If you got tongue from David Bowie, it might change your life. It certainly brought one Japanese pop star-actor-composer-musician into the limelight. In "Merry Christmas, Mister Lawrence," the slow-motion screen kiss between Bowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto was a turning point in his career. Of course, it

20th-century music, Abstract electronica, Ambient, Eclectic, Layered, Lyrical, Psychedelic

In the new wave of Japanese contemporary music, Akira Nishimura is the front-runner for the "heterophonic concept." Using droning melodic variations, Nishimura creates a spacious kind of zen spikiness that can either calm the soul or mystify the mind. Nishimura exhibits a particular concern with t

20th-century music, Contemplative, Eclectic, Ethereal, Hypnotic, Layered, Silence, Spiritual

Like the poetry of Wallace Stevens, Henryck Górecki 's music seems cerebral almost to the point of insularity. Stevens wrote: "Here, now, we forget each other and ourselves." Of course, no art exists in a vacuum, carrying as it does an inherent quality of communication. Yet, there are those artist

20th-century music, Contemplative, Dreamy, Ethereal, Melancholy, Mythic, Pathos, Religious

The music of Estonian-born German composer Arvo Part is often labeled with the rather meaningless term Minimalist. His work can be situated within the lineage of Erik Satie, John Cage, and Henryk Gorecki on the one hand, and Philip Glass, Brian Eno, and Laurie Anderson on the other. Part's is a music

20th-century music, Citational, Collage, Dissonant, Minimal, Minimalist music, Religious, Silence