VF Live: Mihoko #4

A selection of her all-time favourite Japanese records, alongside uplifting jazz-funk.

In VF Live, our favourite DJs take you inside their homes, record stores, and studios, for intimate mixes and performances.

DJ Mihoko started out the mid-’90s as a founding member of Japan’s first female reggae sound system. Mihoko then began touring her home nation extensively, while taking occasional trips to Jamaica to cut dubplates.

Moving to NYC in ’98, Mihoko soon picked up a number of residencies and guest spots at venues such as the Limelight, Speed, Cheetah, Lotus, and 60 Thompson. Adapting to New York’s genre-spanning club scene, she began blending a wide variety of musical styles including hip-hop, soul, funk, disco, boogie, Afrobeat, and house, while still drawing heavily on her reggae roots.

For her fourth VF Live set, DJ Mihoko plays some of her all-time favourite Nippon records: “I played my four favourite Japanese songs from the late ’70s and early ’80s for this set, inspired by their lyrics, which feel particularly apt at the moment.”

“Are you satisfied in your life? Did you find your way of living?” – Kimiko Kasai.

Watch and listen to the set above, check out the tracklist below.

Tracklist:

1. Minako Yoshida – 恋は流星( Shooting Star Of Love)
2. Sylvia St.James – Magic Minstrel
3. Brainstorm – Journey To The Light
4. Kimiko Kasai – Tokyo Special
5. Eri Ohno – Live Hard, Live Free
6. Kimiko Kasai – The Right Place
7. Melba Moore – Lovin’ Touch
8. Junko Ohashi – Dancin’