Midori Takada will be performing at London’s incredible Union Chapel on April 17. The Japanese composer and percussionist released a reissue of her 1982 album ‘Through The Looking Glass’ last year, as well as ‘Lunar Cruise’, her collaboration with Masahiko Satoh. This is not to be missed. Ambient, mystical, dream-like, fluid – Takada’s music is all of these things and more. Her largely-experimental music falls in line with a freeing musical philosophy – in Takada’s words, “Everything that exists on this earth has a sound. Even if humans don’t call it an instrument, on this earth, there exists a significant vibrancy.”
Takada will return to London after her 2017 set at the Transcender Festival (which took place at The Barbican) for what promises to be a special performance. Takada will be supported by experimental producer Jan Jelinek, whose album, Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records, is still, seventeen years later, revered as one of the finest electronic records ever released, and Jelinek’s live performances are things of rare beauty.
A week later, on the 24th of April, the legendary Tangerine Dream will perform at the same venue, playing their first UK show in four years and their first date in London since the death of their founder, Edgar Froese. Tangerine Dream need no introduction, having mesmerized listeners the world over for the last fifty or so years with their brand of ambient, experimental and electronic music, receiving international acclaim and releasing over one hundred albums (yes, really) in the process. The band’s remaining members – Thorsten Quaeschning, Hoshiko Yamane, Ulrich Schnauss and Bianca Acquaye (Froese’s widow) pledged to fulfil Froese’s vision after his death, and they continue to release music – their latest album, Quantum Gate, came out in September 2017, which synced up with the band’s fifty-year anniversary. Froese’s legacy lives on in the band and their music, as the album gave fruit to his ideas and concepts. Both events are sure to be special. Watch this space for full and further coverage.