180g Japan Vinilo y CD

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corners of outer sleeve, product unopened & in excellent condition***


Minoru Fushimi originally released Thanatos Of Funk in 1985, proving that boogie wasn't exclusive to the US. You can hear his Japanese culture coming through on this incredible album, not least reinterpreting traditional song 'Dompan', but in truth this is a faithful and on-point run at everything electro funk stood for in the mid 80s. There's that necessary streak of humour in tracks like 'Disco Thesis', but primarily this is all about how dope that Moog lines and slick bass slaps sound mixed up with the swathes of vocoder. If you're serious about boogie, you might have had this one in your sights for some time. Finally, your chance has come, so don't waste time snapping up this stellar boogie bomb.

Review: Japanese jazzmasuta Jiro Inagaki is graced by a stunning new tribute album via 180g, Legends, which celebrates his 90th birthday in 16-track compilation form. Made up entirely of works made between 1968 and 1980, and selected by DJ and producer Yusuke Ogawa, this is an album made almost entirely of Jiro's best-known instrumentals, not least a formerly unreleased version of the standout 'Express'. The recordings are impeccable, and this is a standard which does not waver over the entire 12-year period this LP spans.

Review: In the late 1970s and early 80s, disco swept through dancefloors across the world, with musicians, producers and labels in all four corners of the world recording and releasing their own local variations on the New York-pioneered sound. This fine compilation digs into the Japanese interpretation of the sound, offering up a selection of gems pulled from the vaults of the Nippon Columbia imprint. As you'd expect, there are some genuinely soaring and delightfully over-the-top cuts on show (see Godiego's 'The Odyssey Begins - Monkey Magic' and the disco-funk mania of Ikue Sakakibara's bilingual 'This Is Hot'), alongside such forgotten or lesser-celebrated gems as Yumi Moreta's rubbery bass-propelled 'Krishna', the strings-and-synth-drenched brilliance of Pink Parachute's 'Disco Great' and the ridiculously grandiose 'Hazumi De Daitte (A Woman Inside a Man's Body)' by Hatsumi Shibata.