Vinyl. "Misora" (which can be roughly translated as Beautiful Sky), the '72 debut album by Sachiko Kanenobu, a woman generally acknowledged as Japans first female singer-songwriter. It's a near-perfect folk masterpiece, alternating full-bodied arrangements (produced by Harry Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra and Happy End) with Sachiko's lonesome guitar and pure, soaring vocals. Discovered as a precocious 18 year old in Osaka, Sachiko was signed in 1968 to Japan's first ever independent record company, URC (Underground Record Club), who changed Japan's musical landscape irrevocably in the late 60s and early 70s with artists like Happy End, Folk Crusaders and Kenji Endo. Sachiko was the only female artist on this era-defining label and the very fact that she wrote and sang her own songs made her a rarity among Japanese women. Limited reissue of 500 copies, in gatefold cover and with a 4 page insert featuring extensive linernotes, lyrics translated into English by Sachiko herself, and never before seen photos from the singers own archives.