A couple of new-ish releases in the Marmite world of ambient have caught my attention this year. This is not new material, as such, but new compilations of old, difficult to find stuff most folks will have never heard. The first Kankyo Ongaku – Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990 is a beautifully packaged (in CD or LP form – the download is highlights only) release with an informative essay on the origins of Japanese ambient, and detailed notes on each of the tracks. The double CD version, which I have, is more like a hardback book than an album. Like other forms of ambient, Japanese environmental music is indebted to Eno, Cage and Satie’s furniture music, among others, but Japan was, in some ways, primed for ambient through its long tradition of incorporating natural sounds into outdoor spaces and garden design. Ambient became hugely popular in Japan in the 80s, a counterpoint to the garish excesses of the decade, an agrarian retreat in a glitzy, overcrowded metropolis. The music on this album is calm and spacious, with lots of room around the notes.
The music on La Ola Interior: Spanish Ambient and Acid Exoticism 1983-1990 is less delicate and mannered. Whereas the Japanese ambient sometimes seems constrained by form, here there’s a kind of DIY impulse and a wider variety of styles. This sounds like music made in basement flats on whatever equipment was to hand. The result is a rougher overall sound, but also an urgency and vitality sometimes lacking in the former album.
I love both albums and have been listening to little else all summer. I’ve posted a track from each album in the comments to give you a taste of what’s on offer. Feel free to add any recent ambient recommendations of your own.
Fumio Miyashita – See The Light (abridged)
Javier Segura – Malgueñas 2
Listening this morning. See The Light is very, very nice indeed and I’ll be checking out more Miyashita on the strength of that. Very much my kinda thang.
KFD posted an excellent album of Japanese flute music the other day, something I’ve long been fond of. Koto too. I got into an album of Japanese Edo music many moons ago and it’s still a regular favourite listen.
Don’t like the Segura though. Sounds too much like noise.
Japanese music of all genres seems to have existed in a kind of parallel universe to Western popular music. It hardly seems to have penetrated Western culture at all. Ryuichi Sakamoto, The Yellow Magic Orchestra, Pizzicato Five; that’s been about the sum of my knowledge of Japanese popular music. But there’s clearly huge reserves of great stuff out there waiting to be explored. YouTube has many of the tracks on this album, plus full albums by some of the artists featured that are otherwise very hard to find in physical form.
Thank you Martin. The Miyashita is a balm for the senses. I have been listening to some of the recent mixes on Headphone Commute dedicated to Ukraine. A little more unsettling perhaps but very moving.
Just been listening as I tinker with some picture hanging in the lounge. Rachel Grimes, Helios and Sakamoto are the only familiar names to me, but there’s some lovely stuff on there, and all for a good cause. Thanks for sharing.
How can “urgency and vitality” be reconciled with Ambient, in the case of the Spanish stuff?
Isn’t Ambient supposed to be just there, to be noticed or not noticed as the listener’s state of mind / activity dictates?
I’m a fan of the Headphone Commute mixes, which are not always what I’d call ambient.
Something else I usually enjoy are the podcasts from Framework Radio.
The Spanish album’s subtitle is ‘ambient and acid exoticism’ so it’s a broader take. Some of it is quite intrusive. The Japanese album conforms to a stricter definition of ambient.
I ran out of time editing the above and couldn’t include the URL for Framework Radio, so here it is, if you’re interested.
https://frameworkradio.net/
Their stated purpose is “Phonography: Field Recording And It’s Use In Composition: The Art Of Sound Hunting: Open Your Ears And Listen”.
Thanks @Mike_H Will give it a listen later. Have you heard any of ex-Cabaret Voltaire man Chris Watson’s field recordings? He sticks microphones under glaciers and such like.
I think some of his stuff has been played on BBC R3’s Night Tracks or Late Junction.
Recording glaciers certainly rings a bell.
I treated myself to this recently
Various – I Am The Center: Private Issue New Age Music In America, 1950-1990
https://www.discogs.com/release/15971000-Various-I-Am-The-Center-Private-Issue-New-Age-Music-In-America-1950-1990
The term ‘new age’ would normally make me running screaming for the nearest Iron Maiden album, but this is a great compilation.
Good call @simon22367. Yes I have that. It’s a fantastic compilation. It introduced me to the work of Michael Stearns (his track is my favourite), among many others. If you like that you might enjoy the follow up The Microcosm: Visionary Music of Continental Europe 1970-1986. Both these albums, and the Kankyo Ongaku compilation were released on Light in the Attic records. I’ve just been browsing their excellent catalogue and they seem to have a lot of Japanese ambient.
Thanks for the tip Martin, yet now albums to investigate.
If anyone’s on the lookout for some top-quality Japanese ambient albums, I can recommend two by Hiroshi Yoshimura…
Music For Nine Post Cards (1982)
Green (1986)
… and the sole recording by Yumiko Morioka, which is an absolute gem:
Resonance (1987)