When I first got hipped to City Pop, it was during a visit to Fukuoka Japan at this tiny bar that held maybe 20 people and the DJ who was I’d say 60 years old or so was playing a set of what felt familiar, yet I didn’t particularly know the songs or artists themselves. After asking a fellow DJ about what we were listening to, he responded with City Pop. For the next week while in Japan, I bought a stack of records that I dug, not to DJ out with but to listening to at home. During that time, I hadn’t heard anyone in the states playing or doing nights, which makes sense, why would they!? These records were still very cheap back then which isn’t the case today as the genre has exploded.
The phenomena of the City Pop genre is still rather on the new side here in the states with only a few DJ’s that I consider well versed in the artists and music of that era. Although there has always been a small demographic here in the states that enjoyed Japanese culture, it seems that it’s become all of the hype over the last few years. One of the DJ’s the I consider an aficionado of the genre and playing the music is the L.A. homie, Kaistar, an all around knowledgeable figure on the scene who throws the Tokyo Love Song party along with another staple in the DJ scene, XL Middleton.
Back in March, MoFunk Records released the XL Middleton curated cassette, Tokyo Love Song Vol. 1 which was a 70 minute mix of rare and obscure Japanese Boogie, Funk and Synth Pop. Following up on the previous cassette, Volume 2 takes things even further with Kaistar at the helm and going in a completely different direction, yet still in the same waterway to fit the genre perfectly.
Side A is mostly late 80’s & early 90’s ‘CD era’ tracks, many of which that were never pressed on vinyl in their day which brings something new the table and shows that Kaistar digs just a little deeper than others. In an era where there’s still so much new music being made, side B shines light on some of the contemporary artists keeping the city pop sound evolving in the present day. Few DJ’s are making and breaking modern records but Kaistar is separating himself from the pack which i applaud. The new tape is available now as well as on CD over at MoFunk.