Haruomi Hosono’s first solo album after Yellow Magic Orchestra, S-F-X is a techno-pop classic featuring all-time favorites including “Strange Love” and “Alternative 3.” Despite the album being credited […]
1984
Electronic dark arts meet ethereal organic instrumentation and early sampling on O Yuki Conjugate’s cult classic debut album Scene In Mirage. The album was recorded in just five […]
“One of the most beautiful voices on earth,” Sheila Chandra first rose to prominence as the singer of raga-based UK pop band Monsoon. In 1982, the group’s debut […]
Larkin Stentz is an American composer, flutist, and author based in Long Beach, Washington. Part of the early ’80s New Age movement, Stentz released a number of “healing […]
Ethiopian jazz meets drum machine and synthesizers on Admas’ 1984 cult classic Sons of Ethiopia. As the title suggests, Admas’ core members were children of Ethiopian families exiled […]
A “supergroup” formed from the ashes of the kraut explosion, Dunkelziffer was created with an ideal that all members had equal rights to composition and decision making. The […]
The sound of a clumsily brilliant band figuring out how to harness their increasingly practiced musical chops while retaining the chaos required of Mark E. Smith’s lifelong project, […]
Forty years ago, the Italian experimental artist Doris Norton helped cross a divide that changed music production: She linked an early Apple II computer to synthesized instruments, channeled […]
…Theoretically is a masterpiece duo album from two NYC avant-garde jazz musicians at the top of their game. Bill Frisell lays down layers of gorgeous and intricate ambient guitar […]
Somewhat an anomaly in the vast ECM catalog, composer, saxophonist and synthesizer player Ulrich Lask presents a fusion of new wave and electronic jazz on Sucht + Ordnung […]
Neapolitan Power legend Tony Esposito started his career as a session musician playing percussion on classic albums by Italian icons like Alan Sorrenti, Francesco de Gregori, Lucio Dalla, […]
Modern is a dreamy experimental jazz album from Toshiyuki Honda, a Japanese saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who worked with Chick Corea, Tatsuya Takahashi, and Kazumi Watanabe in the […]
Under the right circumstances – pure focus, full volume and in the proper headspace – Tabula Rasa is among the deepest, most profound recordings you’ll ever experience. Released […]
Not Drowning, Waving (styled as not drowning, waving) was an indie rock band from Melbourne, Australia led by classically trained musicians David Bridie and John Phillips. The group’s […]
It’ll End In Tears is the classic debut album by 4AD family band This Mortal Coil featuring members of Cocteau Twins, Magazine, and Dead Can Dance. 4AD described […]
Two of the U.K.’s finest dub legends come together for a wicked combination album featuring the “Zulu Warrior” Jah Shaka on Side A and Ariwa Sounds boss Mad […]
Can bassist Holger Czukay aims for the charts with this simple, but addictive single from his 1984 avant-pop album Der Osten Ist Rot (The East is Red). Much […]
Queen of the avant-garde Laurie Anderson teams up with iconic bass maestro / producer Bill Laswell on her classic second studio album Mister Heartbreak. As usual with Anderson’s […]
One of our favorite deadstock finds of the year, Myles Davis and Ray Herrmann’s Hybrid Vigor is private press gold from two virtually unknown musicians from Stamford who met […]
An obscure and quite underrated ’80s electronic folk album, Karácsonyi Magyar Népdalok (Hungarian Christmas Folk Songs) might not be the most appealing title tag, but trust us, this […]
We don’t often feature 12″ records here but this one is too good not to… Public Image Limited’s bass maestro Jah Wobble puts together a one-off trio featuring […]
A massively underrated release from the unsung American post-experimental composer Daniel Lentz, On the Leopard Altar shines bright with voices, digital keyboards, and tuned wineglasses. While Lentz’s music […]
Part of a trio of privately released albums on David Oliver’s own Damiana Records, Hope For La Roo is a gorgeous collection of minimal jazz compositions centered around […]
One of our favorites from the deep On-U catalog, Tunes from the Missing Channel is producer Adrian Sherwood, drummer Style Scott, and the whole Dub Syndicate collective at […]
An indie new age classic that went platinum, Ray Lynch’s Deep Breakfast melds classical baroque technique with cosmic new age sounds. You’d think with those two genres the […]
The “Music Interior” flagship released in 1985 on Klaus Schulze’s Innovative Communication: Morning Picture. Bassist Yoshio Suzuki’s debut on the imprint was his sophomore solo release, one that […]
One of the unsung heroes of the Japanese environmental music scene, Yas-Kaz is credited for introducing Balinese gamelan music to Ryuichi Sakamoto, Midori Takada (Mkwaju Ensemble), and Shoji […]
Featured in the “New Age Electronics” section of Shotaro Matsumoto’s recent Walearic (Japanese Balearic) Disc Guide, Apsaras’ lone album is an underrated Japanese gem that’s surprisingly cheap and […]
Composed entirely with his own voice, Todd Rundgren’s A Cappella features overdubbing techniques with the legendary E-mu Emulator. The power of sampling is in full effect with Rundgren’s […]
Created seven years before the collapse of Yugoslavia during a period of heavy turmoil, Zora by Slavic disco pioneer Boban Petrović is a psychedelic disco masterpiece that would […]
Transfer Station Blue is a cult classic Berlin School style album recorded by Santana drummer Michael Shrieve, his brother Kevin, and legendary German electronic composer Klaus Schulze. The […]
Techno-Bush is Hugh Masekala and the Medu Art Ensemble’s Afro-futurist vision of South Africa. Protesting through sound and dance, Masekala and crew crafted a futuristic “techno-bush” with a […]
A textural masterpiece, Cocteau Twins third album Treasure is possibly the group’s finest work and a definite 4AD record during the label’s creative peak. Robin Guthrie, Simon Raymonde, […]
Originally released in Japan on JVC’s excellent Music Interior series but also later in Germany on Klaus Schulze’s Innovative Communication, Seigén Ono’s debut album is a minimal masterpiece […]
Produced by the legendary Eumir Deodato, Intimate Connection by New York City–based ensemble Kleeer is a groundbreaking boogie funk masterpiece and roller disco favorite. The album was released […]
Originally released on tape in 1984, David Toop and Steve Beresford’s experimental dub masterpiece Danger in Paradise is a major highlight of the 80’s improvised music scene in […]
Considered by many to be one of the crowning achievements in the ambient genre, Structures From Silence was a dramatic departure from Roach’s previous heavily sequenced Berlin-school favored […]
We first came across this album on Japanese record collector Dubby’s Ondas shop. Palle Mikkelborgs Journey To… is a Danish jazz fusion gem featuring musicians who would later […]
Released on JVC’s excellent Music Interior series, Lisa is the first solo effort from revered Japanese musician/producer Masahide Sakuma. Sakuma started his career playing bass in B-52s-inspired new […]
Ann O’Connor’s runaway youth days in late ’70s New York is the stuff of legends. She was living on her own at 16 and with no overt desire […]
Most of the songs on Anna Domino’s brilliant solo debut East & West were written in her childhood bedroom in the late hours of the night on a […]
French keyboard player Wally Badarou had only been in London for a year when he was asked to come to Island Records’ recording studio in the Bahamas to […]
You may not have heard the name Ini Kamoze before, but there’s a good chance you’ve heard his voice. The refrain “Out in the street, they call it […]
Like a lot of great music we enjoy, Roger Melt’s Pleine Lune is completely unique and difficult to place, and also the only solo release from the Geneva-based […]
A time machine has spasmed and created a glitch merging nostalgic 1950’s Addis Ababa and futuristic 1980’s America into an other-worldly dimension – the result is Hailu Mergia […]
“I strove to produce a musical work which uplifts the spirit by calming the mind and organically stimulating the subtler dimensions of physiology, in a manner consonant with […]
E2-E4 is a one hour long improvisational piece split into two sides. Recorded in one take at Göttsching’s home studio in Berlin, the album is an accidental masterpiece […]
“Kankyō ongaku,” Japanese for “environmental music,” was a popular genre of functional ambient music in Japan in the 80’s led by electronic artists Hiroshi Yoshimura, Takashi Kokubo, Joe […]
