For Nihon

If you are remotely interested in this kind of music you’re probably familiar with this release already.
But in case you’ve missed it:

Shortly after the Japan earthquake on March 11th this year, Keith Kenniff (a.k.a. Goldmund/Helios) and his wife Hollie decided to ask ‘a few friends’ to participate in a compilation album to help raise money for the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund, set up by New York’s Japan Society.

The ‘few‘ friends quickly became ‘many‘, and the list of artists contributing to the (38) tracks featured on “For Nihon” reads like an impressive who’s who in popular ‘pop ambient’:
Arms and Sleepers, Dustin O’Halloran, Peter Broderick, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Biosphere, Hammock, Olafur Arnalds, Jon Hopkins, Nils Frahm, Alva Noto, Ryan Teague, Max Richter, Goldmund….And this is only just one-third of the full tracklist!
I guess it’s best to check the full list on the release page and order your copy immediately!

In the same period, “Kanshin”  was also released: another double CD set equally impressive. There are no artists doubling on these two double-album sets – another proof of the liveliness of the ‘ambient’ music scene.

On “For Nihon”, the ‘ambient’ definition may be slightly debatable, however.
Compared to Kanshin (which is leaning somewhat more towards experimental soundscapes), For Nihon is more ‘pop-oriented’ in style, and has a slightly lighter tone. Thus, it will probably also appeal to listeners less familiar with ‘experimental’ music.

On the downside, I personally find the sequence of tracks somewhat less balanced at times.
For example, I think the Balmorhea live version of ‘Clamor‘ sounds a bit loud and somewhat intrusive, placed this way between other tracks (especially immediately following Alva Noto’s characteristic electronics).

But that’s just nitpicking, of course! Overall, it’s a great collection, a compilation very much worth buying.
For the music itself, if you want – but even more for the cause it supports (100% of all profits are donated to the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund).

To ‘us’ living far away, march 2011 may seem a long time ago, and the media hardly cover the issue now.
But in Japan people still struggle every day to be able to recover from the disaster.

“For Nihon” is available as a double CD set as well as a digital download (MP3/FLAC).
Both are available for the same price ($20) (which probably means you donate somewhat more if you choose the download version?). Either way, don’t hesitate!