SUSUMU YOKOTA — ICONIC AIR

'Iconic Air' cuts in like a collage, part sample-led groove, part majestic soundscape, the twang of spaghetti guitar against soft synth and smooth bass. In short, it's a trip — a slice of space western meets ambient by the late Susumu Yokota, known chiefly as a proponent of the latter genre, with albums like Acid Mt. Fuji (1994) and Sakura (1999). Really, though, he created in various genres, from techno to house, under various monikers, and also had a career as a designer.

The track comes from an upcoming album, Laputa, named after the flying island from Gulliver's Travels. Yokota never released the album, but – as 'Iconic Air' deftly demonstrates – it is an expansive journey of sound, not a million miles from a videogame soundtrack, filled with mystique and forboding, told in all the shades of the music that marked Yokota's own musical journey through life.

✧

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• 🔔 Susumu Yokota's album Laputa is due out 8th April on Lo Recordings. You may pre-order it on Bandcamp, both in vinyl and compact disc formats (and digital also).

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📠
☟ Susumu Yokota Internet Presence ☟
soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ official site ⚘ discogs ⚘ instagram ⚘ wikipedia ⚘ spotify ⚘

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MASAYOSHI FUJITA — BIRD AMBIENCE

⌾ LISTEN TO BIRD AMBIENCE BY MASAYOSHI FUJITA ⌾

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The natural world. That’s the overriding force at work in ‘Bird Ambience’ by Berlin-based vibraphonist and composer Masayoshi Fujita. But that — signalled by the track’s robust percussion, tumbling marimba and keen ceramic reverberations — is only half of the story here. For all of its organically glossy and glomping collisions of beater against solid object, there’s a smattering of inorganic glitch, sharp and harsh, zooming around within; an ancient computer of some forgotten century still whirring brokenly amidst vast trees and choking vines. And all around, ghosts — the nebulous vocals of singer Hatis Noit cooing through the canopy.

The sheer space between each knock, each tap, hit and plonk — and the constrasting soft, sheafing ambience of each successive contact — gives Fujita's ‘Bird Ambience’ an empty-yet-full feeling: Navigating the voidsome depths of woods, its trees and the heavy air between the trunks and branches. There’s an essence of kankyō ongaku or “environmental music” here, with textural elements reminiscent of Hiroshi Yoshimura’s ‘Time After Time’. There's less in the way of melody, of rigidity, Fujita's track instead creeping along almost at random, solidly and yet as if it were mist.

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• 🔔 This track is taken from Masayoshi Fujita's upcoming album Bird Ambience, scheduled for release on Erased Tapes on 28th May. You can pre-order it from Bandcamp digitally, as a CD or limited edition 2LP.

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☟ Masayoshi Fujita Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ official site ⚘ twitter

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🐣 WILLIAM CASHION — TRIPLE OCEAN

⌾ LISTEN TO WILLIAM CASHION, TRIPLE OCEAN ⌾

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Most well known not by name, but for being the bassist of Future Islands, now Baltimore-based William Cashion is carving out a world of music all his own with the release of a debut solo album.

'Triple Ocean', one of a pair of singles taken from the album, exemplifies the ambient flavours that feature on it, the title of which —Postcard Music — echoes ancestor of ambient Erik Satie's musique d'ameublement or "furniture music" and purveyor of Japanese ambient equivalent, kankyō ongaku (environmental music) Hiroshi Yoshimura's Music for Nine Post Cards.

The watery credentials of Cashion's track are, of course, an intended product of his creation, named 'Triple Ocean' after a hand-painted sign he saw along the road during a trip to Jamaica in 2015.

"I initially came up with the piece that would become 'Triple Ocean' on the Eastern Shore of Maryland during a weekend trip to focus on writing," he tells yes/no via email. "It began with some simple layered guitar lines, which I edited down, cut up, and drenched in reverb." Note the drenched.

"When I sit down to work on music, I don't necessarily have anything in mind at first. I just start along a path, so to speak, and see where it leads me."

With cello added to make it sound yet more lush, Cashion's approach to ambience seems to be natural, prizing real-life instruments over synths, resulting a rich, living-and-breathing soundscape.

Beginning with a majestic tract of gleaming waves, a sonic introduction, the song moves into a mid-section that twangs gently like a sort of lucid lullaby. Then its "third movement" — which "emerged over time" — rises up; it ebbs and flows into a gradual crescendo of destructed wind and waves, like soft rocks tumbling over each other in the surf, empty grey skies hanging like gates to forever. Gazing at the horizon, it begins to get a little closer.

"I love the abstract and disparate effects instrumental music can have on the listener," Cashion continues, speaking on the attraction of ambient music away from the dramatic, focused songs of Future Islands. "The mind can wander, go wherever it likes. There's no focal point, no voice telling you exactly what the song is about. Music to dream to.

"I recommend listening to it with your eyes closed."

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• 🔔 Listen to Postcard Music on Spotify, or maybe you have another fav streaming service (choose). Otherwise, head over to William Cashion's Bandcamp to purchase it for yourself.
• 🔔 If you like things physical, then luckily for you there's an LP available.

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📠
☟ William Cashion Internet Presence ☟
soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ official site ⚘ twitter ⚘ youtube ⚘ instagram

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