Made in Japan
Wa Wave: New Wave Sounds from the Land of the Rising Sun vol. 2
On Wa Wave: New Wave Sounds from the Land of the Rising Sun vol. 2, various Japanese artists push deeper into the margins of 80s New Wave, blending Kraut‑tinted repetition, minimal synth, and glass‑fragile chamber pop into a set of tracks that feel like dispatches from a parallel underground.
Wa Wave: New Wave Sounds from the Land of the Rising Sun vol. 1
On Wa Wave: New Wave Sounds from the Land of the Rising Sun vol. 1, various Japanese artists are rescued from flexi‑disc oblivion, weaving a sharp, off‑kilter panorama of New Wave, No Wave and skeletal electronics from the most radical corners of Japan’s underground.
Romancing The Music
On Romancing The Music, Hip-See-Kid reanimates Japanese New Wave as a jittery, neon‑lit fever dream: punk‑funk basslines, soul‑scarred melodies and splashy jazz inflections squeezed into a compact mini‑LP that feels like a lost 80s club classic beamed into the present.
Juvenile Rock
First-ever vinyl edition of Dendö Marionette's Juvenile Rock, a 2LP collection of unreleased recordings, alternate versions, studio experiments and live captures previously circulated only on a tiny CD-R run and a cassette via Brooklyn's Bitter Lake Recordings. The definitive companion to the band's self-titled studio overview, opening a window onto one of Osaka's most singular synth-wave units at its creative peak.
Dendö Marionette
Definitive 2LP overview of Dendö Marionette, gathering the band's complete studio legacy: the cult 1981 7-inch flexi, a previously unreleased EP recorded in 1982, and an array of demos that captures the group as they evolved towards their fullest sonic identity. Essential for anyone tracking the Osaka synth-wave scene at its peak.
Paradise Mambo
First vinyl reissue of Akebonojirushi's Paradise Mambo, originally on the influential DIW label in 1987. A six-piece formed in Hakata before relocating to Tokyo in 1984, the band fused new wave, jazz-funk and unconventional pop into a record that is unmistakably of its moment yet remarkably forward-looking, sitting somewhere between the city pop sophistication of late-80s Tokyo and the unrulier corners of the same scene.
Trap
First international vinyl reissue of Chiko Hige's Trap, his second solo album, originally on Japan Records in 1985. A tense, hypnotic record of hyper-kinetic grooves, clipping guitars and twisting saxophone lines: one of the cleanest distillations of the Japanese No-Wave idiom at its peak, and a record that still sounds startlingly contemporary four decades on.
Harafuri
First-ever official reissue of Machizo Machida and Kitazawagumi's Harafuri, originally on Tokuma's WAX imprint in 1992. Eleven years after the foundational INU classic Meshi Kuuna!, Machida (now better known as the novelist and Musashino University professor Kō Machida) channels literary ambition into a tight, modernised post-punk setting. With newly retranslated English lyrics included.
Dance Till You Die
Reissue of Daisuck & Prostitute's Dance Till You Die, expanded from a 1980 7-inch into a full-length the following year. Equal parts ritualistic groove and No-Wave abrasion: one of the most uncompromising statements of early-80s Japan, and an obvious cousin of the New York DNA / Contortions axis. With insert and lyrics.
Spare Beauty
First 12-inch edition of Chance Operation's Spare Beauty, originally a double 7-inch on Jeep Records in 1982. A dense four-track EP of hypnotic, infectious, sax-driven Japanese post-punk by the Higo Hiroshi-led project, finally laid out in the format the music has always demanded.
Chance Operation
First-ever reissue of Chance Operation's self-titled 1981 debut 12-inch on Jeep Records. A foundational document of Japanese avant-funk and post-punk that captures the Higo Hiroshi-led project at the moment of its formation.
Place Kick
Spittle Records reissues Chance Operation’s 1985 debut “Place Kick,” a genre-defying mix of post-punk, funk, and jazz, now on vinyl for the first time—restoring a vital underground classic for new audiences.
満天に赤い花びら A Skyfull of Red Petals
First-ever vinyl reissue of Mizutama Shobodan's 1985 sophomore album A Skyfull of Red Petals, mixed by Fred Frith. A theatrical, uncompromising women-led ensemble at the height of its powers, balancing the contrasting voices of Kamura and Tenko over a band that operated somewhere between art-cabaret, post-punk and avant-folk. With printed inner sleeve and four-page fold-out insert.
乙女の祈りはダッダッダッ！A Maiden’s Prayer
First-ever vinyl reissue of Mizutama Shobodan's legendary 1981 debut A Maiden’s Prayer DA-DA-DA!. A wild theatrical mix of avant-post-punk worked out by one of the most uncompromising women-led ensembles ever to emerge from the Japanese underground, an outstanding document from "another Japan". With printed inner sleeve and four-page fold-out insert.
Schedars
First worldwide vinyl edition of Schedars's self-titled debut, originally self-released in 2023. A five-piece Tokyo no-wave / post-punk band that brings the lineage of Friction and Chance Operation into the present tense - a hyperactive blend of sharp, abrasive guitars, propulsive rhythms and unflinching vocal delivery.