Label: Dark Entries – DE-330 Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album Country: US Released: Sept 2025 Genre: Electronic Style: City Pop, Coldwave, Electro, Synth-pop
Mysterious Testpattern tracks!!!! Some never before, some from that TV show in the 80s. Unreal find. (NM)
Evelyne/Masao bring TESTPATTERN to Dark Entries for the label’s first foray into vintage Japanese electronics. Masao Hiruma and Fumio Ichimura’s project Testpattern is known for their release Apres-Midi, a cult slab of synthpop perfection released by Yukihiro Takahashi and Haruomi Hosono’s legendary Yen Records in 1982. While Hiruma and Ichimura parted ways following Apres-Midi, Hiruma’s musical endeavors would continue after meeting French/American model and vocalist Evelyne Bennu in 1984 at a café bar where she would sit and write poetry. Their collaborative efforts as Evelyne/Masao were fruitful, and the duo first performed together in June 1984 on a television program called TOKYO ROCK TV. The album TESTPATTERN comprises seventeen songs recorded in Hiruma’s home studio, which have never been released previously. The Evelyne/Masao duo continues building on the soundworld of Apres-Midi: lush, sophisticated electronics with intricate yet minimalist production. Tracks like “Sakuramochi” and “Bird Island” bear influence from Hosono most clearly, their soaring melodies revealing a subtly ironic redeployment of East Asian musical tropes. But TESTPATTERN is more than homage to Yellow Magic Orchestra. “Tabac” and “Le Soleil Se Leve” display oddball sensibilities closer to Sky Records icons Asmus Tietchens or Cluster. Elsewhere, the project shows affinity for the punkier ethos of continental DIY electronics, like on the quirky “Alien Go Home” and a positively skewed cover of “Singin’ in the Rain.” Bennu’s vocals provide a common thread through these explorations, as she alternates deftly between New Wave deadpan and unhinged chanson singer—check her waxing maximally Francophone on “Au Clair de Lune,” based on an 18th century French song. TESTPATTERN will be available on both double LP as well as CD, and includes a fold-out poster with liner notes with lyrics. This album is dedicated to Masao Hiruma, who passed away in 2011.
Tracklist A1 Ich Weiss Nicht Mehr A2 Watashino Shonen A3 Paradis Perdu A4 Sakuramochi B1 Le Soleil Se Leve B2 La Jungle En Folie B3 Au Clair De La Lune B4 Singin In The Rain B5 Bird Island C1 Alien Go Home C2 Tu Te Fous De Moi C3 Time Out C4 Drole Doiseau D1 Time To Party D2 Tabac D3 Tale Of A Lizard D4 Moonman
