Mariah - Utakata No Hibi 2x12"

Label: Everland

Our Review:

This singular 1983 recording of global wave exotica featuring Japanese musicians and an Armenian female singer, pressed in small quantities on its first issue has always had an air of mystery and rumor among beat heads and crate diggers. Its cross-pollination of styles from synthesized dance to post-punk to minimalist composition and global classical music (often in the same track), makes it difficult to easily pigeonhole. It definitely sounds more like the crazy Bollywood film vibe that Haruomi Hosono was going for when he recorded Cochin Moon, than Cochin Moon actually sounded like. But Utakata No Hibi's six tracks reach beyond dance to a moody exoticism that is spellbinding and captivating, predicting Asa-Chang & Junray's furtive global excursions, as well as a host of Indian and Middle Eastern rhythmic qualities that have inflected the modern day productions of M.I.A. and Grimes.