Legend has it that between 1982 and 1986 a group of young Japanese musicians, including keyboardist Mariko Katsuragi and producer Jô Hasegawa, went into the studio for a series of sessions to record a hit album in the then-popular city pop style. The album never materialised, but in 2023 the four-track EP »Seaside Highway« was released by Estonian label Memme Vaev as the first release from those 1980s sessions. Now the label is following up with the EP »Aoyama Nights«.
The bizarre thing is that neither Katsuragi, Hasegawa nor any of the other musicians involved have left any trace of their existence online. It’s almost as if they’ve vanished into thin air, unlike your average internet user who pops up in a Google search in the blink of an eye. Whether »Aoyama Nights« is a massive hoax or the long-lost piece of the puzzle that will shed new light on city pop is almost beside the point. The music, with its elastic synth sounds and funky bass lines, its slightly experimental flourishes, is a mixture of easy-listening jazz and boogie, »Miami Vice« soundtrack and proto-electro-funk. It speaks for itself.
Aoyama Nights
