VA - Medium Ambient Collection 2023 (2023)

From MEDIUM, an electronic music label run by Masanori Nozawa, a writer/producer based in Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture, who has produced outstanding works centered on dance music/ambient chillout, a masterpiece dedicated to Japan's ambient scene has been released. Long-awaited appearance!

This is a masterpiece that we strongly recommend as a piece worthy of being called the 2020s version of "Kankyo Ongaku." The long-awaited 2CD box version of the ambient compilation album ``Medium Ambient Collection 2023,'' created by a wide variety of musicians based in various parts of Japan, has been curated from a modern and clear perspective, regardless of production method!

This work features electronica, post-classical, chiptune, underground techno, Willam Basinski's sophistication, post-vaporwave, harmony with nature, and other diverse perspectives, including voices, concrete sounds, playable synthesizers, and spiritual electronic sounds. With its low-bit sound, clear sustained sound, and beautiful piano acoustics, it is a monumental compilation album that represents one of the pinnacles of contemporary ambient music. It captures a clear time in which artists from a wide variety of scenes develop ambient as a new scene centered on the present.

For example, ``SEKITOVA'' develops ambience from the essence of techno, Hiroshi Watanabe's alias ``Kaito'' explores sophisticated sound textures after club music, and ``Kaito'' is a cross-disciplinary yet essential sound from New Age and beyond. All of the works included, such as ``Inner Science,'' which represents a chill-out style, and ``YAMAAN,'' which represents the ambient side of fantastic beat/chill-out music, demonstrate that ambient music is still at the forefront of the art of music. It is a crystal that represents what is happening.

I would like you to pick up this work, which captures a beautiful time that allows you to experience the landscape of the other side, which is the essence of "ambient" music. It is a masterpiece that can be said to be the best introductory album for understanding the current state of Japanese ambient music, and it is a milestone that defines the roadmap for the current scene. (Tsunao Kadowaki/Meditations)

Tracklist
Disc 1 - Side White
1. Inner Science – Hidden Ambient
2. tohma – Blur
3. Satoshi Arai – Cucumbers Dreams
4. YAMAAN – Albireo
5. Go Hiyama – Fiction By Two Children
6. Soma Hayato – 木霊
7. ind_fris – Escapism
8. Masanori Nozawa – Cloudland
9. MARU303 – Amenomae
10. SEKITOVA – Something
11. Yebisu303 – Midnight Sun
12. Hitoshi Kojima – Slight Difference
13. Kazumi Kaneda – Adenine

Disc 2 - Side Black
1. tatata5 – 柴雲
2. Betts(JP) – Sneer 01
3. Kagami Smile – Looking At Space In Time
4. Tomu – Withered Lilac
5. Alminium – Memoria Sensoriable
6. Shuta Hiraki – Jikan No Kishibe
7. 長屋 和塚 – Masken
8. TOMC – Everybody Loves Somebody
9. Hello103 – 4 a.m. Hazy Alley
10. TAKEO WATANABE – Into The Blue
11. Kaito – Flames In The Dark World