Air Forest

We remember when we first heard ‘Open Close Open‘ way back in the early 2000s, via a folder of early Rasta Norten mp3s swapped via hard drive. Lippok’s Mahler-sampling 2001 solo debut instantly grabbed people’s attention and has been remastered and reissued, bundled with a new track using the original sound archive. It’s a beautiful record that typifies the sample-glitch aesthetic of the time. Highly recommended!

“The Closest Thing to Silence,” a collaborative effort by Ariel Kalma, Jeremiah Chiu, and Marta Sofia Honer, resonates profoundly from the outset. This work intricately weaves Kalma’s new age and fourth world sensibilities with the contemporary classical and ambient nuances of Chiu and Honer. It presents a beautifully complex amalgamation of sounds, offering a captivating auditory experience from beginning to end.

This week, we take a deep dive into the expansive discography and career of Yann Tomita, a Tokyo-based multi-hyphenate – musician, composer, record producer, and professional steelpan player. Since his early 80s debut, he’s released a diverse array of music, exemplified by the 2008 compilation “Forever Yann Music Meme 4 – Variations” on his influential Audio Science Laboratory label. This collection showcases the label’s impressive range, encompassing ambient, environmental, and even pop sounds. The bonus disc, in particular, is a journey not to be missed!

A lovely release from November last year, ‘A Cat Can Look At a King‘, is out on Ian Kim Judd’s new label, OST (We love his show Fifth World on NTS). A stunning set of beautifully constructed compositions from Naarm based Other Joe takes the listener to some fantastic places. Highly recommended!