AllMusic

Fujiya & Miyagi

Lightbulbs

September 9, 2008

Alternative Dance

Call the songs lackadaisical hypno-grooves, if you will, or use the band's label of "whisper-electro" to define the sound, but essentially it's calming, polite electro-pop that invokes '60s lounge, '70s Krautrock, and '80s synth pop while staying relevant to more modern sounds popularized by Hot Chip, Ladytron, and Air. Meanwhile, verses give props to Hans Christian Anderson, Lena Zavaroni, and Dietrich Knickerbocker. If that's not fun, what is?

- Jason Lymangrover

Enrico Rava

The Pilgrim and the Stars

June, 1975

Avant-Garde Jazz

Enrico Rava's debut for ECM, 1975's The Pilgrim and the Stars, is a stellar progressive jazz effort from the Italian trumpeter who was then just coming into his own. Previously, Rava had spent his formative years working with such artists as saxophonist Steve Lacy, trombonist Roswell Rudd, and pianist Carla Bley, and obviously took much to heart when approaching his own music. This is cerebral, atmospheric, often groove-oriented music that rests nicely in between such touchstones as late-'60s Miles Davis and Brown Rice-era Don Cherry with some obvious nods to the melodic jazz of ex-pat Chet Baker.

- Matt Collar