About

Weaving in elements of disco, new wave, and J-rock.
Tomoko Aran’s Japanese city pop album Fuyu-Kukan is being reissued, via Warner Music Japan.
City pop came to prominence in Japan during the 1970s and 1980s, mixing mellow melodies with jazz fusion, electronica, funk, boogie, J-rock, and disco.

Recorded in 1983, and produced by Masatoshi Nishimura, Fuyu-Kukan combines city pop motifs with new wave, rock, and “experimental sounds”.
Album track ‘I’m in Love’ was also recently included in Light in the Attic’s second Japanese city pop compilation Pacific Breeze 2: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1972-1986. — (via The Vinyl Factory)

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Tomoko Aran (亜蘭知子) is a singer-songwriter born in 1958, from Aomori prefecture, Japan. Like many City Pop artists, her interest was in music began as a child after being exposed to American music, for her in particular, the music of Cliff Richard. Since then she started translating the lyrics of her favorite songs by Elton John, T.Rex, The Beatles, and many more, which developed into a passion for songwriting. At the age of 19, she was introduced to producer Daikoto Nagoto (長戸大幸), and joined his production company, Being Co., Ltd. Since then she's built her career as a songwriter composing singles for artists like singer & actor, Junko Mihara (三原 じゅん子), as well the summer rock band, TUBE. On top of that, she also put out solo albums of her own, 9 in total. Her most popular, especially over the internet, was her 1983 release, Fuyü-Kükan (浮遊空間).

This album was produced by Daiko Nagato and Masatoshi Nishimura, who you might know from his collaboration with Harry Hosono on his electronic album, SFX, and with the supergroup, Friends of Earth, which included Nishimura, Hosono, and even the Godfather of Funk, James Brown. Nishimura also has the help of his backing band, Fence of Defence, starring rock guitarist Kenji Kitajima (北島健二) & Drummer Wataru Yamada (山田わたる). Fuyu-Kukan also features saxophonist, Toshihiko Furumura (古村利彦), from The Fuse, backing band of rockstar Shogo Hamada (浜田省吾), jazz bassist Masao Nakajima (中島正雄), and South Korean singer, Ji Sook (서지숙), who goes by Mizuhara Akiko (水原 明子) in Japan. The album features compositions by Nishimura, singer-songwriter Tetsuro Oda (織田哲郎), and composer Masanori Sasaji (笹路正徳)

Fuyu Kukan was one of the many City Pop albums that received new life and international fame in the modern era thanks to the magic of the Youtube algorithm. It was recently sampled by popular Canadian singer, The Weekend, in his new single Out of Time. The album will also be receiving a remaster this month. — (via Come Along Radio)

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2025 Japan reissue on clear blue vinyl

Analog master tape restoration and archiving onto DSD by Seigen Ono at Saidera Mastering
This analog master is flat converted from DSD to 96kHz 24bit

Vinyl Tracklist
A1 Body To Body
A2 Lonely Night
A3 I’m In Love
A4 Je Re N Ma (Dilemma)
A5 Midnight Pretenders
B1 Tapestry
B2 Hannya
B3 Bye Bye Yesterday
B4 Baby, Don’t You Cry Anymore

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Label: Warner Music Japan
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, Clear Blue Vinyl
Reissued: 2025 / Originally Released: 1983
Genre: Electronic, Rock, Funk / Soul, Pop
Style: Boogie, City Pop, Funk, New Wave, Pop Rock, Synth-pop

File under: Japanese Pop
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