More and more gold always coming in from my music mining expeditions of old Japan. If you’re immersed in new music as much as I am, an appropriate RIYL for this would be Weyes Blood. Very similar timbre to their voices and theatric nature to their instrumental.
If I remember correctly from reading this somewhere, I feel like Yoshiko Sai wasn’t a very popular artist in Japan at the time when she was releasing albums. As in, she made these immaculate folk rock records and no one really paid attention to it. We really live in a miraculous time where a music blog like mine, for instance, can find this stuff and repost it to continue its legacy. It’s a great record and again – you can find it on Youtube, probably.
Youtube has picked up a reputation of unearthing all of these forgotten gems of weird, synth, jazz and pop music that otherwise would have been lost to time. We can see this with Japanese musicians like Midori Takada or Ryo Fukui, which just pops up in certain recommended videos sidebars thanks to Youtube’s mysterious algorithm.
This is a record that it brought me one day and I thought I’d share it here as well. Software is Peter Mergener and Michael Weisser and the record sounds like new age, synth noodling, beneath the waves, in the clouds, one with the soil, floating in the air earthy delight ambient. It’s really all over the place and super engaging to listen to. I can’t recommend it enough. Next time you find yourself in a Youtube hole, try and find something you’ve never seen before. Chances are it’ll be really damn cool.
Black Moth Super Rainbow has a new record, Panic Blooms, coming out in May 4 via their own label Rad Cult. This will be their first proper LP since 2012’s Cobra Juicy, and follows a few b-sides compilations from both BMSR and solo records from band brain master Tobacco.
I’m really excited for this record – no one makes melty grilled cheese psych pop like these folks do, so anything new from them is greatly appreciated. Pre-order the record HERE.
Last year I had the pleasure of promoting a record called Ladilikan, from Malian group Trio Da Kali and Kronos Quartet. It was an incredible mix of strings and traditional African instruments like balafon and kora. This record put me on a hunt for West African music and has led me to this beauty, Yasimika, by Djeli Moussa Diawara (of Guinea). It’s widely regarded as one of the great masterpieces of West African music.
The balafon, guitar and kora playing is fleet of foot, whereas the vocals are wide and take up a lot of space – filling up all the little cracks left in the instrumentation. It’s all very beautiful and smooth, despite so many small parts going on at once.
If you’re looking to get into the vibrant, colorful world of African music, this would be a fantastic place to start.
Wanted to feature more non-western music this month, so here’s the final piece from The Rain, a euphoric, improvised live album featuring kamancheh (Iranian bowed string instrument) player Kayhan Kalhor, sitar player Shujaat Husain Khan and tabla player Sandeep Das, all masters of their art. This is a truly special collaboration.
I can’t quite remember how this record came into my hands, but I’m thankful for whoever recommended it to me. It’s refreshing to hear musicians with such skill working in tandem with one another, especially when the results are this brilliant. The performers know how to tell a story and weave their narratives in amongst the other voices beautifully. There are some great call and response sections in this track, which is one of the reasons I wanted to focus on this one.
Forget all this chill electronic playlist nonsense: this is the perfect type of music to get lost in. To submit yourself to. To bow out of life for a fleeting moment and enter the world that these skilled storytellers have created, all on the fly.
Diving into some jazz here, we find Dorothy Ashby – a Detroit-born jazz harpist. I came across this album through the YT sidebar (per usual) and really liked what I heard. I’m a massive fan of every indie person’s fav harpist, Joanna Newsom, and am slowly diving into the fantastic works of experimental harpist Mary Lattimore. This seemed like an easy choice to post, since it’s not often you come across jazz tunes through harp. I still have the rest of her discography to go through, but I’m happy I started with this one.
Also that cover – DAMN! It’s great and reminded me of the Midori Takada album.
Earlier this year, I made a 50-song mix of Japanese pop and rock music from the 70s and 80s and sent it to a few friends. The first track that almost all of them brought up first as their overwhelming favorite was this one, “いつか王子様が” / “Someday My Prince Will Come” [google translation] off of Akiko Yano’s 1981 album Tadaima. The only negative reaction I got was from a friend that actually had lived in Japan for a bit and found the chanting vocals in the chorus to be intolerable. He was later shut down by other mutual friends who said the track was actually fire and that he’s mad wrong.
Truth be told, this is one of the tamer songs on the record. It’s rather straightforward and doesn’t have any bonkers synth romps like many of the other tracks do. It doesn’t sacrifice any of this brilliant weirdness for anything, though. It’s just really catchy synth pop that’ll get you singing along with little effort. I can see a lot of inspiration for the work of current artists Kate NV in this track, which I respect her madly for. I highly recommend finding the rest of this album (Tadaima) and experiencing it. I know I say this a lot, but it’s very likely you’ve heard nothing like it.
The third year of Warm Visions’ Recommended Albums has commenced! I’m still having fun making these, so I see no reason to stop. 2018 started off alright for the most part. Lots of album announcements and primers for things to come. I can’t see too many of the records I’ve listed here lasting with me for the whole year, but who knows? Stranger things have happened. I hope you really dig these, though. If you’re still trying to catch up after getting to all your 2017 music, this should be a good first step.
Daniel Avery – Slow Fade EP [Mute] Watching space debris collide in rhythm.
Ilyas Ahmed – Closer To Stranger [Mie Music] An old quilt with dead grass tucked in its folds is found in the attic.
Lou Rebecca – Lou Rebecca EP [Holodeck Records] A multi-colored light ball follows you eternally – life as a roller rink.
NADINE – oh my [Father/Daughter Records] Watching a sunbathing animal shift its napping position throughout the day.
Negative Gemini – Bad Baby EP [100% Electronica] Neon light reflect off dark pools of tears collected on a dusty, linoleum floor.
No Age – Snares Like A Haircut [Drag City] Once a month you wake up washed ashore a different, trash-covered island and you have to find your way home.
Palmbomen II – Memories Of Cindy [Beats In Space] A secret commune in the sewers holds amazing raves, magazine reading parties and VHS movie cry sessions.
Shame – Songs Of Praise [Dead Oceans] The Midas Touch except with fire.
The heir traverses an uncanny nightmare in the blood-splattered royal ballroom.
First track from Beach House’s upcoming album, which has neither a title nor release date. It’s not as immediate as “Sparks” was off the last album (which was its corresponding first single), but its woozy, trembling synth lead throughout is pretty cool, along with the haunting threads of disembodied voice and guitar that stitch the track throughout. This is definitely piquing my interest for what the rest of the album sounds like, so they picked a good first single. I wasn’t crazy about Thank Your Lucky Stars, but Depression Cherry grew on me a ton. Let’s hope that this isn’t a letdown.
A stream of consciousness music blog, active since 2010. Established in Ann Arbor, MI, currently in NYC.
Send me music: warmsubmissions @ gmail
I hope you enjoy your time here.
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A stream of consciousness music blog, active since 2010. Established in Ann Arbor, MI, currently in NYC.
Send me music: warmsubmissions @ gmail
I hope you enjoy your time here.
