Tasogare LP

Mai Yamane won the Yamaha Music Foundation's Cocky Pop contest in 1979, and Tasogare, her 1980 debut, followed as an early marker of the city pop sound, arranged by Makoto Matsushita around the dusky mood its title promises. She'd later become known worldwide as the voice behind Cowboy Bebop's "The Real Folk Blues," Yoko Kanno's closing theme, but this record already carries her husky, commanding vocal and Matsushita's polished arrangements, and it's now a widely sampled touchstone of the genre's revival.