Venus

Description

Japanese musician Hideki Matsutake has had a huge influence on electronic music. Beginning his career as an assistant to Japanese electronic music master Isao Tomita in the early 70s, he then worked with Ryuichi Sakamoto and then the Yellow Magic Orchestra as a programmer and unofficial fourth member of the group. In 1981, he launched the Logic System project and recorded Venus that year in Los Angeles with Don Grusin, Nathan East, Roger Powell and Michael Boddicker, brilliantly blending synth-funk, ambient and boogie with a touch of jazz fusion, predating vaporwave by 30 years. For this more organic and funky album, which has the Greek goddess Venus as its theme, the main innovation is that Matsutake switched from the Moog III to the E-mu Modular System as well as other synthesizers such as the Prophet 5, the Roland MC-8 and TR 808 and the Yamaha GS-1, a precursor to the DX7. From the ambient synth of "I Love You" to the city pop boogie of "Be Yourself" and the Daft Punk-esque "Take A Chance," Venus is a fascinating album that heralded new directions for electronic music while remaining strangely accessible and hypnotic. Another key element of Venus are the illustrations by cult Japanese illustrator Pater Sato, whose airbrush style has become very influential over the decades. Wewantsounds is delighted to re-release this visionary album for the first time in 40 years outside of Japan, remastered from the original tapes.