These are two titles I never thought I'd get my hands on, but recent reissue efforts made it possible — and to pick them up on the same day, well,
*aggressive chef's kiss*.
Joe McPhee - Nation Time
This is probably an all-timer for me. Joe McPhee's fiery saxophone gets tangled with a rhythm section that's both unhinged and disciplined, and the resulting album - recorded at a concert - is a living, breathing document of free jazz fury that doesn't always try to fire on all cylinders. The few hot, dirty funk grooves in here are sustained for as long as they're needed. The entire album is seriously
phenomenal.
Nation Time is well-known amongst many jazz circles but it's an excellent entry point into the genre. Big shoutout to Superior Viaduct — I don't know where they sourced this cut from, but listening to this reissue feels like the first time. A significant step up from my digital copy. Absolutely worth the wait, and worth your time.
Seaside Lovers - Memories in Beach House
Japanese labels have been on a roll reissuing city pop classics, and yet it took a US company to reissue one of its holy grails. Memories in Beach House isn't a personal favourite of mine from that era, but it is an extremely slick and melodic pop album (mostly instrumental) that takes in a healthy dose of balearic and ambient sounds. This is the now-OOP blue vinyl edition by
Ship to Shore Phono Co., but they're now accepting pre-orders for clear vinyl.
Seaside Lovers was a one-time project of Hiroshi Sato, Akira Inoue and Masataka Matsushita. I highly recommend checking out their other works if you vibe with this — Hiroshi Sato's discography is immaculate alone, and Masataka Matsushita's collaborative album (
The Aegean Sea) with Haruomi Hosono and Takahiko Ishikawa plays almost like a spiritual sequel to
Memories.