Offie Mag

As part of a new series, the good people at Laine & Fader IPA have asked us to pick a favourite record that we’ve recently picked up.

The local Brighton beer was poured out for free to those who attended our ISSUE ELEVEN Launch Party, so recommending some good music was the least we could do. As our Music of the Month playlist proves, there’s no shortage of new music to pick from in April 2023, but as for vinyl records that are new to us, we’ve opted for Noriko Miyamoto’s 1980 album, ‘Rush’ - Brickcellphone explains why.

 

Noriko Miyamoto - Rush (1980)

Having purchased records at a Vinyl Delivery Service pop-up in Near Mint’s tent at We Out Here Festival of 2021, I promised the proprietor I’d visit the real shop soon. Two years later, I finally kept my promise.

A lot can change in a short amount of time and this record is an example of that. ‘Rush' was initially released by Trio Records in 1980, an export of label which was releasing masses of records leaning into jazz fusion, championing instrumentalists and vocalists alike. But Trio Records ceased operations in 1985 and almost forty years on, it's releases are now relics of a time when explorations of pop, jazz and soul were for a mass market.

I picked this one up at Vinyl Delivery Service’s East London branch in the cool, Idle Moments shop on Columbia Road. Within its grooves, Noriko harnesses all the genres listed above and above all, the power of her own voice. In her earliest years, Noriko was hugely inspired by her fondness of fellow soul singer, Tina Turner. Noriko was originally a dancer at Tokyo’s iconic disco club, Mugen. It wasn’t until she saw a performance by Turner that she became inspired to start her journey as a singer.

Japanese jazz legend Isao Suzuki scouted Miyamoto to join his band Soul Family alongside Sadao Watanabe, Terumasa Hino, Masabumi Kikuchi and George Otsuka. She also sang some of her songs in English, which was a rarity in the Japanese music scene then, but evidence of her potential to claim fame worldwide.

In 1990, Noriko moved to the US in pursuit of said fame. She joined several prestigious outfits including Eddie Murphy’s band, Graham Central Station, the Brothers Johnson and Side Effect.

But it can all be traced back to this 'Rush' and 'Push,' Noriko's 1978 debut two years earlier... that I just so happened to get from a certain pop-up record shop, two years earlier.