P-Vine (Japan), 2014. New Copy
All That Jazz expand their sound here, as you might guess from the winds and wood hinted in the title – using saxes and a bit of strings in a great way over their surprisingly dynamic grooves – almost at a level that seeks to link the club jazz modes of the Tokyo scene with some of the ...
P-Vine (Japan), 2010. New Copy
A really great take on the music of Studio Ghibli – one that presents the sounds with very much the jazz promised in the title! The sound is very lean and stripped-down, with a small combo style on most numbers – all instruments handled by Tomoo Nogami, who mixes piano, bass, and drums ...
Orange House/Lawson (Japan), 1979. New Copy (reissue)
Noriyo Ikeda has a look on the cover that's maybe a bit more understated than some of her contemporaries, but comes across on the set with a really vibrant quality – using jazz as much as soul to craft her wonderful vocals, in ways that make for an album that's rich in feeling, even past the ...
Columbia/Lawson (Japan), 1976. New Copy (reissue)
A great blend of funky jazz and wooden flute – the Japanese shakuhachi reed instrument, blown by Kifu Mitsuhashi here – then mixed with some larger backings that almost have a CTI Records sort of groove! The approach is similar to some of the best 70s projects from Hozan Yamamoto ...
P-Vine (Japan), 2022. New Copy
A really cool take on the sounds of Studio Ghibli – one that brings classic melodies from the famous animated features into play with the production talents of Grey October Sounds – who delivers the goods with all the low-fi elements promised by the title! The approach is instrumental ...
P-Vine (Japan), 2011. New Copy
A nicely expanded version of the great Ghibli Jazz concept – delivered here in a live setting that's maybe got even more brilliance than the studio albums! There's a dynamic sense of presentation right from the start, partly the sense of the concert space in the mix, partly the energy from ...
Philips/Universal (Japan), 1973. New Copy (reissue)
A very groovy album from 70s Japan – one that makes all the best use of the sexy vocal style of Kaoru Yumi, set to a warm mix of funky and easygoing backings! Yumi's as famous for her appearances on screen as she is on record – a role that was unified here through the scandalous album ...
Denon/Lawson (Japan), 1971. New Copy Gatefold (reissue)
Japanese singer Carmen Maki works here with Blues Creation – on a set that's headier and heavier than just about anything she ever recorded! The group themselves are amazing – searing with guitar work that rivals the best of the Anglo blues-inspired hard rock combos of the period ...
Polydor/Lawson (Japan), 1970. New Copy Gatefold (reissue)
A really lovely little record from Japan – one that's got some slight elements of bossa nova in the backings, but also some European elements too – with a moody vibe that's really wonderful, and very much in keeping from the image on the cover! There's a strong current of melancholy ...
EMI/Universal (Japan), 1981. New Copy (reissue)
A really beautiful record from the Japanese electro scene at the start of the 80s – a record that's got some of the catchy synth modes of the period, but which also has a fair bit of other elements going on too! Logic System features keyboards from Hideki Matsutake – best known for his ...
TDK/Lawson (Japan), 1989. New Copy (reissue)
A great bit of Japanese soul from the end of the 80s – and one that's got a surprising connection to Prince as well – given the man himself wrote some of the tracks, and also appears on the record himself! Apart from Kahoru's Japanese vocals, the Prince tracks are totally Prince ...
Columbia/Lawson (Japan), 1973. New Copy (reissue)
Bassist Akira Okazawa works here with a leaner version of the Soul Media group of reedman Jiro Inagaki – a sweet little set that has Jiro on tenor, soprano, and flute – and some mighty nice work on organ from Norio Maeda! Akira sings on many numbers, in both English and Japanese, in ...
Blow Up/Lawson (Japan), 1981. New Copy (reissue)
It's easy for Yumi Seino to be a natural woman with backings this great – really jazzy instrumentation that helps set a style that keeps things moving throughout – and which definitely has the record on the more soulful R&B side of the city pop spectrum! Yumi's voice is great ...
Denon/Lawson (Japan), 1976. New Copy (reissue)
A really cool record from the Japanese scene of the 70s – one that mixes traditional instrumentation with some high fidelity recording styles – then adds in just the right dash of contemporary elements too! The set's not as all-out funky as others like it from the time, but does rise ...
Columbia/Lawson (Japan), 1976. New Copy (reissue)
Really cool work on shakuhachi – and a set that's way more than just the ballads you might expect from the title! Japanese reed player Kifu Mitsuhashi definitely uses some older modes here, and begins the set as such – but as the record moves on, more contemporary instrumentation comes ...
180g, Late 60s/Early 70s. New Copy Gatefold
Really wild work from this hip Japanese guitarist of the 60s – music that still echoes some of the American instrumental guitar styles of the decade, but which often opens up with all these weird and wonderful touches too! There are some moments that seem to evoke older Japanese melodies, ...
P-Vine (Japan), 2023. New Copy
One of the coolest projects so far from Grey October Sounds – a set that has all the crispy beats and laidback vibe of previous records, but which also focuses on themes from anime as well! There's plenty of tunes from the world of Studio Ghibli, but they're nicely changed up with the ...
Universal/Lawson (Japan), 1996. New Copy
A sweetly soulful soundtrack from Cagnet – music for the extremely popular Long Vacation series in the 90s, done in that Japanese style from the time that was very heavy on influences from American soul! There's English language lyrics on most tracks – sung by Natalie and Anna, with a ...
Big Beat (UK), Late 60s. New Copy Gatefold
Mad sounds from the late 60s world of Japanese pop – a mindblowing, ear-opening batch of singles we never would have gotten our hands on otherwise! The music here feels like sounds coming out of some backroom jukebox in a Nikkatsu "new action" film – or maybe the kind of ...
TDK/P-Vine (Japan), 1984. New Copy
A set that's especially sexy, and especially jazzy too – as Jun Miyake works here with a whole host of American fusion players – a really great lineup who make the record soar! Jun's definitely in the more fusion-oriented side of his music here – blowing trumpet and flugelhorn, ...
P-Vine (Japan), 2023. New Copy
One of the coolest projects so far from Grey October Sounds – a set that has all the crispy beats and laidback vibe of previous records, but which also focuses on themes from anime as well! There's plenty of tunes from the world of Studio Ghibli, but they're nicely changed up with the ...
Midi/We Want Sounds (UK), 1984. New Copy
A pivotal album in the career of Ryuichi Sakamoto – a set that got wide global circulation right at a time when he was a rising star on the screen as much as a surprising international music star as well – of the sort who became a key global representative for all the changes that had ...
Time Capsule (UK), 1970s. New Copy
A record that picks up on a very particular strand of Japanese music in the 70s – and one that's maybe not even fully described with all the evocative words in the title! The sounds here are leaner and more open than work you'd know from the city pop years – but also not like Japanese ...
P-Vine (Japan), 2022. New Copy
A really cool take on the sounds of Studio Ghibli – one that brings classic melodies from the famous animated features into play with the production talents of Grey October Sounds – who delivers the goods with all the low-fi elements promised by the title! The approach is instrumental ...
All Art/Solid (Japan), Early 70s. New Copy
A really groovy little record from singer Kim Sang Hee – a vocalist who works here in English throughout, but gets backing from a few different forces on the Japanese jazz scene! Things change up nicely throughout the record – so that some tracks have Fender Rhodes backings from the ...
All Art/Solid (Japan), 1971. New Copy (reissue)
The lovely Kim Sang Hee takes on the music of both Tom Jones and Burt Bacharach – in a setting that has her working with nicely different backings for each of the different sources! The Burt Bacharach material is maybe our favorite – as Kim's sweet voice works wonderfully with the ...
Alshire, 1972. Near Mint-
(Gold label stereo pressing – AS 207.)
Rhythm Republic (Japan), 2009. Near Mint- 2LP Gatefold
(180 gram vinyl. Cover has minimal wear, lightly bumped corners, and a promo sticker in back.)
Light In The Attic, Late 70s/Early 80s. New Copy 2LP
A totally wonderful compilation – and a fantastic way to dip into the world of Japanese city pop – a genre that most of us missed back in the day, in large part because most of these records never made it to the record racks in the US! As fans know, the movement was a huge crest of ...
P-Vine (Japan), 2009. New Copy
A really great take on the music of Studio Ghibli – one that presents the sounds with very much the jazz promised in the title! The sound is very lean and stripped-down, with a small combo style on most numbers – all instruments handled by Tomoo Nogami, who mixes piano, bass, and drums ...