Good morning. Flow State turned 5 yesterday. We made an anniversary tee that lists the artists we’ve featured to date. The list is printed upside down, so if the wearer of the shirt needs a rec, they can just look down. Get one here.

Today we’re listening to Satoshi Ashikawa, a Japanese ambient composer. After graduating from college in Tokyo, he opened a record and bookstore, one of the first in Japan to sell Brian Eno’s ambient albums.¹ The shop became a nexus for the burgeoning kankyō ongaku scene. In 1982 he put out the LP Still Way, part of the series “Wave Notation” from the label he co-founded, Sound Process. The record reflects two primary influences: the furniture music of Erik Satie and the ambient music of Eno.² Collaborators on the record include Midori Takada on vibraphone, Satoshi’s wife Yuko on flute, and Hiroshi Yoshimura with the album art. Still Way was Satoshi’s only album. In 1983, the year after the record came out, he was killed in a car accident.

Still Way - Satoshi Ashikawa (60m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Bandcamp / Tidal

Have a good week this week.