03 —
Sleeve Notes
Optimo (Espacio)
Keith McIvor
Optimo (Espacio)
I am JD Twitch, one half of Optimo (Espacio), a DJ, producer, remixer, promoter and record label runner based in Glasgow. I am blessed that my work has taken me to Japan on many occasions.
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Japan is the best country in the world for record shopping and over the course of my visits it is an activity I have pursued there with great gusto.
On my record shopping excursions I am always particularly interested in releases by Japanese artists, and initially started buying them purely based on the sleeve designs. Over time I got to know a lot more about the artists and various releases.
A notable constant in Japanese releases is the uniqueness and strength of sleeve design. Here are a selection of my favourites – all from the 1980s.
1987
Yumiko Morioka
余韻 (Resonance)
Green & Water
I bought this on my first ever visit to Japan purely based on the sleeve design. Petals, raindrops and shadows of bunnies; it was bound to be great, and it is! It went on to open up a whole world of Japanese ambient music to me, often with a distinct Erik Satie influence. I used to do an ambient music evening in Glasgow in the early to mid 90s and wish I had known about all this music back then.
![](https://forwardjournal.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fforwardjournal.co%2Fmedia%2Fforward%2Foptimo-espacio%2FIMG_3186-2.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=887&q=90&w=900&s=69d27a43688ae5ee1de212eff0b8d934)
1982
Masumi Hara
Imagination Exchange
Yupiteru Records
I discovered Masumi Hara through their 夢の4倍 album which I bought purely due to its striking design. I then became a fan of their music and Imagination Exchange is my favourite thing I’ve heard by them. It is all over the place, in the best possible way. From hi-tech New Wave ballads to crazed tribal dub workouts.
![](https://forwardjournal.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fforwardjournal.co%2Fmedia%2Fforward%2Foptimo-espacio%2FIMG_3193-2.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fp-x=0.7104&fp-y=0.4909&h=885&q=90&w=900&s=658784f583b2c48116863d285bf07414)
1984
Mishio Ogawa
小川美潮
Vap
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Bought on sight just for the sleeve design and then I went on to fall hopelessly in love with the music.
Discogs describes it as Free Jazz, New Wave, Synth-Pop which is just about right. I have no idea if this was a big success at the time but if so, Japanese pop was operating on a whole other level to 80s pop in Europe.
1983
Miharu Koshi
Tutu
Yen Records
Miharu Koshi is a goddess. Her trilogy of 80s albums – of which this is this is the first – are three of my favourite albums ever. Ecstatic, sophisticated, playful and futuristic sounding techno-pop of the highest order. I’ve noticed she is belatedly becoming slightly more feted in the west, but she really deserves to be better known.
![](https://forwardjournal.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fforwardjournal.co%2Fmedia%2Fforward%2Foptimo-espacio%2FIMG_3199-2.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=881&q=90&w=900&s=2f200a8302dcd7960b845ed8bcadecc7)
1987
Haruomi Hosono
Murasaki Shikibu
The Tale Of Genji
Sony
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Haruomi Hosono is perhaps the most influential musician ever to come out of Japan.
Certainly in recent times he has become an uber-cult figure in western music appreciation circles. This is one of his lesser known albums but one of my favourites. A soundtrack album and a sampling master-class.
1982
Akiko Yano
愛がなくちゃね
Japan Records
Former member of Yellow Magic Orchestra and former partner of Ryuichi Sakamoto, still very active to this day.
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The sleeve of this gives a hint as to the playfulness of her masterful pop compositions. A joyful listen from start to finish and features members of the band Japan playing throughout. Her Tadaima album was recently reissued and is highly recommended too.
1983
Inoyama Land
Danzindan-Pojidon
Yen Records
This was one of the very first Japanese records I bought and I found it in the fantastic city of Fukuoka on the northern shore of Japan’s Kyushu Island. Last time I was headed there a typhoon stopped our train in its tracks and I had to go back to Tokyo. I had no idea what this was going to be like when I purchased it but actually it sounds very much like how the sleeve looks. Heavenly, glacial electronics! This is getting a European reissue in 2019. 10/10.
![](https://forwardjournal.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fforwardjournal.co%2Fmedia%2Fforward%2Foptimo-espacio%2FIMG_3216_NEW.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=880&q=90&w=900&s=b942ded8e7d3902729a76f3b48a247d0)
1982
Testpattern
Après-Midi
Yen Records
I kept seeing this in Japan but didn’t buy it as I initially thought it was an early 80s R&B record but eventually I noticed it was on Yen Records and produced by Haruomi Hosono so I bought a copy. I’m so glad I did as it is perhaps one of thee greatest Synth-Pop records ever made and it has gone on to become an all time favourite. It is now a very hard record to find and is perhaps top of the list of records I’d like to reissue on my label.
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1984
Masumi Hara
夢の4倍
Yupiteru Records
I mention this one earlier. It is how I discovered Masumi Hara and was one of the records I bought on my first ever visit that went on to open up a whole world of music to me that I hadn’t really known existed. In some ways I had to re-adjust my western ears to get my head round it but once my ears opened there was no turning back.
![](https://forwardjournal.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fforwardjournal.co%2Fmedia%2Fforward%2Foptimo-espacio%2FIMG_3231.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=934&q=90&w=900&s=8828d3cac17529a36e7be696a3f0de70)
1984
淡海悟郎
虹神殿
Columbia
I didn’t even know what this record was called until I came to write this – there are two words of English on the sleeve and luckily they gave a clue that led me to find out what it is. Strangely it hadn’t mattered to me too much up until now. I had just loved how it looked and sounded. Gamelan, pianos and synthesisers. Quite eerie in places, could be a soundtrack.
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