It’s ambient Sunday again! Today I would love to zoom in on an amazing duo, my dear friends Sorok Pervyï, i.e. Rnkic and DJ Antoinette working together to create otherworldly audiovisual experiences. Rnkic’s visuals are heavily focused on strange light reflections, anisotropic diffraction of light through all kinds of ethereal substrates. DJ Antoinette’s music is percussion driven, I would call this breakcore if it was not so damn close to ambient at the same time. He describes his work as “obsessive drums […] and deconstructed soundscapes”, which is pretty fitting.

The main reason I bring them up is to promote the amazing show they have been hosting since September 2020 on the internet radio Station Station: La Non-Dansante (translates to the non-dancing). This radio is headquartered in La Station - Gare des Mines, an upcoming venue hosting a wide array of art exhibitions and music shows. La Non-Dansante focuses on ambient, abstract and experimental music, usually following a theme. For instance, their first program had for red lining the sound of flows, the music of fluids. The intro track is produced by one of my favorite recent ambient discoveries: Takashi Kokubo.

Takashi Kokubo - The Day I Saw The Rainbow (1993)

Kokubo, while still releasing today, is best known for his work in the late 80’s, early 90’s. As Russel Thomas puts it in his long-form for the Japan Times, Kokubo “[is] at the forefront of one of Japan’s most coveted musical exports: kankyō ongaku (environmental music), an offshoot of ambient music that summons worlds and fills spaces with synthesized, and sometimes natural, sounds”.

The album I am sharing today is different from the one picked by Sorok Pervyï, yet one Antoine played recently when we were having a drink. The harp sounds were really soothing to me, and managed to wear the stress off me, really bringing me to a happier, more peaceful state. The comment section is a beautiful place, among many beautiful messages are these words from user Philippe Cirse:

I feel like it was created by a man who had no ego. Someone who really wanted to serve others and bring them to a state of serenity through their art. He was not trying to impress with his technical skills (even if they were obviously there), rather he was using his ability to serve to make something extremely enjoyable for the listener.

This echoes well the intent of the artist himself, who recounted him being fed up with the pop rock music scene of the 80’s which was too message-focused, and his intent of making “casual music with a faint message that you listen to unintentionally”.

I hope you enjoy this relaxing hour-long journey, and that I have hopefully set you on a streak of nice discoveries by searching kankyō ongaku.

PS: The next show for the non-dansante will be about music for an imaginary shopping mall, guest starring yours truly. Tune in next Tuesday at 9pm.