Hey Friends ----

For this mix I wanted to focus on one geographic point of origin and explore the breadth of music that is represented there - I perused my collection and pulled out 16 or so tracks from Japan. A remote island nation is in the perfect setting to absorb, filter, and reinterpret various influences into their most crystalline form (see New Zealand). While then going on to infuse them with the indigenous rhythms and flavors.

With that in mind the music via the link below spans many genres, eras,
 and styles (from math rock to jazz to pop to indie to new age and beyond) but I think between them all is a solid through line which I hope you can hear too.

I must admit 3 things here: 

Number one is a happy accident - the Midori Takada song featured about halfway through the mix should've been played at 45rpm however I was too in the zone to notice and the results are rather intriguing - it takes the piece more into meditative philip glass-esque place than the more frenetic original approach. The fact the it translates so well regardless of speed speaks to it's versatility. If you hanker or the original version you can find it here: Midori Takada - Crossing

The second is only after completing the mix did I realize that I omitted one of my favorite labels from the region that definitely should be represented here: guruguru brain. I highly recommend their output of modern Japanese psych rock and wish I could go back in time and add a few more tracks in to highlight their sound.

Finally, for the sake of brevity I limited myself to one track per artist here and easily could have cherry picked several more from each. That to say this is by no means definitive and I would love to hear if you have any other awesome Japanese music to send my way.

If you want a full track list let me know and thanks for peeping.

Harlan Levine

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