Clarice Jensen * Rose Bolton * Genrietta
Clarice Jensen’s debut movie score for Ainu Mosir, Rose Bolton’s Lost Clock, and Genrietta’s memories of Moscow locations.
Tag: japan
David Cordero * Anthéne
David Cordero’s trip to Japan results in very uplifting ambient music *** Anthéne is perfectly at home creating ‘dusty ambient guitar and synth led works’
Shuta Hiraki * Sebastian Paul * Degoya
Shuta Hiraki creates enigmatic atmospheres with old LP’s he found in his mother’s warehouse; Sebastian Paul celebrates spring amongst the Sakura Trees; Degoya‘s debut album is calm and refreshing as a Japanese garden.
The Sound of Zen: Chihei Hatakeyama
There’s a steady and unstoppable stream of releases by Chihei Hatakeyama, on his own (White Paddy Mountain) label as well as on other labels.
Here’s a short roundup of some of his recent releases.
Various Artists – Just a Moment
The Japan Earthquake and the Nuclear Disaster following it seem to have vanished from the media radar completely.
Which is strange enough, since the effects of the latter will be felt for decades (at the very least), and it’s unlikely that the people that were directly affected bu the earthquake have recovered from the disaster by now.
There have been some heartwarming beneficial releases by ambient/experimental artists until now, most notably the “Kanshin” and “For Nihon” albums. But for causes like this, there’s never ‘enough’ that can be raised for those that have suffered.
So, Harry ‘Spheruleus‘ Towell teamed up with Bartosz ‘Pleq‘ Dziadosz to curate another compilation in support of those affected by the Japan March disaster.
“Just a Moment” is released through the Audio Gourmet label, originally specialized in the short 15 minute ‘coffee/tea break’ EP editions.
For Nihon
If you are remotely interested in this kind of music you’re probably familiar with this release already.
But in case you’ve missed it:
Shortly after the Japan earthquake on March 11th this year, Keith Kenniff (a.k.a. Goldmund/Helios) and his wife Hollie decided to ask ‘a few friends’ to participate in a compilation album to help raise money for the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund, set up by New York’s Japan Society.
The ‘few‘ friends quickly became ‘many‘, and the list of artists contributing to the (38) tracks featured on “For Nihon” reads like an impressive who’s who in popular ‘pop ambient’:
Arms and Sleepers, Dustin O’Halloran, Peter Broderick, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Biosphere, Hammock, Olafur Arnalds, Jon Hopkins, Nils Frahm, Alva Noto, Ryan Teague, Max Richter, Goldmund….And this is only just one-third of the full tracklist!
I guess it’s best to check the full list on the release page and order your copy immediately!
Various Artists – Kanshin
It’s a kind of a reviewers no-go to write something like “If you buy only two albums this year, let it be these”.
But in fact, if I could only recommend two albums to you, I’d recommend these two 2-CD compilation sets.
One is “For Nihon“ – curated by Keith ‘Goldmund’ Kenniff and his wife Hollie. This set has been available as digital download for some time, but I’ll be reviewing this later as I have to wait for the physical CD to arrive.
The other is called “Kanshin” and has been released this week.
Both these double CD-set present an unbelievable array of contemporary artists contributing their music to help raise money for the current recovery in Japan following March’s terrible earthquake.