Here's my 4Columns piece about Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980–
Update: Here's a Guardian interview with Doran about the project.
Doran is one half of the Portland-based group Visible Cloaks, whose music takes it bearings in large part from that Fourth World Japan moment of the '80s. Their latest project goes one step further and directly collaborates with a pair of Japanese veterans of the era - Yoshio Ojima and Satsuki Shibano. Released on April 5, 'serenitatem', is Vol. 15 in FRKWYS - RVNG Intl.’s series of inter-generational collaborations.
Release rationale:
"serenitatem burns away the easy cynicism of the day, presenting itself as the kind of delocalized work of art the internet promised us decades ago — a synthesis of artistic visions, technological sophistication, futurist ambition, and, occasionally, ancient polyphony. Listening to it can feel a bit like tuning in to a 21st Century version of St. Giga: It’s a place where the future still grows."