Released in 1985 on The Specials’ Ghost Town’s producer John Collins’ Local Records imprint, Love with A Stranger is a cult classic early street soul jam released when […]
1985
The opening track on Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia, Fieldwork is an ethereal synth-pop jam featuring the haunting vocals of English composer Thomas Dolby. While the instrumentation here […]
A city pop classic, Communication was originally released in 1985 by Junko Yagami, a talented singer-songwriter who has released over 20+ albums across a number of difference genres […]
The first record to be released under Prince’s newly formed label Paisley Park Records, Around The World In A Day sidesteps the obvious next move of another Purple […]
After working in the avant-garde scene with Kaoru Abe and Takehisa Kosugi, Japanese percussionist Yas-Kaz went to Indonesia to study Balinese gamelan music. Following the trip, Yas-Kaz would […]
From Scratch is an experimental percussion group led by New Zealand-based sound and intermedia artist Phil Dadson. Their most famous work Pacific 3,2,1,Zero is a protest against nuclear […]
A tropical grail lovingly reissued on 12″ by BeauMonde Records, Ni Bel Jounin is the lone single by the Creole-speaking French reggae band Cap’tain Creole. Originally inspired by […]
The lone album by Jun Togawa Unit, a side project from the Japanese singer alongside sound producer Yoichiro Yoshikawa and recording engineer Yoshifumi Iio, 極東慰安唱歌 (Far East Comfort […]
By the mid-1980s, the former punk band the Mekons had learned enough about the music machine to become completely alienated by it. They’d experimented with punk, minimalist synth […]
Moving further away from his early city pop classics (Prophetic Dream and Seaside Lovers’ Memories In Beach House), legendary Japanese keyboardist/composer Akira Inoue dives into avant-new-wave-pop and experimental […]
Released in Japan on Alfa music sub-label Yen Records and the US on William Ackerman’s Windham Hill, Interior was the short-lived passion project for Haruomi Hosono and the […]
McCoy Tyner’s saxophonist and early Pan Afrikan Arkestra member Azar Lawrence steps confidently into the mid ’80s with Shadow Dancing, his first solo album in almost a decade […]
A private press “jangle-pop” gem picked up in the UK by Bruno of Perfect Lives, The Compromise is perfect low budget crying music featuring drum box grooves, washed […]
A cult classic album from the ’80s Italian avant-garde music scene, Scorie by Tiziano Popoli and Marco Dalpane is a surprisingly accessible work weaving new age pop sensibilities […]
An underrated release from Mad Professor’s consistently great Ariwa Sounds label, Man And Machine Dubbing In Harmony is the debut album from the Robotiks, Ariwa’s in-house band. While […]
A classic from legendary British R&B group Loose Ends, A Little Spice is perfect ’80s boogie for dance floors of yesterday and today. Much like their contemporaries S.O.S. […]
Featured on Music from Memory’s excellent Uneven Paths: Deviant Pop From Europe 1980-1991, Härte 10’s Welcome To Germany is a delightful set of oddball tracks that can probably […]
Minneapolis Genius is one of the earliest Prince recordings. Released in 1985 but actually recorded in 1977 when Prince was just a teenager, the album showcases the raw […]
Yen Records was a sub-label of Alfa Recordings launched essentially as a home for YMO’s Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi’s production projects. This commemorative compilation features remix versions […]
We don’t often put up 12″ singles on this site but this one is a classic… A simple drum machine beat, glossy production, slightly melancholic vocals – Clio’s […]
One of the more underrated Prince side projects released on Paisley Park Records, The Family’s self-titled debut is, like many Prince projects, essentially a collection of Prince songs […]
The follow up to Sade’s brilliant debut, Promise builds on the smooth soul jazz of Diamond Life with even tighter rhythms and elegant compositions. Led by singer Sade […]
‘Missa’ is the third release by experimental American composer Daniel Lentz, a true unsung genius of the 80s modern classical age. According to the album’s performance notes, the […]
Spearheaded by the acid-tongued icon Mark E. Smith, This Nation’s Saving Grace stands as the best from the Beggars Banquet era Fall and is widely accepted as one […]
Founded in 1984 in Brazil’s federal capital of Brasília, Finis Africae features a cast of rotating musicians around the core members Juan A. Arteche, Luis Delgado, and Javier […]
We first heard this wonderful obscurity on the excellent Okonkole y Trompa music blog curated by record collectors Satoshi Yamamura and PAM. Comme Au Moulin is the self-released […]
Extractions is the third album by the underrated instrumental quartet Dif Juz ( a play on ‘different jazz’) and their penultimate full length before dismembering in 1986. Shortly […]
Alex Malheiros is well known globally as a founding member of influential jazz fusion group Azymuth. After amassing a following in Brazil in the early 80’s, the group […]
Here I Come is a dancehall classic by “Mr. Cool and Lovin’” himself, Barrington Levy. Recorded at the legendary Channel One Studios, the album embraces the sound of […]
Billy Higgins may not be a household name in jazz, but the master drummer was certainly one of the most revered in the scene. In fact, Higgins is […]
Old Rottenhat is the fourth solo album from ex Soft Machine drummer/vocalist Robert Wyatt. This album was released ten years apart from his last solo release and features a […]
Rare Silk was an 80’s vocal jazz group, a genre that at the time was defined by it’s multi-part vocal harmonies, pop sensibilities and mix of swing and […]
What do Kate Bush and Khruangbin have in common? They’ve discovered a secret to creating a successful album: recording in a barn on a farm where time stands […]
Zummo With an X is the debut album of Peter Zummo, a multi-instrumentalist and frequent collaborator/friend of the great Arthur Russell. Zummo’s playing can be heard on some […]
Commissioned by Japanese toy maker Bandai in 1984, the Hosono-composed Mercuric Dance is the soundtrack for a contemporary ballet piece of the same name. Each track is inspired by […]
A highly sought after release in digging circles, the sole release by the mysterious Aragon was finally reissued in 2016 by the great Chee Shimizu on his Japanism […]
Steve McQueen also known as Two Wheels Good is the brainchild of Prefab Sprout’s frontman/songwriter Paddy McAloon and producer Thomas Dolby. The story goes that after hearing that Dolby was […]
