In college, I took an introductory electronic music class with one of the genre's early pioneers, Joel Chadabe. Chadabe was long on words and short on instruction, but the class never seemed to mind. His directionless rambling was like listening to a genius think. One story, involving a spanish omelette, was related to us by Chadabe at least a dozen times throughout the semester. By the fifth or sixth rerun, we started chuckling quietly to ourselves, or looking around at the others. But by the eighth or nineth "spanish omelette" retelling, I think we had all decided it was part of Chadabe's charm.

The funny part? I don't even remember the story.

RadicalFashion broke open the vault of Chadabe's instruction. Suddenly I remembered him asking the class to start moving through the day with our ears open, listening to every sound as if it were music. The rain running into an underground gutter. The window fan slicing through the humid summer air. The tiny shoots of air moving through your lover's mouth as she sleeps. RadicalFashion's creator, Hirohito Ihara, does just that. Combining elegant piano compositions with everyday sounds. The result is a startingly beautiful, textured soundscape.

I discovered RadicalFashion through a posting on 3Hive, so I'll post that track here, as well. In February 2007, RadicalFashion released his debut full-length album Odori. It's incredible, and I highly recommend you purchase it. (Buy it at iTunes)

1. "Shoushetsu" - RadicalFashion (Originally posted on 3Hive)

2. "Toh-Koh" -RadicalFashion

3. "Photo Dynasmo" - RadicalFashion 

I didn't fully appreciate Chadabe's instruction until now. Maybe it's time I started exploring experimental electronic music more. Please drop me a line if you know of any other artists worth looking into.

-- Jess