Various

𝙈𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙖 𝙪𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙝 𝙛𝙪𝙧𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 ‘𝟴𝟬𝙨 𝙅𝙖𝙥𝙖𝙣, 𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙪𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙬𝙖𝙫𝙚, 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙩-𝙥𝙪𝙣𝙠, 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙮 𝙀𝘽𝙈 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙮𝙣𝙩𝙝-𝙥𝙤𝙥 𝙣𝙪𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙧 𝙚𝙫𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙬𝙡𝙚𝙧 𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙚𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙢𝙗𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙥𝙤𝙥 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙨.

‘Nihon No Wave 2’ follows up on the deep research and restoration efforts of 2018’s first volume with 20 tunes spanning club sparkers to seedier downbeats thru louche and propulsive post punk, mostly parsed from obscure releases hard to find outside Japan, especially if you don’t read the language. It’s a properly admirable endeavour extending a guided tour of the region and era’s independent music margins, paralleling movements of punkish UK and US new waves, German NDW and lo-fi Lowlands synth with their own charge and pronunciation, although sometimes you’d struggle to pinpoint the geography without vocals.

Focussing on an economic boom time in Japan when their synth brands were fêted for price point and quality across the world, the artists here all work in a sort of double refraction of inspirational influence between domestic and international markets. Global sounds are soaked up and mutated in translation in profession from the synth-pop pep of Hinomoru Factory at the front and The Flag’s darkwave gem ’Through the Heavenly Eyes’, which also appeared on the Japanese edition of ‘Obscure Independent Classics’ and has long been on rotation around our ways.

There’s a fine slice of Siouxsie emulation on ‘Mercy of Doom’, and more angular echoes of Kate Bush in Dea’s ‘Draw The Curve’, next to their Gina X-alike ‘Pretty Smile’. Vinyl Kaitai Koujou bring a wirier post-punk in ‘Arigatō sensei’ and the darker bullet ‘Katadore’, and the DM influence is felt strongest on a pair from Excentrique Noiz. Inpull Caco call to mind sleazy and spunky Soft Cell, and trust Tomoko Higuchi for some of the most charming synth-disco ditties, or Gekko Imonkyaku for something like Phew meets Woo. And Vanity Records fiends will be most pleased with the more oblique, tweaking minimal wave of the Juma cuts.