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A major 2-LP exploration of Tokyo's cutting edge 80s sound through the music of cult Japanese label Nippon Columbia and its Better Days imprint, selected by British radio presenter and DJ Nick Luscombe.

Tokyo Dreaming, a superb selection picked from the highly collectible Nippon Columbia label and its Better Days sub-label. For the occasion, journalist and Japanese music expert Nick Luscombe who was granted rare access to the much guarded Nippon Columbia vaults for a masterful selection encapsulating the fascinating sound of Tokyo in the late 70s and 80s. 

The selection mixes electro, synth-pop, funk and ambient and features such artists as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Mariah, Shigeo Sekito, Juicy Fruits, Hitomi "Penny" Tohyama and Yumi Murata.

The tracklist includes many sought-after rarities and hidden gems which have never been released outside of Japan and the set has been newly remastered by Nippon Columbia.  The 2-LP gatefold album has been designed by famed London-based designer Optigram and is annotated by Nick. — (via Label)

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DJ and broadcaster Nick Luscombe`s Tokyo Dreaming compilation – poised to be released on WeWantSounds – is effectively a soundtrack. A fantasy score to an imagined city. Sonics to accompany a whistle-stop soiree through a slick, stylish capital buoyed by the endless cash-flow of an enormous economic bubble.

A state-of-the-art, catwalk-clothed Tokyo of the 1980s constructed from music – selected by Nick – from Nippon Columbia’s considerable archives. Cutting across a variety of genres, using sides largely produced in that opulent era, and collecting work by artists who themselves seemed to be invoking far away, tropical climes.

The fusion virtuosos, for example, who always appeared to be off somewhere in a Caribbean of the mind. Nick’s cherry-picking painting a kind of Japanese pop rainbow – from pioneering cosmic electronics, to laser-disc disco, and holographic hostess bar ballads. That bubble budget providing big swooning orchestral arrangements and sessions from seasoned jazz veterans. Their solos often lifting tunes way out of the ordinary.

The track-list takes in a few established classics – Yasuaki Shimizu`s Mariah collective, the Sci-Fi new wave of Colored Music, the seminal synthetic psychedelia of Shigeo Sekito`s The Word II – but in the main the pieces on offer are relative “unknowns”. The compilation sort of serving as a primer, but also containing gems for aficionados. — (via Ban Ban Ton Ton)

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Label: WeWantSounds
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Compilation, Remastered
Released:  2020
Genre: Electronic, Jazz, Rock, Funk / Soul, Pop
Style: Japanese, Synth-pop, Easy Listening, Latin Jazz, Ambient, Fusion, Experimental, Avant-garde Jazz, New Wave, Post-Punk, AOR, City Pop, Disco, Funk, New Age

File under: Japanese Pop
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