One of my favorite genres shibuya-kei, though - a (nearly) dead label that makes most people go "huh?" Japanese club pop, or even "Pizzicato 5-style music" may be more informative, misleading though it is. Shibuya-kei is a more of an umbrella-term for a wide variety of music, rather than a narrow genre Though Pizzicato 5 belongs in it, other shibuya-kei bands don't necessarily sound much like them. And many of them don't make particularly club friendly music, either. My favorites are all female and generally sing their vocals with a more or less whispery voice. They are Yukari Fresh, Takako Minekawa, and Kahimi Karie. In that order. I also like Chara a whole lot, but she doesn't belong under the shibuya-kei umbrella. But I'll mention her anyway. :-) Other favorites include Cosa Nostra, Manabu Iwamura, Comoestas, Plus-Tech Squeeze Box, Orange Pekoe and Ego-Wrappin'.

Following my trip to Melbourne in 2002, my interest in abstract audio landscapes, field recordings, and ambient music in general was rekindled. It's all about mood, atmosphere, and imaginary, cinematic vistas. The sound of nature, taken in its pure form, or sliced up, reshaped and reassembled. Great stuff. I have many, many favorites, but the most important ones (for me) are Biosphere, Lustmord, Lull, Deathprod and Thomas Köner. The Dorobo people, too: Darrin Verhagen (Soft Ash in particular), MNortham (Breathing Towers!), Alan Lamb (the Primal Image and Night Passage-stuff), etc. Heavily inspired by Francisco Lopez's fantastic La Selva, I was moved to place an order for a whole stack of dirt cheap field recording CDs from Amazon (less than $3 each!). Deep woods, rainstorms, that sort of thing. Were they any good? Yes, they were. Echoes of Nature: Thunderstorm is a particular favorite.

(Photo credit : Jřrgen Smith)