Laraaji is without a doubt one of the finest artists in New Age music. Webpage TheStranger.com has a fantastic article about why you should care about Laraaji’s music.
It goes like this:
“Years Active: 39.
Provenance: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Essential Albums: Celestial Vibration (recorded as Edward Larry Gordon), Ambient 3: Day of Radiance, Unicorns in Paradise, Essence/Universe, The Way Out Is the Way In (with Audio Active), FRKWYS Vol. 8 (with Blues Control).
“Essential Songs: “The Dance #1,” “”>The Dance #3,” “Meditation #1,” “Unicorns in Paradise,” “Bethlehem,” “”>All Pervading,” “”>Sun Zither,” “Deep Chimes Meditation,” “Being Here (Flow Goes the Universe),” “Freeflow.”
Influenced by: Brian Eno, Alice Coltrane, Constance Demby, Iasos, Harold Budd, J.D. Emmanuel, the absurdity of the universe.
Influence on: Pete Namlook, Oneohtrix Point Never, Sun Araw, Emeralds, Outer Space, Dolphins into the Future, Peaking Lights, Blues Control.
Precautions: One needs a long attention span to fully appreciate Laraaji’s patiently unfolding mantras of eternal beatitude. If you lack that basic attribute, there may be no hope for you to enjoy the solemnly gregarious, multi-instrumentalist/vocalist’s material.
Why You Should Give a Fuck: The funny thing is, Laraaji likely doesn’t care if you give a single fuck. He’s too busy teaching folks about the hidden benefits of giggling via his Laughter Meditation Workshops and putting distinctive twists on the Music of the Spheres. Nevertheless, you, mortal human, should give at least a few fucks about the street musician—born Edward Larry Gordon in 1943—who made no less a musical innovator than Brian Eno stop in his tracks in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park and offer to record tracks with him. The result was 1980’s Day of Radiance, a prestigious entry in Eno’s Ambient LP series, of which there were only four. A reminder of the importance of first impressions, or what?””
Read the post here. Highly recommended (they use a few bad words, though 🙂 ).