Apr 21

For Nihon

Posted in: ambient, compilations

Ambient musicians across the globe unite to support Japan relief efforts

nihon1.jpg

As the Japanese earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis begin to fade from the headlines, heartfelt efforts to help the nation recover continue. One that recently stood out brings together a group of ambient recording artists who are stepping up with their talents to support the cause.

The compilation album, called For Nihon, is the work of husband-and-wife musician team Keith Kenniff and his wife Hollie Kenniff. Like that project, this one beautifully fuses music and a digital component; in this case, British DJ Luke Twyman—whose Solar Beat music box caught our attention last year—designed this site allowing visitors to create beautifully-simple circular patterns and sound by skimming a mouse around the page.

The album itself, originally sourced from Twyman’s community of musicians, organically grew to include upwards of 40 contributors, including Rafael Anton Irisarri from the U.S., Japan’s Ryuichi Sakamoto and Robin Guthrie (U.K.).

nihon-1.jpeg

Pick up the two-disc CD or download it (coming soon) for $20 each, with 100% of sales going to the Japan Society‘s Japan Earthquake Relief Fund.


No Comments | Tags: , , , , , ,
Mar 29

Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology

Posted in: compilations, reissues

An overhauled primer on the history of jazz in an expansive six-disc compilation

jazz-anthology1.jpg jazz-anthology2.jpg

Seven years in the making, Smithsonian Folkways‘ new edition, Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology represents the new standard, a long-overdue update to Martin Williams’ out-of-print compilation The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz. While some of the 111 selections on the six-disc set remain the same as the original, Jazz broadens its scope to include Latin jazz and fusion, as well as South African and Vietnamese musicians.

With seasoned producer and musician Richard James Burgess at the helm, the changes not only include new insight into the history of jazz (the original set didn’t include anything recorded after 1966), but it also plays to short attention spans and today’s penchant for rare tracks. For example, Jazz keeps Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” as it’s opener, but switches out the 1916 recording of Joplin performing for a Dick Hyman’s 1975 rendition. Burgess and his team also chose to leave out excerpts from longer pieces unless they were released as singles initially. One such case, a 2:49 version of Miles Davis’ 14-minute-long “Miles Runs the Voodoo Down” is featured just before a Cool Hunting favorite, Mahavishnu Orchestra’s “Celestial Terrestrial Commuters.”

Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology sells online from Amazon and Smithsonian Folkways and comes with a 200-page book of liner notes.

via Time Magazine


No Comments | Tags: , , , ,