When the venerable Seattle reissue haven Light in the Attic dips into the ambient/new age pool, you’d better tune in. Their previous compilations, I Am The Center and The Microcosm, have been pure fire, with a wide selection of American and European new age and experimental electronica.
The latest, Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990, curated by Spencer Doran of Visible Cloaks, brings together “an unprecedented overview of the country’s vital minimal, ambient, avant-garde, and New Age music – what can collectively be described as kankyō ongaku, or environmental music.” Like the recent Hiroshi Yoshimura reissue on Doran’s Empire of Signs imprint, Kankyō Ongaku unveils timeless gems rarely, if ever, heard outside of Japan.
This will surely lift all the ambient heads out of their mid-winter blues when it drops February 15. Pre-orders are up for a premium 3xLP or 2xCD box set, with extensive liner notes, artist bios, and an essay by Doran. Boom, baby! Let’s get it!!
Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990 tracklisting:
01. Satoshi Ashikawa - Still Space
02. Yoshio Ojima - Glass Chattering
03. Hideki Matsutake - Nemureru Yoru (Karaoke Version)
04. Ayuo Takahashi - Nagareru*
05. Joe Hisaishi - Islander
06. Yoshiaki Ochi - Ear Dreamin’
07. Masashi Kitamura + Phonogenix - Variation・III
08. Interior - Park
09. Yoichiro Yoshikawa - Nube
10. Yoshio Suzuki - Meet Me In The Sheep Meadow
11. Ryuichi Sakamoto - Dolphins*
12. Toshi Tsuchitori - Ishiura (Abridged)
13. Shiho Yabuki - Tomoshibi (abridged)
14. Toshifumi Hinata - Chaconne
15. Yasuaki Shimizu - Seiko 3
16. Inoyama Land - Apple Star
17. Hiroshi Yoshimura - Blink
18. Fumio Miyashita - See the Light (abridged)
19. Akira Ito - Praying For Mother / Earth Part 1
20. Jun Fukamachi - Breathing New Life
21. Takashi Toyoda - Snow
22. Yellow Magic Orchestra - Loom
23. Takashi Kokubo - A Dream Sails Out To Sea - Scene 3
24. Masahiro Sugaya - Umi No Sunatsubu
25. Haruomi Hosono - Original BGM
