The Best of Japanese Boogie Funk All on One Disc
The label Cultures of Soul, which specialises in the re-release of rare albums, focused on Japanese female singers from the 1980s.
©Robert Beatty
Compiled on a disk entitled Tokyo Nights: Female J-Pop Boogie Funk – 1981 to 1988, the songs, all performed by women, reflect the unbridled optimism, technological success, excess and exuberance of this decade when anything seemed possible.
Tokyo Nights, released by the American label Cultures Of Soul, features tracks from Hitomi Tohyama, a singer-songwriter from Okinawa, Mizuki Koyama, artist and essayist Mariko Tone and Rie Murakami. It’s fusion music, inspired by American R’n’B and mainstream rock in equal measure.
‘More than catchy melodies and funky basslines, these are reflections of a time when Japan was the centre —and future– of the world’, the label’s website reads. It’s the soundtrack to another era.
Tokyo Nights: Female J-Pop Boogie Funk – 1981 to 1988 (2017), a compilation available on Cultures of Soul.
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