For a Japanese label, have put together an incredible catalog of leftfield techno and inventive dance music and have done so, remarkably, without favoring music from the land of the rising sun. Since 2000, theyve given us classic records by , Henrik Schwarz, and when they could have easily made a killing simply by issuing the troves of homegrown obscurities in their own record collections. In recent years, theyve stood by while nascent and imprints have licensed holy grail Japanese , , and records (which were certainly not mad at!), and theyve decided that now is the time to get in the game and put their own spin onit. This collection of rare Nippon disco and boogie is compiled by Mule Musiq boss Toshiya Kawasaki, who apparently felt so strongly that he christened a newoffshoot to deal with these archival releases: Studio Mule. Aside from the obvious lyrics, and maybe the austere perfectionism of the tracks, there isnt much about these songs that screams *Japanese* - this is just straight-up banging disco, any way you slice it. Check out the stepping jazz fusion of Silver Spot by a 19 year old Nobuyuki Shimizu, or the slick machine funk of Samba Night by Piper. Hitomi Tohyamas bilingual Love Is The Competition is the would-be Garage classic that probably never had the privilege of hearing. Some of the tracks wear their influences on their sleeves; Koiwa Saiko (Im In Love) by Aru Takamura sounds eerily similar to Cheryl Lynns Got To Be Real (), and Honma Express What The Magic Is To Try is the long lost vocoder joint you didnt know you needed in your life. Haruko Kuwana turns Japanese soul classic Akogareno Sundown into a lush & syrupy late nite groove, another major highlight. Thank your lucky stars for these 13 tracks, each one rarer than the next, remastered by Kuniyuki Takahashi and spread across four sides of vinyl. Recommended.
- double vinyl pressing
- music label:Studio Mule 2018
