Originally released in 1981 on Jeep Records and reissued here for the first time, Chance Operation's self-titled debut 12-inch EP stands as a bold opening statement from the Japanese avant-garde underground. The record captures the Higo Hiroshi-led project at the moment of its formation, channelling the Mirrors and 3/3 lineage that ran through the Tokyo scene of the late 70s into something distinctly its own: a mix of post-punk angularity, funk locomotion and improvising-jazz openness that anticipated much of what the Japanese underground would explore over the following decade.

The arrangements are tight but unfussy, with Higo's bass and vocals leading lines that can pivot between trance-like repetition and abrupt rhythmic interruption within a single track. The textural choices - bongos, casio tones, processed sax - feel deliberate without ever tipping into self-consciousness, and the band's chemistry comes through clearly even at this early stage of its evolution.

Spittle Made In Japan's edition restores the album to vinyl with the care the original deserves. Together with Spare Beauty and Place Kick, it forms a complete picture of one of the era's most important and least-anthologised projects, and a body of work that has finally been given the format it has always demanded.