Sake & Tears

The second instalment of an unofficial two-parter, Episode 8 continues to survey the glorious sounds of Showa Kayo, laying siege to a an extensive haul of 7 inches acquired over the summer months. We’re clocking nearly 40 individual songs. We have show staples like Yujiro Ishihara, Keiko Fuji, Shinichi Mori making return appearances, including a rare super low-key alternative edi

Episode 7 sees a firm return to the glorious realms of Showa Kayo with nearly 2 hours of back-to-back gold from the Tokyo bargain bins. We have stand-out singles from gravelly voiced enka hardman Koji Tsuda, a ghostly prairie ballad by Tokiko Kato, a gorgeously gloomy 90’s love song by Mariya Takeuchi and a dramatic miniature masterpiece by Chiemi Eri, one of the best to every do

With over 70 tracks and a suitably immersive run time of well over three hours, episode 6 of Sake & Tears is another special, this time focusing on the fertile ground of Japanese film and TV soundtracks. Featuring carefully selected audio from long running weekly Samurai action shows, coming of age dramas, art-house curiosities and a predictably heavy focus on all things crime,

Marking the first Jazz Special, this month’s episode of Sake and Tears aims to explore the Japanese Jazz scene from the 60’s to the modern day, with a mixture of straight-ahead bangers, deep dark fusion workouts, avant-garde curiosities and solo piano beauty. Tracks have been carefully selected from lesser-known albums from back catalogue of titans like Yosuke Yamashita, Masabu

Making up for the delays between shows, this month's edition is another bumper episode, featuring multiple tracks from screen legends Tetsuya Watari and Yujiro Ishihara, Avant-pop duo Ippu-Do, doomed ballader Hako Yamasaki, Argentinian folk singer Graceila Susana and Showa Kayo starlet Aki Yashiro. We also have the long overdue appearance of the iconic Maki Asakawa, who reinven

May’s edition of Sake and Tears is a bumper episode, featuring a whopping 26 songs of bargain bin brilliance. Along with the usual cuts from cult crime and samurai films we have two sets of three song comparisons throughout the show, dotting different versions of ‘Yanagase Blues’ and ‘Dreams Open At Night’ amongst filmic curiosities from Tatsuya Fuji, Hiroki Matsukata and

Episode 2 showcases the brilliance of famed singer Chiemi Eri, whose bustling mixture of jazz, mambo and Latin moods reinvented Japanese folk music in the 60’s. There will also be another back-to-back comparison of two versions of the moody enka anthem ‘Shinjuku Blues’, a rare and exclusively ripped b-side by Hatsumi Shibata and carefully selected singles from Showa Kayo star

This inaugural episode features 3 versions of the enka classic 'Abashiri Prison', carefully selected singles from Showa Kayo starlets Mina Aoe, Yukio Nagisa, Keiko Fuji and Yukiji Asaoka, a mountain of hits from popular cult crime and samurai cinema actors like Bunta Sugawara, Akira Kobayashi and Yujiro Ishihara and the odd 80's power ballad for good measure. Full track