UNHEARD: Not just City pop: 80s Japanese ongaku / Naive Sounds

Steven Lee (Naive Sounds), a DJ and record collector for over 30 years, takes you on a journey through the lesser-known corners of 80s Japanese music. While the current global obsession with Showa-era Citypop has record shops in Tokyo posting "NO MIKI MATSUBARA, NO CITYPOP" signs on their doors, Lee digs deeper—unearthing a sonic universe where commercial artists embraced the collision of digital technology with traditional music forms, absorbing global sounds with a magpie-like ear. This is 80s ongaku beyond the clean, reverb-less AOR-lite sound: stranger, bolder, and more experimental. Hailing from the UK and now rooted in Hong Kong, Lee's musical schooling took place in London's early 90s house and garage scene. His Naive Sounds and Diggers Delight events are all about vinyl and exploring the outer edges of music designed to move both mind and body.