Ear Records from Melbourne have revisited this Japanese pioneer. Together with Jerome Qpchan, the…
-
Collectors’ frenzy for Japanese reissue
Utakata No Hibi by Mariah is one of those records that you can’t believe exists until you see and hear it. There is a huge interest in Japanese music and it continues to grow as fetishistic record enthusiasts covet and search for this type of grail. Well heads up, it’s just been reissued and…
WORLD TREASURES MUSIC 