On the record: Tokyo Dreaming (Various Artists)
Budding Japanese music enthusiasts this one is for you. Stop the crate-digging for a classic Japanese pop album; the good people at We Want Sounds have pulled together a taster menu of the best sounds Japan has to offer.
Nick Luscombe, the former Six Music DJ and Japanese music enthusiast, has compiled a collection of music from the famed Nippon Columbia label and its sub-label Better Days. The album is part history lesson and part DJ-set. Luscombe was let loose in Nippon Columbia’s much-guarded vaults and has come out with a compilation that tracks the development of synth-pop and the universal funk influence.
From the 1970s, developments in new Japanese-made synthesisers and drum machines meant cutting edge music was consistent in Japan. Luscombe says in the accompanying release for the album that this music still “sounds and feels like the future”, and he’s right. The opening track, The End of Asia, opens with legendary composer Ryuichi Sakamoto’s six-minute track and ends with an epic guitar line. The track then moves to its real synth coda, which must have influenced The Blade Runner soundtrack in some way.
On Mariah’s Shinzo No Tabria’s a percussive intro gives way to a synth groove, before Maria’s ethereal delivery. The track takes an edgier form, with a fraught guitar line joining the mix midway through. The track’s open brings to mind the close of Kanye West’s Love Lockdown, a song on the album 808s & Heartbreak.
The 808 drum machine is essential. It’s a critical part of music history. The device was manufactured by the Japanese firm Roland and underpins many of the tracks on Tokyo Dreaming. It went on to be a near-constant of early hip-hop production. Hearing it in its early stages is fascinating. For American and European audiences, one of the first times it was noticeable was on Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing.
Yumi Morata’s cover of Akiko Yano’s Watashi No Bus takes Tokyo Dreaming in the direction of city pop. Tracks like Yano’s are the record is at its best and most listenable. Rainy Driver, by Hitomi Tohyama, from her debut album, Just Call Me Penny, is a classy example of slick, funky Japanese city pop. It sits neatly alongside Yano’s classic.
Strings, woodwind, and Yumi Seino elevate the album beyond drum machines and synthesisers on La Maison Est Ruine. The track is a cover of an obscure Michel Delpeche track from his 1974 album Le Chasseur and an example of how European music influenced Japanese music, though Japanese music later went on to influence Western music in equal measure.
Chinatown Rose, is the highlight of the album. It is a groovy blend blend of disco and funk and a marked tempo shift from the rest of the album. The cross-over between funk and synth-pop is displayed vividly on a danceable, high-tempo track. It’s futuristic, but of its time. On the pacey Soul Life, Haruo Chikada’s Sting-like delivery alongside the Vibratones is perfect 80s pop.
It’d be easy to dismiss the album on the basis that some of the music is forgettable. Perhaps even Muzak if you aren’t particularly keen on synth-pop. But Tokyo Dreaming is a rewarding listen for anyone with a particular penchant for Japanese music, or, for anyone who wants to understand the earliest uses of the drum sounds that became ubiquitous in the 80s – in pop, hip-hop and dance music.