Guest post by Kurt Feldman (Ice Choir)
As an 80s J-pop obsessive, I thought it would be cool to share some tracks which inspired me while I was writing Ice Choir’s recently released album, Designs In Rhythm. My bandmate Patrick South is even more of a geek about this stuff than I am and he actually turned me on to a bunch of the tracks on this mix. Ultimately, we compiled it together. Hope you enjoy! (If you like the mix, you can download it here.)
Tracklist:
1. Michiko Shimazaki — クロッカス・ヒルで逢いましょう (0:00)
2. Kedge — Chime (4:02)
3. Taeko Ohnuki — Les Aventures De Tintin (8:39)
4. Tsukasa Ito — お願いスピルバーグ (13:10)
5. Tomoko Tane — ユーアー・ジ・ワン (17:21)
6. PSY · S — Woman · S (21:43)
7. Kyoko Endo — 夢見るスター (26:47)
8. 3dl — Uruwashi No Otome (Original Version) (32:17)
9. Jadoes — Heart Beat City (37:31)
10. Hiromi Ohta — ガラスの週末 (41:50)
11. Kyoko Koizumi — Fairy Tale (46:52)
12. Hi-fi Set — Bloomin’ Blue (51:00)
13. Nobuo Ariga — 雨色の僕と君 (55:32)
14. Reimy — 星のクライマー (60:42)
15. Momoko Kikuchi — Night Cruising (66:05)
16. Rajie — エスプレッソ (70:51)
17. Eichii Ohtaki — 君は天然色 (75:18)
18. Yasuhiro Abe — Kiss Mark (79:55)
19. Chika Takami — くちびるヌード (83:00)
“This is a mix of Japanese pop songs, most of them with a synth funk backbone. The most exciting aspect of this era of music, though, is how unafraid these musicians were to push the limits of genre: They loved Van Dyke Parks, Kraftwerk and Martin Denny, but they were never confined by any one sound, nor were they afraid to poke fun at western constructs of the ‘oriental’ or Japanese fascinations with Western cultural novelties.”
Tracklisting:
1. Chiemi Manabe – Untotooku
2. Miharu Koshi – L’amour…Ariuwa Kuro No Irony
3. Hiroshi Satoh – Say Goodbye
4. Colored Music – Heartbeat
5. Minako Yoshida – Tornado
6. Ryuichi Sakamoto – Kacha Kucha Nee
7. Mariah – Shinzo No Tobira
8. Yukihiro Takahashi – Drip Dry Eyes
9. Sandii – Zoot Kook
10. Haruomi Hosono – Ohenro-San
11. Osamu Shoji – Jinkou Station Ceres
12. Kisagari Koharu – Neo-Plant
13. Inoyama Land – Wässer
14. Aragon – Horridula
15. Asami Kado – 退屈と二つの月
16. Tamao Koike & Haruomi Hosono – 三国志ラヴ・テーマ
17. Hiroyuki Namba – Hiru No Yume
We’re really excited to unveil our new look today, and to share a mix we made for Mexican Summer’s imprint Anthology Recordings. If you like it, you can download an mp3 version here. Enjoy!
