WRWTFWW Switzerland Vinyl & CDs

Review: Having previously reissued Mkwaju Ensemble's inspired 1981 debut "Ki-Motion", WRWTFWW now turns its attention to their equally impressive follow-up from the same year, "Mkwaju". Beginning with a breezy chunk of Marimba-driven four-to-the-floor bliss, the album sees the Japanese trio - whose members included legendary percussionist and ambient artist Midori Takada - shuffle between hypnotic, Steve Reich-influenced minimalism ("Shak Shak"), melodious fusions of new age electronica and modern American classical ("Tira-Rin"), and glacial ambient soundscapes ("Pulse In The Mind"). Best of all, though, is "Flash-Back", a dense and intoxicating percussion workout that stretches out over 13 mind-bending minutes.

Review: Earlier in the year, Midori Takada released his first new solo album in 23 years - a breathlessly brilliant Afro-ambient extravaganza recorded "in a live setting" and utilising instruments held in the MEG Museum in Geneva. Recorded in 2918 and similarly produced with assistance from the museum, You Who Are Leaving sees the long-serving Japanese percussionist combine his own spiritual compositions with vintage recordings of chants by a Buddhist choir, led by Reverend Syuukoh Ikaw. For the most part, it's a sparse, haunting and intoxicating affair, with sustained chants being combined with all manner of percussion instruments (bells, cymbals, chimes, glass bowls) and plenty of studio effects to create mesmerising soundscapes. It's very good all told - so much so that it will likely one day be considered a new age ambient masterpiece.