Yuzo Iwata / Japanese New Wave On Dub 1980 – 1985 / Miss You

Sound Metaphors’ Yuzo Iwata has curated this cool compilation for the store / distributor’s Miss You label. The selection serves as a sampler, mapping out how reggae and dub influenced Japan’s punk and then new wave scenes. Collecting tracks from between 1980 and 1985, the album documents not only how this cross-pollination took hold, but also how popular music and technology evolved. Given the time frame, and music , refusing to stand still, moving at a clip, a variety of sounds and genres are represented. Business’ “Minato No Cafe” is slick, sweet city pop, but Masumi Hara’s fluttering “Looks Like An Angel” is far more polished than anything else on offer. The Bananarians’ “Suna No Atama” and So-Do’s “Nothing” are very new wave. The latter, angular and kinda Devo-esque. Pressure’s “Goouder”, in contrast, is a lot more experimental and abstract. Its skeletal rhythm soaked in reverb, distortion and tortured tape effects. EP-4 might be the group here that’s best known outside of Japan,…