Takashi Shima / Sun Tan Club For “Light Tanning” / Hawara International

Austrian diggers extraordinaire Edition Hawara shift their focus away from their homeland, casting their net wider, globally, with a new offshoot imprint, Hawara International. The label’s first release finds them visiting Japan, and exploring Woorell Records’ “Sun Tan Club” series. During Japan’s `80s economic bubble, Woorell was one of many subsidiaries of electronics giant Yupiteru Industries, and this run of 4 LPs was part of a 1984 promotional partnership with Florida-based sun care company, Hawaiian Tropic. The music contained within was intended as BGM for leisurely sun worshipping. There was “Dark Tanning” – a compilation of Hawaiian artists – “Professional Tanning” – the work of Dutch-Indonesian singer / songwriter Daniel Sahuleka – and “Ultra Tanning” – a reggae collection. However, Hawara have gone for the inaugural edition, “Light Tanning”, produced by Takashi Shima of Piper, a popular city pop band.* The set is comprised of 6 tracks that serve as a sonic oasis, located…