Classic jazz-funk fusion from the late, great Japanese guitarist Ryo Kawasaki. « Juice » est devenu un album très apprécié des amateurs de crate diggers et de jazz-funk, ses morceaux étant fréquemment samplés et réinventés en hip-hop. Le jam funk fumé, beat-down et spirituel « Bamboo Child » a été retourné par Diamond D, Puff Daddy et Kool G Rap. L’album est sorti en 1976 sur RCA Records et présente le batteur des musiciens Jimmy Young, le guitariste rythmique Hugh McCracken et le bassiste Stu Woods parmi d’autres sommités. Un album solide tout au long qui incorpore une forte dose de synthés déclenchés aux côtés du son disco émergent de l’époque. Des morceaux tels que l’ouverture « Raisins », avec son intro au rythme de la batterie et sa ligne de basse bouillonnante, rivalisent avec The Headhunters à leur meilleure époque. Un superbe album d’une légende underground.

U2’s first compilation release, The Best Of 1980-1990 went to number 1 in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland on its original release in November 1998.The vinyl format includes the track ‘One Tree Hill’ from The Joshua Tree album, not included on the CD or digital format of this compilation.Remastered and pressed on180gsm black vinyl.Artwork faithfully reproduced from the original, including a gatefold sleeve and printed inner sleeves.

"'Labcabincalifornia' still stands as one of the best sophomore efforts ever, a jinx that never was, an effort that bolstered what fans had heard on their debut in terms of energy and lucidity. Pharcyde consisted of Imani, Slimkid3, Bootie Brown and Fatlip, who sought to expand the course they charted on their debut, 'Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde.' In hindsight, the reception to 'Labcabin' was unfairly tepid. It was myopic, despite effusive singles and "Drop" blowing minds then — just as it does now — in a year of triumphant releases that have stood the test of time. Of course, it’s hard to redo the magic that was their debut, but 'Labcabin' has aged well, proving that there’s no statute of limitations on how art is viewed. It now stands as a major force that helped fuel the West Coast’s innovative mid-’90s run of albums. It also exists as an early timestamp in the career of the great J Dilla, a peak into his early innovations, and that alone is worth the price of admission. 'Labcabin' proves that sometimes the most dismissed can cast the longest shadow."

"The Head on the Door" est le sixième album studio du groupe The Cure, sorti le 13 août 19851. Un album résolument pop, qui permettra au groupe de se faire véritablement connaître dans le monde entier, et varié (guitare hispanique de The Blood, plus électrique de Push...), même si The Cure ne se départit pas de ses chansons spleen et mélancoliques (Sinking). Robert Smith écrit et compose seul l'intégralité des chansons parmi lesquelles "In Between Days" et "Close to Me" qui sortiront en singles et deviendront des tubes internationaux, bénéficiant de clips réalisés par Tim Pope qui seront très remarqués. L'album marque aussi le grand retour de Simon Gallup à la basse, tandis que Boris Williams s'installe à la batterie.

Following the success of the 'Tokyo Glow' compilation, Wewantsounds once again teams up with Japanese Tokyo-based DJ Notoya to dig the rich Electric Bird catalogue and come with a versatile selection of sunny Jazz-Funk gems recorded between 1978 and 1987 for the label. A tasty selection featuring Yasuaki Shimizu, Toshiyuki Honda and Mikio Masuda, together with a few American musicians such as Ronnie Foster and Bobby Lyle. Most tracks make their vinyl debut outside of Japan and the album has been designed by Optigram/Manuel Sepulveda and is annotated by DJ Notoya. Audio newly remastered in Tokyo by King Records. Japanese Funk expert DJ Notoya is back with a superb selection of Nippon Jazz-Funk picked from the cult label Electric Bird. A sub-label from the venerable Japanese label King Records, Electric Bird was set up in 1977 to cater for the booming Nippon Jazz Funk audience that King - as the Japanese licensee for such US jazz labels at Blue Note or CTI - had grown for years. ​Taking advantage of their experience and the many contacts King had garnered through their American partners, Electric Bird, headed by in-house producer Shigeyuki Kawashima, decided to apply the same formula to their new label. As Notoya writes in the liner notes "The US labels' blend of “crossover jazz” - led by such big selling artists like Bob James and Earl Klugh - began to gain a huge following domestically and internationally, King felt the need to get into the arena themselves and start producing fusion jazz recorded by Japanese artists."Kawashima began signing a new wave of jazz musicians from Japan, putting them in state-of-the-art Tokyo or New York studios and backing them with the best American and Japanese players in order to shape the slick, sun-drenched jazz funk sound that would be Electric Bird's signature sound. With "Funk Tide," DJ Notoya aimed at showcasing the diversity of the label's output, from the funky opener "In The Sky" by Trumpeter Shunzo Ohno (who plays keyboards here) to the sunshine mid-tempo groove of sax player Toshiyuki Honda's "Living in a City" featuring Paulinho Da Costa on perc via Mikio Masuda's Fender Rhodes-infected "Let's Get Together."​Electric Bird also signed a young sax player, Yasuaki Shimizu found here with the soulful "Summer Time" from his album "Far East Express" recorded at Electric Lady Studio in New York in July 1979. For good measure, the label also signed a few well-known American musicians including Ronnie Foster whose "Night Life" has a distinctive 80s funk feel and David Matthews with the Crusaders-esque "Special Delivery" featuring David Sanborn. ​One of "Funk Tide's" highlights is certainly Katsutoshi Morizono's "Space Traveller" from 1978, a remake of James Vincent's eponymous cult classic recorded two years before with some of Earth Wind And Fire's musicians and which has since become a favourite on the groove scene. Faithful to Vincent's beautiful laid-back, breezy original, Morizono's rendition add its own spice to it, and ending Notoya's skilled selection of the cutting-edge Electric Bird label on a perfect note.Funk Tide - Tokyo Jazz-Funk From Electric Bird 1978-87 de Various

Following the highly acclaimed first volume in the series, Japanese jazz expert Yusuke Ogawa continues the WaJazz exploration with another essential collection of music that contains something uniquely Japanese — focusing this time on the King Records catalog. Featuring timeless music by Isao Suzuki, Toshiaki Yokota, Akira Miyazawa, Takeru Muraoka, Yasuaki Shimizu, Masahiko Togashi, George Otsuka, and more!● Gatefold 180g heavy double vinyl LP, reverse board print. Comes with extensive track-by-track liner notes by Yusuke Ogawa.● All tracks licensed by King Record Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan.● Mastering and lacquer cut by Jukka Sarapää at Timmion Cutting Lab, Helsinki, Finland.● Signature artwork by Nker

✺ Classic Japanese Jazz LP widely available outside of Japan for the first time✺ Original artwork with OBI and 2-page insert✺ New Liner note by Paul Bowler✺ Newly remastered by Nippon Columbia using the ORT mastering TechnologyWewantsounds is delighted to reissue Fumio Itabashi's sought-after album "Watarase" hailed as one of the great Japanese jazz albums and featuring Itabashi on piano playing an inspired mix of standards and originals. Recorded in 1981 for Denon and released the following year, the album has since reached cult status among jazz connoisseurs, thanks to Itabashi's inventive piano playing and to its cult title track, a superb soulful and spiritual composition. Newly remastered by Nippon Columbia using their ORT mastering technology, the album reissue features original artwork including a 2 page insert with a new introduction by Paul bowler

A stylish selection of city pop, funk and modern soul from Japanese label Nippon Columbia, selected by DJ Notoya and featuring cult classics and rarities by Hiroshi Sato, Hatsumi Shibata, Hitomi 'Penny' Tohyama & many more.Annotated by Notoya with journalist Nick Luscombe and artwork by Optigram.Newly remastered audio.The selection on ‘Tokyo Glow’ starts with 'Kimugare' a relaxed mid-tempo track by Kumi Nakamura, actually a famous actress who only recorded one album in 1980 for Columbia.The set continues and flows effortlessly with the sunshine grooves of Miyuki Maki, Hatsumi Shibata and cult keyboard player Hiroshi Sato before the pace starts going faster and funkier with New Generation Company, Kengo Kurozumi - with his superb boogie, 'Juggler'- and one of the queens of the genre, Hitomi 'Penny' Tohyama with 'Tuxedo Connection'.Another fine example on the set is the mid-tempo groove of "I Wander All Alone Part III" by New Generation Company, an aggregate group of some of the best Japanese session musicians led by arranger Katz Hoshi and including Hiroyuki Namba (key), Kazuo Shiina (gtr) and Yutaka Uehara (ds) who all played with Tatsuro Yamashita among many others.There are many other excellent examples in 'Tokyo Glow', showcasing the diversity and specificity of Japanese City Pop during the late 70s and 80s.Nippon Columbia opened their much-guarded vaults to curator DJ Natoya. Tracks were remastered in Tokyo and the result, ‘Tokyo Glow’, is a unique insight into a most creative period in Japanese music.

Double pressage vinyle LP dans une pochette gatefold. Metaphorical Music est le premier album solo de Nujabes, sorti en 2003. Il propose une combinaison de hip-hop et de jazz instrumental, avec des artistes comme Shing02, Substantial, Five Deez et Cise Starr (de CYNE). Malgré le fait que l’album comporte des contributions vocales de plusieurs artistes, il est plus ou moins classé comme un album de breakbeat.Uyama Hiroto a contribué à plusieurs titres notables de l’album, notamment Letter from Yokosuka et Next View, et a participé aux albums suivants Modal Soul et Spiritual State. Metaphorical Music a été acclamé par tous les fans de Nujabes et par la critique.

Regular Offcial Authorised Vinyl Version, Original Soundtrack, 350g Sleeve, Black Inner, Sticker, 12 140g Vinyl – The first ever OFFICIAL vinyl release of the soundtrack for Mamoru Oshii’s legendary science fiction anime film GHOST IN THE SHELL (1995). – LP cut from the original master reels at Emil Berliner Studios, official Ghost in the Shell artworkWe Release Whatever The Fuck We Want Records is thrilled and honored to announce the first ever official vinyl pressing of the soundtrack for Mamoru Oshii’s critically acclaimed and all around legendary science fiction anime film GHOST IN THE SHELL (1995), adapted from Masamune Shirow’s groundbreaking manga series of the same name. Cut from the original master reels at Emil Berliner Studios (formerly the in-house recording department of renowned classical record label Deutsche Grammophon), the album comes as a LP accompanied by a bonus one-sided 7 housed in official Ghost in the Shell artwork sleeve with silver gilt printing and a Japanese obi, and contains extensive 24-page liner notes. The haunting score is composed by Kenji Kawai, one of Japan’s most celebrated soundtrack composers, alongside Joe Hisaishi and Ryichi Sakamoto, whose work includes Hideo Nakata’s Ring (1998) and Ring 2 (1999), Death Note (2006), Hong Kong films Seven Swords by Tsui Hark (2005) and Ip Man by Wilson Yip (2008), and countless others. Kawai’s compositions see ancient harmonies and percussions uncannily mesh with synthesized sounds of the modern world to convey a sumptuous balance between folklore tradition and futuristic outlook. For its iconic main theme ‘Making of Cyborg”, Kawai had a choir chant a wedding song in ancient Japanese following Bulgarian folk harmonies, setting the standard for a time.

Following the success of the 'Tokyo Glow' compilation, Wewantsounds once again teams up with Japanese Tokyo-based DJ Notoya to dig the rich Electric Bird catalogue and come with a versatile selection of sunny Jazz-Funk gems recorded between 1978 and 1987 for the label. A tasty selection featuring Yasuaki Shimizu, Toshiyuki Honda and Mikio Masuda, together with a few American musicians such as Ronnie Foster and Bobby Lyle. Most tracks make their vinyl debut outside of Japan and the album has been designed by Optigram/Manuel Sepulveda and is annotated by DJ Notoya. Audio newly remastered in Tokyo by King Records. Japanese Funk expert DJ Notoya is back with a superb selection of Nippon Jazz-Funk picked from the cult label Electric Bird. A sub-label from the venerable Japanese label King Records, Electric Bird was set up in 1977 to cater for the booming Nippon Jazz Funk audience that King - as the Japanese licensee for such US jazz labels at Blue Note or CTI - had grown for years. ​Taking advantage of their experience and the many contacts King had garnered through their American partners, Electric Bird, headed by in-house producer Shigeyuki Kawashima, decided to apply the same formula to their new label. As Notoya writes in the liner notes "The US labels' blend of “crossover jazz” - led by such big selling artists like Bob James and Earl Klugh - began to gain a huge following domestically and internationally, King felt the need to get into the arena themselves and start producing fusion jazz recorded by Japanese artists."Kawashima began signing a new wave of jazz musicians from Japan, putting them in state-of-the-art Tokyo or New York studios and backing them with the best American and Japanese players in order to shape the slick, sun-drenched jazz funk sound that would be Electric Bird's signature sound. With "Funk Tide," DJ Notoya aimed at showcasing the diversity of the label's output, from the funky opener "In The Sky" by Trumpeter Shunzo Ohno (who plays keyboards here) to the sunshine mid-tempo groove of sax player Toshiyuki Honda's "Living in a City" featuring Paulinho Da Costa on perc via Mikio Masuda's Fender Rhodes-infected "Let's Get Together."​Electric Bird also signed a young sax player, Yasuaki Shimizu found here with the soulful "Summer Time" from his album "Far East Express" recorded at Electric Lady Studio in New York in July 1979. For good measure, the label also signed a few well-known American musicians including Ronnie Foster whose "Night Life" has a distinctive 80s funk feel and David Matthews with the Crusaders-esque "Special Delivery" featuring David Sanborn. ​One of "Funk Tide's" highlights is certainly Katsutoshi Morizono's "Space Traveller" from 1978, a remake of James Vincent's eponymous cult classic recorded two years before with some of Earth Wind And Fire's musicians and which has since become a favourite on the groove scene. Faithful to Vincent's beautiful laid-back, breezy original, Morizono's rendition add its own spice to it, and ending Notoya's skilled selection of the cutting-edge Electric Bird label on a perfect note.Funk Tide - Tokyo Jazz-Funk From Electric Bird 1978-87 de Various

YĪN YĪN, the highly touted Dutch quartet from Maastricht, returns with a sonically expansive third album Mount Matsu. Recorded collectively in their own studio in the Belgian countryside, the album is a kaleidoscope of sounds and influences, occupying a no man’s land between Khruangbin and Kraftwerk, surf music and Southeast Asian psychedelia, Stax soul and mutant 80s disco, City pop and Japanese instrumental folk (sōkyoku).Mount Matsu sees YĪN YĪN at their most mature and adventurous stage yet. Infectious pentatonic melodicism calling for multiple rewinds.

A stylish selection of city pop, funk and modern soul from Japanese label Nippon Columbia, selected by DJ Notoya and featuring cult classics and rarities by Hiroshi Sato, Hatsumi Shibata, Hitomi 'Penny' Tohyama & many more.Annotated by Notoya with journalist Nick Luscombe and artwork by Optigram.Newly remastered audio.The selection on ‘Tokyo Glow’ starts with 'Kimugare' a relaxed mid-tempo track by Kumi Nakamura, actually a famous actress who only recorded one album in 1980 for Columbia.The set continues and flows effortlessly with the sunshine grooves of Miyuki Maki, Hatsumi Shibata and cult keyboard player Hiroshi Sato before the pace starts going faster and funkier with New Generation Company, Kengo Kurozumi - with his superb boogie, 'Juggler'- and one of the queens of the genre, Hitomi 'Penny' Tohyama with 'Tuxedo Connection'.Another fine example on the set is the mid-tempo groove of "I Wander All Alone Part III" by New Generation Company, an aggregate group of some of the best Japanese session musicians led by arranger Katz Hoshi and including Hiroyuki Namba (key), Kazuo Shiina (gtr) and Yutaka Uehara (ds) who all played with Tatsuro Yamashita among many others.There are many other excellent examples in 'Tokyo Glow', showcasing the diversity and specificity of Japanese City Pop during the late 70s and 80s.Nippon Columbia opened their much-guarded vaults to curator DJ Natoya. Tracks were remastered in Tokyo and the result, ‘Tokyo Glow’, is a unique insight into a most creative period in Japanese music.

First vinyl reissue of this 1977 LP by one of the great figures of Brazilian music. Brilliant tracks like E necessario, Verao carioca, Venha dormir em casa or Musica para Betinha make it one of the strongest albums to come out of Brazil in the 1970s. Presented in facsimile artwork and pressed on 180g vinyl. TIP!Tim Maia was born in 1942 in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro and started his musical career at an early age, along with close friends such as Roberto Carlos or Jorge Ben. Carlos would eventually help him to get a deal for his first single at CBS.During the 70s Maia started to incorporate soul and funk elements into his style. After a two-year period involvement in the Racional cult in Brazil, Maia's funky style was still at its best when he released this album in 1977. It was his first and only recording for Som Livre, the legendary label that became extremely popular due to the many soap operas soundtracks in its extensive catalogue.

With the 12" vinyl reissue of Fascination made for Giancarlo Meo, the legendary producer of Easy Going, Vivien Vee, Capricorn, Amin-Peck, Steel Mind, Claudio Simonetti (aka Kasso) and many other artists, Best Record offers yet another excellent service for those who perhaps don't know they need it. Claudio Casalini 40 years ago was not only a record producer, but above all one of the most important DJ-clubs in Italy. He remembers well the cheering jet set audience in the elegant Roman lounges, with the dance floor packed with people vibrating to that fusion of disco, soul and funk sounds that characterized many Italo-Disco songs of those early Eighties. The three versions of "Out to Get You" contain all those sounds, but it is above all the version re-edited by the imaginative and passionate DJ Massimo Berardi that brings an important portion of musical restoration making it current, and therefore exciting and modern, absolutely suitable for dancing it again anywhere in the world.

Francesco Puccioni "born genius" in Florence, Mike Francis "becomes legend" in Rome. Deeply inspired in his adolescence by the emerging movements of North American soul, country and West Coast music and by artists such as Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and James Taylor, Francesco began to compose refined songs with radiant energy every day. From the first acoustic gestures performed with the guitar, always keeping compositional creativity and improvisation under his arm, he enters the unexplored waters of Italian disco music. This slow and inexorable transformation allowed him to create in 1981 with the Metropole group (with Al Festa and Claudio Giusti, all still in their twenties) the international disco hit "Miss Manhattan", a true piece of proto-Italo-Disco! A year later the young Florentine singer-songwriter wrote two evocative soul-disco songs produced by Paul & Peter Micioni, published by Best Record and performed by a certain Mike Francis (!). This is the birth of the stage name which will forever accompany the musician who became a fundamental reference of the experimental Italo-Disco "scene", then soon recognized worldwide. This coveted 12" vinyl reissue comes out with the same Best Record commercial cover as 40 years ago and with the same 'red sticker'. And finally we have the juicy reissue of "Nightime Lady" and the more appetizing and danceable "Love Has Found You", both perfectly remastered by Dom Scuteri, excellent in obtaining an impeccable sound recording, even eliminating some imperceptible defects of the original master tape. Therefore a super reissue (in limited edition) to listen to everywhere with the smart phone and to dance with joy and elegance at any type of party.

Double pressage vinyle LP dans une pochette gatefold. Metaphorical Music est le premier album solo de Nujabes, sorti en 2003. Il propose une combinaison de hip-hop et de jazz instrumental, avec des artistes comme Shing02, Substantial, Five Deez et Cise Starr (de CYNE). Malgré le fait que l’album comporte des contributions vocales de plusieurs artistes, il est plus ou moins classé comme un album de breakbeat.Uyama Hiroto a contribué à plusieurs titres notables de l’album, notamment Letter from Yokosuka et Next View, et a participé aux albums suivants Modal Soul et Spiritual State. Metaphorical Music a été acclamé par tous les fans de Nujabes et par la critique.

✺ Pressed on black vinyl✺ Limited edition double vinyl✺ Created by Japanese hip-hop producer Tsutchie, American hip-hop producer & emcee Fat Jon, Japanese hip-hop producer Nujabes, and Japanese DJ & production duo FORCE OF NATURESamurai Champloo Music Record: Playlist is a soundtrack album created by Tsutchie, originally released on September 22, 2004, for the anime series Samurai Champloo. It is the third of four soundtrack albums released for the show.The music of the Samurai Champloo anime series was created by a group of producers: Japanese hip-hop producer Tsutchie of the rap group Shakkazombie, American hip-hop producer & emcee Fat Jon of the rap group Five Deez, Japanese hip-hop producer Nujabes, and Japanese DJ & production duo FORCE OF NATURE. The music genre is primarily instrumental hip-hop.

Regular Offcial Authorised Vinyl Version, Original Soundtrack, 350g Sleeve, Black Inner, Sticker, 12 140g Vinyl – The first ever OFFICIAL vinyl release of the soundtrack for Mamoru Oshii’s legendary science fiction anime film GHOST IN THE SHELL (1995). – LP cut from the original master reels at Emil Berliner Studios, official Ghost in the Shell artworkWe Release Whatever The Fuck We Want Records is thrilled and honored to announce the first ever official vinyl pressing of the soundtrack for Mamoru Oshii’s critically acclaimed and all around legendary science fiction anime film GHOST IN THE SHELL (1995), adapted from Masamune Shirow’s groundbreaking manga series of the same name. Cut from the original master reels at Emil Berliner Studios (formerly the in-house recording department of renowned classical record label Deutsche Grammophon), the album comes as a LP accompanied by a bonus one-sided 7 housed in official Ghost in the Shell artwork sleeve with silver gilt printing and a Japanese obi, and contains extensive 24-page liner notes. The haunting score is composed by Kenji Kawai, one of Japan’s most celebrated soundtrack composers, alongside Joe Hisaishi and Ryichi Sakamoto, whose work includes Hideo Nakata’s Ring (1998) and Ring 2 (1999), Death Note (2006), Hong Kong films Seven Swords by Tsui Hark (2005) and Ip Man by Wilson Yip (2008), and countless others. Kawai’s compositions see ancient harmonies and percussions uncannily mesh with synthesized sounds of the modern world to convey a sumptuous balance between folklore tradition and futuristic outlook. For its iconic main theme ‘Making of Cyborg”, Kawai had a choir chant a wedding song in ancient Japanese following Bulgarian folk harmonies, setting the standard for a time.

If you were a fan of the 1996 film adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s novel Trainspotting, you’re not the only one. It’s a funny, frantic, and occasionally horrifying tale of friendship and drug addiction that helped cement the reputation of Danny Boyle as a great director and helped turn Ewan McGregor into a proper movie star.If the reputation of the film itself has frightened you too much for you to see it, worry not: you’ll still be able to appreciate the soundtrack, which is filled with some truly classic tracks, most of them used to perfection within the film. On that front, Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life” and Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” are certainly near the top of the best-of list, but with contributions from Blur, Elastica, Brian Eno, Leftfield, New Order, Primal Scream, Pulp, Sleeper, Underworld, and others, you’re guaranteed to find yourself up and dancing at some point while you’re playing it. Just don’t dance on the ceiling, because Trainspotting fans won’t think of Lionel Richie when you say the word “ceiling,” they’ll think of a dead baby turning its head all the way ‘round.

✺ Pressed on black vinyl✺ Limited edition double vinyl✺ Created by Japanese hip-hop producer Tsutchie, American hip-hop producer & emcee Fat Jon, Japanese hip-hop producer Nujabes, and Japanese DJ & production duo FORCE OF NATURESamurai Champloo Music Record: Playlist is a soundtrack album created by Tsutchie, originally released on September 22, 2004, for the anime series Samurai Champloo. It is the third of four soundtrack albums released for the show.The music of the Samurai Champloo anime series was created by a group of producers: Japanese hip-hop producer Tsutchie of the rap group Shakkazombie, American hip-hop producer & emcee Fat Jon of the rap group Five Deez, Japanese hip-hop producer Nujabes, and Japanese DJ & production duo FORCE OF NATURE. The music genre is primarily instrumental hip-hop.

WRWTFWW Records is deeply honored to announce the release of Chu Ishikawa & Der Eisenrost’s soundtrack for experimental action drama Tokyo Fist, released in 1995 and directed by legendary director/producer/writer Shin’ya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo: The Iron Man and its sequels, Bullet Ballet, Hiroki The Goblin, Nightmare Detective). Previously only published on CD in Japan, the cult movie soundtrack is available on vinyl for the first time ever and housed in a heavy 350gsm sleeve.

Record Store Day Japan 2021 Drop 2 release. Released in 1972, the theme song for the Toho movie “Goyo Fang-Kamisori Hanzo-” “Goyo Fang (”Fang “theme)” is the first reissue of the popular 7-inch single board.

A stylish selection of city pop, funk and modern soul from Japanese label Nippon Columbia, selected by DJ Notoya and featuring cult classics and rarities by Hiroshi Sato, Hatsumi Shibata, Hitomi 'Penny' Tohyama & many more.Annotated by Notoya with journalist Nick Luscombe and artwork by Optigram.Newly remastered audio.The selection on ‘Tokyo Glow’ starts with 'Kimugare' a relaxed mid-tempo track by Kumi Nakamura, actually a famous actress who only recorded one album in 1980 for Columbia.The set continues and flows effortlessly with the sunshine grooves of Miyuki Maki, Hatsumi Shibata and cult keyboard player Hiroshi Sato before the pace starts going faster and funkier with New Generation Company, Kengo Kurozumi - with his superb boogie, 'Juggler'- and one of the queens of the genre, Hitomi 'Penny' Tohyama with 'Tuxedo Connection'.Another fine example on the set is the mid-tempo groove of "I Wander All Alone Part III" by New Generation Company, an aggregate group of some of the best Japanese session musicians led by arranger Katz Hoshi and including Hiroyuki Namba (key), Kazuo Shiina (gtr) and Yutaka Uehara (ds) who all played with Tatsuro Yamashita among many others.There are many other excellent examples in 'Tokyo Glow', showcasing the diversity and specificity of Japanese City Pop during the late 70s and 80s.Nippon Columbia opened their much-guarded vaults to curator DJ Natoya. Tracks were remastered in Tokyo and the result, ‘Tokyo Glow’, is a unique insight into a most creative period in Japanese music.

What would happen if Florian Schneider from Kraftwerk fell in love with Anne Dudley from Art Of Noise? That’s exactly how “A Spanner In The Werk” sounds : a mix of soulful melodies and robotic rhythms, which proves, at last, that Techno and love songs can meet… and have a fruitful relationship!Composed in 1996, this unreleased track by French New Beat veteran Guillaume U. Chifflot received massive positive feedbacks as a bonus track on the recent 2xLP compilation by n9.So here’s a brand new “Longform Mix”, taking android sensuality even further, lovingly pressed by Swewax onto a collector item, with a beautiful floral etching on the flip side by artist Yül-Rik.Mastered by techno and acid superstar Thomas P. Heckmann (Trope, Drax, etc.), the EP also features the participation of cult Rephlex duo D’arcangelo, who offer an exclusive remix, filled with a firework display of the delicate electronic drifts they excel at.n9 is a French label founded in the early 90’s to release new beat and techno-rave tracks. After focusing on graphic design for a decade, groups of Discogs fans brought n9 back into the field, and the label began to pioneer a 21st century blend of New Beat and TBM, while making room for a growing number of like-minded French techno artists.

✺ Neuromantic is Takahashi’s first solo release for ALFA and his third solo album overall.✺ Features Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay (Roxy Music), and Tony Mansfield.Neuromantic is Takahashi’s first solo release for ALFA and his third solo album overall. In addition to Japanese musicians Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Kenji Omura, the album also features Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay (Roxy Music), and Tony Mansfield whom he recorded with during a long stay in London. This record builds on the techno sound of YMO’s BGM (released the same year), infusing Takahashi’s unique romantic aesthetic and is considered one of his masterpieces. The sixth track, “Drip Dry Eyes" is a self-cover of a song that he wrote for ALFA artist artist Sandii.Yukihiro Takahashi explains, “The early 80’s was one of the busiest periods of my music life…When I think back now, I think that my recording style and production process that I continue to this day may have been solidified then, during the early 80’s.”The new reissue of Neuromatic is part of ALFA’s ongoing reissue series featuring many of Yukihiro’s early 80s solo albums from his first hit record Murdered by Music (1980) to his last record from his ALFA era Poisson D’Avril (1985 soundtrack to the film of the same name).