8 Tracks: Of 80s Japanese Funky Synth Fusion W/ Kay Suzuki

Yuji Toriyama is an unsung guitarist/producer outside of Japan, but he left some beautiful tracks throughout 80s on his albums and had so many pop music hits under his production from 90s onwards.?The keyboardist Ken Morimura is also a member of world famous Japanese salsa band called Orquesta Del Sol. This record was made for TV program for Aerobics which was as popular as Yoga these days in 80s. Well programmed heavy drum machine, fat analogue synths, sharp guitar chops & solo with feeling-good melodies. All the key ingredients of Japanese 80s fusion are there.

Toshiki Kadomatsu is another fusion musician / singer / producer who was almost synonyms of Japanese City Pop alongside with Tatsuro Yamashita or Eiichi Ohtaki. I should add that he had some funkiest pop tracks around that time though. Don’t laugh at the lyrics, just feel the groove!

You can’t talk about Japanese 80s music without mentioning Haruomi Hosono who is the founder of Japanese techno god father(s) Y.M.O. This Linn Drum LM-1drum machine lead track is almost like a prototype techno, but I can still hear the funk with a hint of oriental melody line.

Another Haruomi Hosono production for Japanese singer song writer Miharu Koshi. A ground breaking beat of LM-1 with incredible pop sense to it. I’d imagined this would be one of unreleased prince track from the era if the vocals are different.

Thankfully, My favourite album of Hiroshi Sato “Orient” was just reissued a couple weeks ago, but this track was my ultimate Hiroshi Sato track and probably most played record in my room and the DJ set. I believe this is Linn 9000 drum machine and every line of riffs and melodies are beautifully entwined with various synth sound and melting tones. Absolutely beautiful track. I love every second of it.

Ryo Kawasaki is the real OG when it comes to crossing boarder between Jazz and electronic music. This virtuoso guitarist / producer used Roland TB-303 and TR-808 (which are the main choice of weapons for classic techno producers) to create this futuristic fusion funk jazz in 83. respect.

Seigen Ono is a musician, engineer, producer and sound designer who worked from Miles Davis to King Crimson and everyone in between. He started his career in early 80s and signed with Virgin UK in 87 as its label’s first Japanese act. This track is taken from the sound track album for a fashion brand in Tokyo.

Yasuaki Shimizu is another OG that now every digger in world knows about. He was living in Paris & London during the late 80s and those three albums from the era (Subliminal, Dementos, Aduna) are real inspiration for a fellow Japanese music producer in London 30 years later. Those albums has real fusion of sounds from Africa, Japan and Europe with incredible production skills. Must listen albums in 2018.