Various – Pacific Breeze 2: Japanese City Pop, AOR, and Boogie 1972-1986 2LP Light in the Attic

When Light In The Attic released _Pacific Breeze: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1976-1986_ in 2019, it was the first collection of it’s kind to be released outside Japan. It proved to be just what music fans had been waiting for-a compilation of sought-after tracks that had been nearly impossible to obtain unless you were well-connected with dealers and collectors, or traveled regularly to the countless record stores in Japan. _Pacific Breeze_ included Minako Yoshida, Taeko Ohnuki, Hiroshi Sato and Haruomi Hosono among other key players of ’70s-’80s Japanese City Pop, the nebulous genre that encompassed an “amalgam of AOR, R&B, jazz fusion, funk, boogie and disco, all a touch dizzy with tropical euphoria,” as we described it the first time around.

With _Pacific Breeze 2: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1972-1986_ we dig deeper into those sounds of bubble-era Japan. From the proto-City Pop funk of Bread & Butter and Eiichi Ohtaki to the crate-digger favorites Eri Ohno and Piper, the latest entry in Light In The Attic’s Japan Archival Series brings another set of sought-after tunes, most of which have never before been available outside of Japan. Tomoko Aran and Anri, also included in this compilation, are just a few of the artists who have gained popularity in recent years thanks to Vaporwave, the meme-genre that heavily samples Japanese City Pop to create it’s particular aesthetic. _Pacific Breeze 2_ once again feature the artwork of renowned Tokyo-based illustrator Hiroshi Nagai, whose iconic images of resort living have become synonymous with City Pop. Nagai’s urban tropical imagery is a perfect match for the expertly curated tunes, evoking a certain sense of nostalgia for the leisure lifestyles of ’70s-’80s Tokyo, while simultaneously being perfectly in tune with the current zeitgeist.