Kaila Hawai'i

 
Back in my college days on the East Coast, I always had Talvin Singh’s compilation Anokha: Soundz of the Asian Underground playing in the background. It was one of those discs that heralded the arrival of the Asian sound into electronica and the greater mainstream music consciousness. Just think it would only be one year later [...]

Yes, we’re feeling Washed Out, and that’s not a bad thing.
Washed Out is a one-man ensemble by up-and-coming musician Ernest Green, who hails from Georgia. (Yes, we wouldn’t have thought Southern boys like electronics, but we’re glad  to be proven wrong.)   This track “Feel It All Around” is a perfect soundtrack for hot summer [...]

Beautiful cherry blossoms against a spring sky, perhaps?
Think again, and be sure to not get too close or you’ll feel a sharp sting.
These delicate, flower-like petals belong to a jellyfish. Combing by beauty and the potential for pain, the undulating sea creature is the key motif of the clip for “Graceful Ways” by Japanese electronica [...]

Several holiday seasons ago, at a very different time in my life, I discovered Faye Wong, the Chinese pop singer. Wong’s first claim to fame in the West had come from her luminous performance in Wong Kar Wai’s nineties cult classic Chungking Express, which featured her cover of The Cranberries’ “Dreams”.
In 2003, the year I [...]

Christmas is approaching, bringing with it an onslaught of overproduced holiday songs I’d rather not here. Couldn’t Western society just have stuck to madrigals, Gregorian chant, and plainsong to celebrate the season?
So, for some relief from the spirit of season, here’s one of our favorite tracks, “Hailing from the Edge” by German group electronic Apparat.  [...]

We do love our pae‘āina and enjoy the nahenahe sounds of mele Hawai‘i, but sometimes, we miss the urban edge and have a hankering for a good beat. While we still have yet to find the perfect discothèque on island