YUJI TORIYAMA Vinilo y CD

Review: Acclaimed Japanese artist Yuji Toriyama's self titled album has long been hard to find. It now gets its first ever official issue outside of Japan and what a joy it is. The man was known for his work on TV, film and game sound design but also dropped this one in 1993 and it is a sublime fusion of Japanese jazz-rock with smooth melodies and catchy grooves. A perfectly retro-future record full of 80s nostalgia and ripe for sun drenched beaches and lounge bars alike. Whether you're a die-hard fan or this is the first time you have been enchanted by the sounds of Toriyama's music, you will keep on coming back for more this summer and beyond.

Review: Way back in 1982, Japanese musicians and producers Yuji Toriyama and Ken Morimura joined forces to deliver Aerobics, a soundtrack for exercise classes (really) that joined the dots between boogie, disco and city pop. 'Night Together', a superb electrofunk instrumental rich in picturesque synthesizer melodies, jazz-funk guitar solos (Toriyama was a guitarist by trade), squelchy bass and drum machine beats. It's certainly well worthy of being reissued - as this tidy "45" from Pony Canyon amply demonstrates. Curiously, it's not backed by another gem from that set, but rather another slept-on Japanese classic - 'Sea Gull' from Chie Sawa's 1974 hybrid folk-rock/psychedelic rock album 23 - Twenty Three Years Old. It's decent, but the A-side is the real winner.