(2020) VA – Oto No Wa: Selected Sounds of Japan 1988-2018


Review:
Over the last decade, a variety of factors including regular reissues, Youtube algorithms, and tastemaker DJ advocacy, have led to a surge of global interest in Japanese environmental music, city-pop, and jazz from the late ‘70s and ’80s. Some names worth mentioning here include Organic Music Tokyo’s Chee Shimizu, Dubby from Ondas, Yozo-San, and Jerome Qpchan from France. Through his association with European record labels such as WRWTFWW, BBE, MR BONGO, Time Capsule, and Music for Dreams, Ken Hidaka became very involved in this milieu, by helping facilitate communication between the Japanese music industry and the outside world. In 2017, Hidaka accompanied the legendary Japanese composer and percussionist Midori Takada on her first major European tour. During that trip, they visited Music For Dreams label boss Kenneth Bager at his home. “On the drive back to our hotel, he popped the question, would I like to compile a compilation of Japanese music for Music For Dreams,” Hidaka remembers. “I went back to Japan with his offer in mind, and thought, wouldn’t it be cooler if I did it with Rob [Harris] and Max [Essa]?” Three years later, the fruits of their labor have blossomed with Oto No Wa: Selected Sounds of Japan 1988-2018. When they started trying to license Japanese major label material from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s for Oto No Wa (loosely translatable as “Music of Harmony”), the trio felt they hit a wall, before having a cartoon lightbulb moment. “We realized that we knew tons of [more contemporary] Japanese artists—many of them having been guests of ours at Bonobo,” Harris said. “No one seemed interested in more current Japanese music—they were concentrating on dusty holy grails. I guess living here—with Max and Ken [Hidaka] active in the business—we were in the perfect position to address this.” Across Oto No Wa, they blend late ’80s machine-music, blissed-out ‘90s sunset anthems, 21st-century post-house/techno heaters, soft-focus bossa, and library music into a balmy 14-song cycle. On “Sealed,” NEWSIC sound explorer, Yoshio Ojima, layers delicate, twinkling chimes over a soft, synth dronescape, creating an instrumental cradle song for adults and children alike. Major Force’s remix of “N.I.C.E. Guy (Nice Guitar Dub)” by Scha Dara Parr is a masterclass in vibes. A programmed post-boogie backbeat provides support to a series of graceful piano flourishes and exuberant, strutting guitar, as they all combine into a good times groove that could last forever. “Frostie” sees the Japanese reggae band Little Tempo combing the cavernous weight of vintage dub riddims with the sparkle of steel drums. And on “Balasong,” Ojima’s fellow NEWSIC associate, percussionist Yoshiaki Ochi, summons up an idiophone jam for the ages. Given Essa, Harris, and Hidaka’s personal histories, and expansive, open-eared approaches towards record store digging, DJing, and writing, none of this is surprising, but that doesn’t make their discoveries any less delightful. “I’d love to do a follow-up,” Harris continued. “Regular bulletins of new Japanese music. Brownswood Bubblers, Bonobo Bangers? Japanese Juice?”





Tracklist:



Media Report:
Genre: ambient, compilation, electronic
Source: CD
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits