Soft Selection 84 LP

Soft Selection 84 is proof that "DIY" in early-80s Japan meant one guy doing most of the work: Goro Some ran the Soft label, produced the record, and also recorded under the alias Cla-Sick. Thirteen tracks from nine acts span minimal synth, no wave, art-pop and proto-house, with barely a genre handshake between them. Spanish reissue label Glossy Mistakes remastered it from the original masters with Some's blessing. La Sellrose Can Can sounds like it's reaching for hyperpop a decade early, while Picky Picnic is one of the rare names here with a career past this one anthology.