Produced by YMO’s Haruomi Hosono, Après-Midi is a masterpiece collection of visionary synth-pop and one of the great holy grails of ’80s Japanese electronic music. Testpattern, a duo […]
1982
One of the greatest funk records of the ’80s, Patrice Rushen’s landmark album Straight from the Heart was released during a time when many jazz artists were exploring […]
Krautrock legend Michael Rother (Kraftwerk, Harmonia, Neu!) presents a collection of minimalistic guitar and synth-based compositions on his fourth solo album Fernwärme, which is the German word for […]
Armed with a Roland 303 and an 808, in 1982 the Indian film composer Charanjit Singh entered a studio for a couple days to see what these new […]
Featured in the “Organic” section of Chee Shimizu’s Obscure Sound disc guide, Elements is the debut album from fretless bass player Mark Egan and drummer Danny Gottlieb’s 80s […]
Emerging from the New Romantic scene, an underground subculture in the United Kingdom characterized by flamboyant fashion inspired by glam rock and the Romantic period, Culture Club and […]
Raw Sex, Pure Energy was a one-off project by bassist George Oban (On-U Sound, Motion, Aswad), drummer Joe Blocker (Karma), and vocalist Neneh Cherry (stepdaughter of Don Cherry). […]
In 1982, Horace Andy carried his sweet, sweet falsetto to Brooklyn to work with Lloyd “Bullwackie” Barnes. Bullwackie had grown up in Trenchtown alongside friends including Alton Ellis, […]
Emmanuel “Rico” Rodriguez was a Cuban-born Jamaican ska and reggae trombonist. He is known as one of the first ska musicians and has worked with The Members, The […]
A truly unique private press record from Martinique, Claude Rodap’s Syn-Ka sounds like “Jean Michel Jarre getting fruity on sabbatical in the Caribbean.” Filled with various cosmic synthesizers […]
Northern Song is the first of many classic ECM albums from Minneapolis based guitarist Steve Tibbetts and percussionist Marc Anderson. Recorded over the course of three days in […]
Weekend was a British indie pop / post-punk band formed by Alison Statton following the split of Young Marble Giants in 1981. The group’s debut album La Varieté […]
A heavily underrated bargain bin jam, Bill Wolfer’s debut album Wolf is an unexpected hit featuring some of the greatest artists to ever do it including Stevie Wonder, […]
Kevin McCormick’s unreleased bedroom studio tape material (1982-1984). Following the release of Light Patterns in 1982, Kevin recorded a series of songs onto tape that explored the sonic […]
Los Angeles native Micheal Wycoff started his musical journey at just three years old playing piano at home and the church close by. Hearing Donny Hathaway’s voice inspired […]
A selection from Growing Bin’s Basso, Haindling 1 is the debut album by the Bavarian jazz-pop band led by Hans-Jürgen Buchner. The group is essentially a solo project […]
Junior Delahaye’s Showcase is a classic and sought after lovers rock album from Lloyd “Bullwackie” Barnes’ Bronx-based Wackies label. Delahaye actualy worked as an engineer for Wackie’s and […]
Don “Minister of Funk” Blackman had an illustrious musical career starting when he was only 15 years old with Charles McPherson, who was his neighbor growing up in […]
Jamaican singer Don Carlos first made a name for himself as one of the founding members of the influential reggae band Black Uhuru, who rose to international fame […]
We first came across this one on the great Lovefingers music blog… Chekeré Son is a must-have album from Afro-Cuban jazz legends Irakere (Yoruba for ‘forest’). One of […]
Soft Machine and Matching Mole drummer turned multi-instrumentalist / songwriter Robert Wyatt presents a collection of political protest songs and cover versions of Chic, Billie Holiday, and Ivor […]
Played at the Paradise Garage by Larry Levan, Aretha Franklin’s “Jump To It” is an instant party starter produced by Luther Vandross with his songwriting partner Marcus Miller. […]
On The Love That Whirls (Diary Of A Thinking Heart), the wildly creative force of Be Bop Deluxe founder Bill Nelson is on full display with the artist […]
A favorite of our good friend Justin Gage of Aquarium Drunkard, Cycles is the second solo album by cellist David Darling on Manfred Eicher’s seminal ECM Records. With […]
A bargain bin classic and underrated favorite, I Scare Myself is essentially a Compass Point All Stars record led by songwriter Barry Reynolds. The album features all members […]
Guitarists Kevin McCormick and David Horridge collaborated on this wordless, dream-like album back in 1982, using only guitars and the occasional fretless bass to express themselves. The obvious […]
The inaugural release on Kunihiko Murai’s legendary Yen Records, Philharmony is a landmark electronic work by Yellow Magic Orchestra’s Haruomi Hosono. The album was recorded almost entirely by […]
The inaugural release by cult new age label Windham Hill is also the debut album by its founder, William Ackerman. In Search of the Turtle’s Naval transformed Ackerman from […]
Featured in the “Psychedelic” section of Chee Shimizu’s Obscure Sound disc guide, Melody & Menace is the self-released debut from Toronto-based progressive rock group Terraced Garden. Led by […]
Barton Smith’s gorgeous “one-person orchestra” tape compositions using a mixture of acoustic, electronic, and found instruments. While clearly experimental in approach, the music was actually composed with the […]
Melancholic keyboard works by Belgian composer Dominique Lawalrée on his Editions Walrus “non-commercial music” label. The compositions feature a range of keyboard sounds using Bösendorfer piano, Hohner and […]
Cosmic / balearic synth explorations from Danish keyboard maestro Klaus Schønning. While not as popular or deep as his debut Lydglimt, Schønning’s third studio album Nasavu is still quite […]
Leroy Hutson might not be a household name, but you might’ve heard his work through another great soul singer, Donny Hathaway. Hutson was Hathaway’s roommate at Howard University […]
Released nearly two years after their first no. 1 hit The Game, Queen’s Hot Space was a departure from the group’s typical layered arrangements and orchestral sound into […]
The underrated Bobby Caldwell album, Carry On sees the pop funk soul singer dive into deeper subjects beyond love and simple attraction. A2 “Sunny Hills” almost sounds like […]
Possibly the greatest female reggae MC of all time, Ranking Ann delivers six powerful cuts of dancehall perfection on her debut album A Slice of English Toast produced […]
Bruce Springsteen’s sixth studio album Nebraska is a DIY loner classic released long before the term “bedroom producer” was a thing. The album was recorded with the assistance […]
Music for healing from our good friends at Séance Centre… On Music of the Five Elements, electronic composer Sam McClellan applies the ancient Chinese philosophy of medicine to […]
Dubbed “one of pop music’s sneakiest masterpieces” due to its low-key but lasting popularity, Donald Fagen’s post-Steely Dan solo debut The Nightlfy is a semi-autobiographical concept album looking […]
Featured in the “Experimental” section of Chee Shimizu’s Obscure Sound disc guide, Fluchtweg Madagaskar, which translates to “escape route to Madagascar,” is the cult classic debut album by […]
Beautiful was ironically the product of a band in complete turmoil. Multiple failed attempts at mainstream success combined with feverish internal tension within Aussie new wave band The […]
The 1982 self-titled debut by Japanese synth-pop quartet Pegmo is a little hard to place sonically. Off-kilter new wave, synthesizer doo-wop, electronic cabaret or Jacques Brel chanson meets […]
Before releasing Awakening in 1980, Hiroshi Sato was already one of the most respected keyboardists/session players in Tokyo, appearing on countless classics while also building his own indelible […]
Entering the world of 80’s Japanese synth-pop can be a little overwhelming. The amount of music seems infinite with thousands of offshoots, sub-genres, and artists. If you’re just […]
Woo is the beloved experimental UK sibling duo of Clive and Mark Ives who released a slew of dreamy introspective folk / ambient records in the 80’s and […]
Trippy, experimental dub from famed UK producer Adrian Sherwood’s On-U-Sound. “African Head Charge” was formed as a studio project inspired by Brian Eno’s “vision for a psychedelic Africa” […]
Welcome to the spirited, enchanting world of Japanese musical visionary Yasuaki Shimizu. You may know him from his work with Ryuichi Sakamoto, or as the innovative bandleader of […]
