Saturday Sounds | Pacific Breeze: Japanese City Pop: AOR & Boogie

Light in the Attic has stamped my passport for a second trip to Japan. Pacific Breeze: Japanese City Pop: AOR & Boogie 1972 - 1986 captures the bubble-era Japan that floated twinkling pop funk jams buoyed by the western pop airwaves that helped shape it. It continues the crate-digging expedition forged by Volume 1, which remains the go-to compilation for the early hours of outdoor parties, or, for right now, a mellow afternoon time spent with some weed and several tabs of half-baked travel plans opened on my laptop.

I know very, very little of the history of Japanese music, and won’t pretend to have any encyclopedic one-sheet of the most influential or non-influential voices to come from the country. It’s why I appreciate the work that Light in the Attic does so much - it’s a label that doesn’t expect you to know, it encourages you to learn. And what you’ll learn about is things like Tokyo duo Bread & Butter’s near-song exchange with Stevie Wonder, and what hit that became. You’ll hear Hawaiian-style guitar influences from Yuji Toriyama. Anri’s prototypical bedroom-pop/funk piano sounds that led her to collaborations with Earth, Wind & Fire.

As with most rare music, digital distribution is hit-or-miss. LITA has a primer playlist featuring a select handful of these artists to get you inspired.

Listen if you like: yacht-rock, Thundercat, not taking yourself seriously, SPF, any of the western artists mentioned above, early ‘80s twee-funk.

When the bubble has burst: Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990.