Modern Nature Island

The second album from Modern Nature – a project helmed by Blackpool-born musician Jack Cooper, previously of indie duo Ultimate Painting – is designed to leave its audience awed…

The First Ever Boxed Set Celebrating The Work Of Stomu Yamashta For Island Records Between 1972 And 1976. Remastered Set Including The Albums 'Floating Music', 'The Man From The East', 'Freedom Is Frightening', 'One By One', 'Raindog', 'Go' And 'Go… Live From Paris'. Featuring Steve Winwood, Klaus Schulze, Michael Shrieve, Al Di Meola, Hugh Hopper, Gary Boyle, Morris Pert And More. Born in Kyoto, Japan, Yamashta studied music at Kyoto University and Berklee College of Music. His athletic and virtuoso percussion style came to prominence in the early 1970s when his work with the Red Buddha Theatre brought him to Europe. He teamed up with percussionist Morris Pert and members of his band Come To The Edge to record the album 'Floating Music' for Island Records in 1972. This was followed in 1973 by the release of the soundtrack album 'The Man From The East', which also featured Morris Pert and keyboard player Peter Robinson. Later the same year Yamashta formed the band East Wind with Gary Boyle (guitar), Hugh Hopper (bass) and Brian Gascoigne (keyboards) and recorded the excellent jazz rock album 'Freedom Is Frightening'.

It is 1960, Rock’n’Roll has just lost a couple of its protagonists during this and the previous year, the time of the great balladeers has just begun but soon will run out due to the new and exciting beat invasion. In US mainstream the tiki culture has reached a certain peak and is about to collapse but still goes strong and with it comes the so called “exotica” music, a crossover between smooth jazz and swing, Latin grooves, haunting melodies that are rooted in the folkloristic sounds from different parts of this world plus weird sound effects that often create a spooky jungle or dreamy island beach atmosphere.