Compiled by long-time friends of the label, Eiji Taniguchi and Norio Sato, Heisei No Oto delves into a world of music released almost exclusively on CD and brings together a fascinating selection of discoveries from a little known and overlooked part of Japan’s musical history.

Including music by Haruomi Hosono as well as Yasuaki Shimizu, Toshifumi Hinata and Ichiko Hashimoto who have become known and loved around the world in recent years, Hesei No Oto also features Japanese pop star Yosui Inoue, producers Jun Sato and Keisuke Kikuchi in addition to less established artists from the contemporary, jazz, new wave, pop and dance music scenes. Bringing together a selection of tracks that seem to define these specific genres and in fact move fluidly between a number of them, the music on the compilation is again underscored by experimentations with synthesizers and drum computers though with something of a gentle Pop sensibility. Reimagined here then under the encompassing term ‘Left-field Pop’, this is an exciting chapter in Japanese musical history that has only just begun to be fully explored.

VA - Heisei No Oto - Japanese Left-field Pop From The CD Age (1989-1996) is a 2xLP/2xCD that includes liner notes by Chee Shimizu and artwork by Hagihara Takuya and was released on February 28th.

Tracklist
A1 Jun Sato - Lorang
A2 Fumihiro Murakamai - Miko
A3 Love, Peace & Trance - Yeelen
A4 Tadahiko Yokogawa - Stop Me
B1 Ichiko Hashimoto - L'Ete
B2 Yosui Inoue - Pi Po Pa
B3 Eiki Nonaka - Phlanged Vortex
B4 Kina Tomoko - Ink
C1 Adi - Co-Cu-U
C2 Xácara - Night In Aracaju
C3 POiSON GiRL FRiEND - Nobody
C4 Dream Dolphin - Take No Michi
D1 Keisuke Sakurai - Harai
D2 Hiroki Ishiguro - Unity
D3 Dido (Shizuru Ohtaka & Michiaki Kato) - Mermaid
D4 Keisuke Kikuchi - Retro Electric