8 Tracks: Of 90’S Underground Japanese Dance Music With Jun Kamoda

Music

This month marked the release of a new EP on Black Acre, an infamous record label with an aspirational taste for the odd. However, their latest EP came in the form of three tracks from Jun Kamoda and demonstrated that the label still has a penchant for summer months spent on the dancefloor. The Japanese producer teamed up with the Bristol label to release an EP rife with exotic samples and inspired licks. This one was purpose built for the clubs, a release packed with interesting twists and turns.

We caught up with him with as he talks underground dance in Japan.

Buy the release HERE.

LISTEN

Smurf Otoko Gumi Prelude: W.A. Mozart "Rondo Alla Turka"

It’s very pure bass music! Sumurf Otoko Gumi’s Japanese electro funk band covered a Mozart tune using only 808 bass kicks. The bass track has been influenced by Miami Bass. It’s Tokyo’s answer to the Miami Bass scene.

Smurf Otoko Gumi Prelude: W.A. Mozart "Rondo Alla Turka"

It’s very pure bass music! Sumurf Otoko Gumi’s Japanese electro funk band covered a Mozart tune using only 808 bass kicks. The bass track has been influenced by Miami Bass. It’s Tokyo’s answer to the Miami Bass scene.
Doctor Ys & The Cosmic Drunkards - Secret Jungle (1996)

Doctor Ys & The Cosmic Drunkards was the project of Yoshihiro Swasaki who is known as an ambient music artist. I’ve listened to this album many times last summer. It’s the cold urban jungle, he also recently became an expert on Onsen in Japan.
Fumiya Tanaka Animal Attack

This is one of Hip Hop’s classic abstract tracks. The first half is Jazz Hip Hop but the last half is Techno. I was surprised by this structure when I first listened to it. Torema Records was a very important dance music label in Japan.
Riow Arai-Hyp

Riow Arai is a genius beat maker. His edits are very technical; his style has influenced my productions. His mixing technique is also pretty unique. You can notice this by listening to it using your headphones.
Montage - Abstrato

Montage is an alias of Akira Yamamichi. He doesn’t belong to the Hip Hop scene, originally he was an experimental artist. This gave him a unique approach to his beat making. This album was released on Soup-Disk which was a significant abstract Hip Hop label in Tokyo.
Arm - Index 68-87

ARM is an alias of Daishi Hisakawa who lives in Kochi. His overall style is very cool but it was pretty difficult to find his music on YouTube. 90’s Japanese underground electronic music has not been uploaded well on internet, making it difficult to share it with the world. This album was released by Transonic Records in Tokyo.
Suzukiski - Young Jam

Suzukiski is a project by Takahiro Suzuki who makes very poetic house music. This is a track that could still work on any dance floor. This record was released by Soup-disc.
Tatsuhiko Asano - Lemonade [Genny Haniver]

Lemonade is a very very beautiful track and Tatsuhiko is an incredible artist! This track was released by M.O.O.D, who is a Japanese house DJ called Moodman. He was managed by Moodman, another very important DJ in Japanese dance music scene.