CALM Vinyl & CDs

Review: On paper, this may seem an unlikely collaboration - Japanese ambient and deep acid stalwart meets eccentric Finnish lounge, jazz and exotica veteran - but it's a genuinely brilliant EP. 'Big City Takes' genuinely makes the best of both Calm and Jimi Tenor's talents, with the latter's eyes-closed vocals, evocative flutes and shuffling exotica rhythms fitting perfectly with the former's stirring strings and immersive ambient electronics. Tapes remixes, first delivering a jazzy hip-hop informed head-nodder before serving up some ambient dub/digi-dub fusion, before Calm delivers his version of a second Tenor collaboration, 'Time and Space' - an ambient jazz masterpiece. Vendetta Suite's warming, subtly tropical Balearic rework of that track is also brilliant. Tip!

Review: Kiyotaka Fukagawa released his latest album as Calm on Hell Yeah last year, but the label are wisely taking their time in revisiting the material to give it that extra dose of timelessness. On this second round of remixes, Mark Barrott brings a tasteful dose of Eastern mysticism to "Space Is My Place" on his aptly titled "Re-Imagination To The Sacred Heart Center". Turn the record over for My Friend Dario's "Etna Breeze" version of "Shadows & Lights" - an expansive acid laced ambient dream with a touch of 80s new age. This is classy stuff for gentle souls - Balearic heads take note!

Review: The master of instrumental downtempo funk and soul returns with four more sides of gloriously laid back grooves as the label reissues his Before album. Fukagawa Kiyotaka was in top form here with supremely sunny sax motifs and deep, lush drums sinking you in right from the off. He then leans on his cultural heritage with Eastern melodies drifting over starry-eyed chords, layers in plenty of serene strings and even gets jazzy on the fantastic 'Feel It.' A downtempo and Balearic masterpiece for sure.

Review: Mukatsuku looks to the legendary Japanese downtempo producer Calm here for a new, hand-numbered 7" in the form of his 'Quiet Music Under The Moon' sampler. It features two tunes taken from his masterful new album, the first being 'Oyasumi, Ohayo' where subtle synths ripple beneath Balearic leads. It's heartbroken ambient introspection for late-night star gazing. On the flip, 'Moon Shower' is more hopeful and optimistic, with mellifluous layers of synth shimmer like the sun off the Med. It's beautiful and cathartic with Calm's majestic synth craft front and centre.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Record ever so slightly warped, otherwise in excellent condition***


On paper, this may seem an unlikely collaboration - Japanese ambient and deep acid stalwart meets eccentric Finnish lounge, jazz and exotica veteran - but it's a genuinely brilliant EP. 'Big City Takes' genuinely makes the best of both Calm and Jimi Tenor's talents, with the latter's eyes-closed vocals, evocative flutes and shuffling exotica rhythms fitting perfectly with the former's stirring strings and immersive ambient electronics. Tapes remixes, first delivering a jazzy hip-hop informed head-nodder before serving up some ambient dub/digi-dub fusion, before Calm delivers his version of a second Tenor collaboration, 'Time and Space' - an ambient jazz masterpiece. Vendetta Suite's warming, subtly tropical Balearic rework of that track is also brilliant. Tip!