Sub Rosa unearth an unparalleled archive of electronic music from Turkey, marking only their 2nd anthology focussed on a specific ”zone or sphere of influence” following An Anthology of Chinese Electronic Music 1992 - 2008, which was issued in 2009.
Perhaps an ostensibly unlikely place to hunt for electronic music, in fact Turkey has a rich and pioneering legacy of electronic experiments thanks to the early work of Bülent Arel and Ilhan Mimaroglu, who both started out in Ankara and Istanbul, respectively, before moving on to become pivotal figures in New York’s experimental matrix at the Colombia-Princeton Electronic Centre.
However, as the label point out, Arel and Mimaroglu’s influence upon Turkish experimental electronic music was quite indirect and wouldn’t manifest until decades later, “through the ‘serious’ music of conservatories and universities (Cenk Ergün, Koray Tahiro?lu, Mehmet Can Özer...) and the electronic/noise music avant-garde ((Mete Sezgin, Nilüfer Ormanlı, Utku Tavil...) - the great wave of the 2000s and 2010s.”
So this compilation is cleft in two broad categories: the first Electronic Music; bookended by Arel in the chasmic stereo explorations of Postlude from Music for a Sacred Service (1961) and Mimaroǧlu’s hauntingly spare and ominous Prelude No.17 Istanbul Fog (1996), and taking in other highlights such as the dense eruptions of Batur Sönmez’s Flash Mental Experiment No.23 (2012) and the Harry Bertoia-meets-Oud spaces of Resonating Universes Part 1 (2010) by Erdem Helvacioǧlu.
The 2nd disc is denoted Politic, Samplers, Ambient Music and renders 15 pieces ranging from the lower case glitch-pop jazz of Subconscious Memories (1994) by Mete Sezgin thru 2/5BZ’s gloaming concrète collage, Anadolog and right up to the most recent production, a pulsating study in swirling, stereo-strafing modern Turkish electronic composition entitled Democracy Lessons by Asaf Zeki Yüksel dating to 2013.

Pacific Breeze documents Japan’s blast into the stratosphere. By the 1960s, the nation had achieved a postwar miracle, soaring to become the world’s second largest economy. Thriving tech exports sent The Rising Sun over the moon. Its pocket cassette players, bleeping video games, and gleaming cars boomed worldwide, wooing pleasure points and pumping Japanese pockets full of yen.
Japan’s financial buoyancy also permeated its popular culture, birthing an audio analog called City Pop. This new sound arose in the mid ’70s and ruled through the ’80s, channeling the country’s contemporary psyche. It was sophisticated music mirroring Japan’s punch-drunk prosperity. City Pop epitomized the era, providing a soundtrack for emerging urbanites. An optimistic spirit buzzed through the music in neon-bathed, gauzy tableaus coated with groove-heavy strokes.
Pacific Breeze is an expertly compiled collection of choice cuts that range from silky smooth grooves to innovative techno pop bangers and everything in between. Long-revered by crate diggers and adventurous music heads, this music has never been released outside of Japan until now. Including key artists like Taeko Ohnuki and Minako Yoshida, as well as cult favorites Hitomi Tohyama and Hiroshi Sato, the long-awaited release also features newly commissioned cover painting by Tokyo-based artist Hiroshi Nagai, whose iconic images of resort living have graced the covers of many classic City Pop albums of the 1980s.
Many of the key City Pop players evolved from the Japanese New Music scene of the early ’70s, as heard on Light In The Attic’s acclaimed Even a Tree Can Shed Tears: Japanese Folk & Rock 1969-1973, the first release of the ongoing Japan Archival Series. In fact, you could say City Pop set sail with a champagne smash from Happy End, the freakishly talented subversives who included amongst their ranks Haruomi Hosono and Shigeru Suzuki, both featured on this compilation. As Michael K. Bourdaghs noted in his book, Sayonara Amerika, Sayonara Nippon, this music was, “Deconstructing the line between imitation and authenticity.” Some of the best City Pop teeters in this zone—easy listening with mutant exotica, tilted techno-pop, and steamy boogie bubbling beneath the gloss.