- If you've caught an Antal set in the past year or so, chances are you've heard him play "Skyfire" by Eri Ohno, a moderately successful Japanese singer with a smoky and soulful voice. The Rush Hour man has turned the tune into an unlikely anthem—something he's also done with other half-forgotten songs, like a late-'70s Latin disco number by Brazilian musician Tim Maia.
"Skyfire" originally came out in 1981 on Good Question, an album released by the Better Days label. Like a lot of Japanese music made in that decade—especially the stuff on Better Days, whose catalogue is a trove for fans of weird pop—it's a slick recording pulled together by accomplished session musicians. Secondhand copies of the album are not cheap, making Rush Hour's reissue all the more welcome.
"Skyfire" is immediately recognizable for Yoshifumi Okajima's bassline and Ohno's vocals, an irresistible combination for EQ-loving DJs. The record's other tune, "Live Hard, Live Free," plucked from Ohno's 1980 self-titled album, is pleasant, mid-tempo disco-boogie that again fuses electronics and live instrumentation, the vocals riding tight guitar licks and bursts of saxophone. Rush Hour also released two more Japanese boogie 7-inches in the same batch as Ohno—Ryo Kawasaki's Little One and Fuwari Fuwa Fuwa by Ruriko Ohgami—but Skyfire is undoubtedly the standout.
TracklistA Skyfire
B Live Hard, Live Free