Label: Yen Records – YLR-22004 Format: Vinyl, LP Country: Japan Released: Sep 28, 1983 Genre: Electronic Style: Synth-pop
Holy, wallet-busting Various Artists compilation from Harumi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi’s short-lived YEN Records side project, used mostly for their own productions or unique, emerging artists of the mid-80’s. Given the heavy surge of interest for this sound of late, it’d be tempting to view this as a collection of the Japanese synth-pop intelligentsia, but I’m not exactly sure how popular these more boundary-pushing offerings were at the time. The collection focuses on the more un-hinged side of three of the label’s roster, with Windham Hill crossover group Interior taking up the A-side showcasing their light-touch, new-age sound on ‘Hot Beach’, then experimenting with English vocals on the racy, (slightly testing) ‘Miracle’ and more endearing, pop-leaning ‘Hawks’. Flipside, Koji Ueno of the Guernica duo provides three wild interpretations of pre-WW2 20th century operatic pop, creating an odd juxtaposition between early Showa-era industrialisation and the emergent electronic musical technology of the 1980’s. But it’s definitely Testpattern that steal the show with their two-part contribution of dreamy proto-techno that still feels as fresh and futuristic nearly 40 years on.. (NM/VG++ - no OBI, with INSERTS) Tracklist A1 Interior– Hot Beach A2 Interior– Miracle A3 Interior– Hawks A4 Interior– D.T.T. B1 Koji Ueno– ジャズのテンポで = Tempo Di Jazz B2 Koji Ueno– 常動曲 = Movement Perpétuels B3 Koji Ueno– 負の覚書 B4 Testpattern– Ryugu B5 Testpattern– Friday
