Akira Inoue -- The Beat of Pollution

My knowledge of singer-songwriter Akira Inoue（井上鑑）isn't what I would call extensive at all, but from what I've listened in terms of his own material and those songs that he has provided other singers, he has been very much at home with the urban contemporary, the lusher side of pop, aidoru, and some more experimental efforts.

His 1982 album "Prophetic Dream" was a City Pop project including my favourite track, "Bartok no Kage"（バルトークの影）, a highway drive-friendly Steely Dan-sounding tune so smooth that it could have been running on clarified butter.

But three years later, Inoue released "Kakuu Teienron"（架空庭園論...Imaginary Arboretum）in March 1985, and though I've only listened to the first couple of tracks, it's evident that he was definitely taking things into a different direction, musically speaking. The first track, for example, is titled "The Beat of Pollution" which does have that boppy bass that City Pop fans would always hear but its surrounded by an intriguing soundscape which reminds me of the world's funkiest wash cycle in a washing machine.

It's not quite synthpop but as I'm listening to "The Beat of Pollution", I'm getting all sorts of Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）, circa late-era Yellow Magic Orchestra and post-YMO, and now I'm realizing that Inoue's delivery itself is reminding me of Kazuhiro Nishimatsu（西松一博）from "Bouekifu Monogatari"（貿易風物語）which came out the same year. Of course, for those who have heard that glorious album, "Bouekifu Monogatari" is more in the techno jazz (cabaret on Tatooine) territory but perhaps there could be a cousin-type relationship between it and "Kakuu Teienron" which is more on the dreamier side of New Wave or slightly more avant-garde pop. In any case, maybe I can invest some yen into this particular album as well.