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The ample use of synthesizers, great style, and melodic Japanese lyrics makes Japanese technopop during the 80s an incredibly rich music genre; most likely due to the new influence from the west and the massive economic boom in Japan from the 60s through to the 80s.
The works of Tomoko Aran, Hiroshi Sato and Makoto Matsushita are like futuristic-funk tracks created for vaporwave fans of today, and help you to imagine yourself sliding down a technicolor keyboard. Not only the music itself, but the album and typographic designs of the music at the time utilize beautiful, tropical colors and geometric shapes – I wouldn’t be surprised if Makoto Matsushita’s “The Pressures and The Pleasures” album directly influenced the design of Neon Indian’s “Psychic Chasms” album.
The 80s were a very experimental time in Japan, playing around with the genres of pop, techno, funk, disco, electro, and exotica. These artists seemed fearless in the way they explored genres. What shines through in tracks of the era is this palpable sense of humor, teamed with the artists seeming to free all their inhibitions through synthy music – I couldn’t help but smile to myself when I read an album title by Yukihiro Takahashi – “Neuromantic.” That’s just exactly how I feel sometimes.
A lot of songs by these 80s artists were bilingual, and sometimes even trilingual, such as the tracks “Midnight Pretenders” by Tomoko Aran, and Hiroshi Sato’s “Say Goodbye.” In 1975, just before the scene of Japanese technopop exploded, Shigeo Sekito released “The World II,” which was sampled in recent years in Mac Demarco’s release, “Chamber of Reflection.” A good tribute, no doubt.
Self-Titled Mag described the track “Heartbeat” by Colored Music to sound as if a “cassette got melted in a sun, with a faraway pirate chant…” I would say this is a pretty accurate description: the track is hypnotic, erratic, haunting, yet with a distinct bubblegum atmosphere. This track is a personal favorite of mine, out of all the mind-bending, neurotically fabulous tracks I’ve listened to.
If you want a WHOLE playlist of experimental Japanese pop from the 80s (of course you do), you can listen and download this Soundcloud playlist below:
Here are some other videos: