Yasuaki Shimizu

Alongside Yellow Magic Orchestra and Plastics, Yasuaki Shimizu helped define the sound of '80s Japan. Decades later, he is still a first-call sessionman and producer, and a solo artist with a catalog that combines jazz, rock, and classical minimalism with musical traditions adapted from African, Middle Eastern, Ethiopian, and Jamaican sources. He founded experimental prog rock band Mariah in 1978 and issued their eponymous album in 1979. Two solo albums, 1982's Kakashi and 1983's Utakata No Hibi, framed the aesthetics of his future music, as evidenced by 1987's Subliminal's lu...