VIA PRESS RELEASE | Light In The Attic opens a new door to Japan’s vast musical legacy with an expertly compiled overview of Japan’s City Pop genre, Pacific Breeze: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1976-1986.
The latest installment in their Japan Archival Series collects tracks ranging from silky smooth grooves to innovative techno pop bangers and everything in between. Long-revered by crate diggers and adventurous music heads, these tracks have never been officially released outside of Japan until now. Including key artists like Taeko Ohnuki, Haruomi Hosono, and Minako Yoshida, as well as cult favorites Hitomi Tohyama and Hiroshi Sato, the long-awaited release also features newly commissioned cover painting by Tokyo-based artist Hiroshi Nagai, whose iconic images of resort living have graced the covers of many classic City Pop albums of the 1980s.
Featuring extensive liner notes and artist biographies, the thoughtfully-composed project was compiled by Andy Cabic (Vetiver), Zach Cowie (DJ & music supervisor), and Mark “Frosty” McNeill (dublab) and will be available both on CD and vinyl on May 3, 2019. Exclusive bundles are now available for preorder in the Light In The Attic online store and include a 24”x 24” art print of Hiroshi Nagai’s cover art and a deluxe full-color 30” x 60” beach towel featuring the same.
The CD comes housed in a UV coated Digipak with over sized fold-out booklet and custom die-cut obi card, while the LP is offered on both black vinyl and “Beach Ball” tricolor wax. Both vinyl editions are presented in a deluxe wide spine jacket with oversized fold-out booklet, full color printed inner sleeves, and custom die-cut obi card. All formats boast newly remastered audio.
More about Pacific Breeze & the City Pop genre | By the time the ’70s were in full swing, thriving tech exports sent The Rising Sun over the moon. Its pocket cassette players, bleeping video games, and gleaming cars boomed worldwide, wooing pleasure points and pumping Japanese pockets full of yen.
Japan’s financial buoyancy also permeated its popular culture, birthing an audio analog called City Pop. This new sound arose in the mid ’70s and ruled through the ’80s, channeling the country’s contemporary psyche. It was sophisticated music mirroring Japan’s punch-drunk prosperity. City Pop epitomized the era, providing a soundtrack for emerging urbanites. An optimistic spirit buzzed through the music in neon-bathed, gauzy tableaus coated with groove-heavy strokes.
Many of the key City Pop players evolved from the Japanese New Music scene of the early ’70s, as heard on Light In The Attic’s acclaimed Even a Tree Can Shed Tears: Japanese Folk & Rock 1969-1973, the first release of the ongoing Japan Archival Series. In fact, you could say City Pop set sail with a champagne smash from Happy End, the freakishly talented subversives who included amongst their ranks Haruomi Hosono and Shigeru Suzuki, both featured on this compilation.
As Michael K. Bourdaghs noted in his book, Sayonara Amerika, Sayonara Nippon, this music was, “Deconstructing the line between imitation and authenticity.” Some of the best City Pop teeters in this zone—easy listening with mutant exotica, tilted techno-pop, and steamy boogie bubbling beneath the gloss.
Tracklist:
1. Tomoko Soryo – I Say Who
2. Taeko Ohnuki – Kusuri Wo Takusan
3. Minako Yoshida – Midnight Driver
4. Nanako Sato – Subterranean Futari Bocci
5. Haruomi Hosono – Sports Men
6. Izumi Kobayashi – Coffee Rumba
7. F.O.E. – In My Jungle
8. Akira Inoue, Hiroshi Sato, Masataka Matsutoya – Sun Bathing
9. Hiroshi Satoh – Say Goodbye
10. Yukihiro Takahashi – Drip Dry Eyes
11. Masayoshi Takanaka – Bamboo Vender
12. Shigeru Suzuki – Lady Pink Panther
13. Haruomi Hosono, Takahiko Ishikawa, Masataka Matsutoya – Mykonos No Hanayome
14. Yasuko Agawa – L.A. Night
15. Hitomi Tohyama – Exotic Yokogao
16. Tazumi Toyoshima – Machibouke
