Musik (Vanity Records)

Artists

Album Info

Release Date: 2019-10-21

Labels: Vanity Records, Kyou Records

MUSIK BOX: LIMITED EDITION OF 400 WORLDWIDE
2 CDs + Liner Notes + Vanity Records logo sticker

The Vanity Records box sets present a comprehensive anthology of releases by legendary Japanese DIY label Vanity, active in the late 70s and early 80s. It was conceived by Studio Warp, in collaboration with Agi Yuzuru and the whole roster of artists involved with Vanity. Eight years in the making, the limited edition project is finally seeing the light of day on October 21st 2019, with distribution duties handled by Kyou Records ( studiowarp.jp/kyourecords/ ) in Japan and WRWTFWW Records ( wrwtfww.com ) in the rest of the world.

V.A. / MUSIK (VANITY RECORDS)
release information

Artist: V.A.
Album Title: MUSIK
Release Date: Oct. 21st, 2019
Retail Price: 40 euros

Details:

1. Digitally remastered from Originally Master Tapes
2. 2 CD Set (paper sleeve)
3. Limited edition of 400 sets
4. Each CD artwork is newly designed
5. Original Box (135 mm x 135 mm x 17mm)
6. Includes Vanity Records logo sticker
7. Japanese liner notes
8. Catalogue Number: remodel 03
JAN: 4562293383445
9. Distributor: Studio Warp, Ltd. (Japan), WRWTFWW Records (rest of the world)
10. Record Label: Kyou records

MUSIK is a compilation of demo tapes by thirteen artists that were sent to Vanity from all over Japan. It is a monumental album that introduces early Japanese home recording music and that was originally released in 1981 as a double vinyl box set through Vanity. This is the first time that it is reissued on CD. All tracks included in this 2-CD box set were digitally mastered from the original master tapes.

ALBUM DETAILS

V.A. / MUSIK (Originally released in 1981)

Music is a compilation originally released as a double vinyl box set through Vanity Records. It is a selection of thirteen artists’ tracks that were chosen from over 100 cassette tape demos sent to Rock Magazine from all over Japan. It is also a monumental piece of work that documents early, experimental home recording music from Japan that emerged out of the advent of affordable synthesizers and multi-track recorders in the mid-1980s, stimulating the underground music scene of the era. With the exception Adode/Cathode (who released music from Daigoretsu and Pinakotheka), Tokyo led by Munehiro Narita (High Rise), Plazama Music (predecessor of B.C. Lemons), Arbeit (a group by designer Achim Duchow who created front cover artwork for Rock Magazine), Kiiro Radical and Invivo who separately released cassettes on Vanity, and Yuzuru Agi’s solo alias New York (that featured his field recordings from a visit in New York), all other artists are anonymous and their information is shrouded in mystery. Riddled with tape hiss noise and exceedingly low-fi sound quality, it is an accumulation of various ideas and DIY style from early ‘80s Japanese underground.

Text: Satoru Higashiseto

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