Japanese underground label Vanity Records celebrated with 6xLP box set

A glimpse into Japan’s 1980s DIY “techno-pop” scene.

Early eighties sounds of Vanity Music – The Vanity Records Tape Box and Vanity Music – are being reissued by Vinyl On Demand.

Established by music journalist Yuzuru Agi in late 1970s Osaka, Japan, Vanity Records dedicated itself to the underground electronic experiments that Agi termed “techno-pop.”

In 1981, Vanity released a limited edition, 6-cassette box set compiling the work of six artists selected from demos sent to the label – titled Limited Edition Vanity Records Box Set – and a 13-track compilation called Music.

Reissued on 6xLP for the first time, The Vanity Records Tape Box captures the minimal electronic noise compositions of Kiiro Radical, Wireless Sight’s piano, metronome, and radio noise experimentations, and Salaried Man Club’s white collar industrial endeavours.

Vanity Music, reissued on 2xLP, offers a glimpse into the sounds coming out of the Japanese underground DIY scene at the advent of affordable synthesizers and multi-track recorders in the early 1980s, with its 13 tracks taken from over 100 cassette tape demos sent to Rock Magazine from across Japan

Head here to purchase a copy of The Vanity Records Tape Box, and here for Vanity Music; check out the artwork and tracklist below.

Tracklist:

The Vanity Records Tape Box

2. Gray Cross Part 2

3. Gray Cross Part 3

4. Gray Cross Part 4

5. Martial Music

6. Fe

7. The Thought Of Y

8. Cinerama

9. Denki Noise Dance Part 1

10. Denki Noise Dance Part 2

11. Denki Noise Dance Part 3

12. Denki Noise Dance Part 4

13. Denki Noise Dance Part 5

14. Denki Noise Dance Part 6

15. Denki Noise Dance Part 7

16. Denki Noise Dance Part 8

17. Denki Noise Dance Part 9

18. Denki Noise Dance Part 10

19. Denki Noise Dance Part 11

20. Denki Noise Dance Part 12

21. Denki Noise Dance Part 13

22. Denki Noise Dance Part 14

23. Denki Noise Dance Part 15

24. Denki Noise Dance Part 16

25. Transparent Radio

26. P×T×C=1

27. Thugu-Rikwo

28. Sarava Tetsudo

29. Pocket Planetaria

30. Plastic Garden

31. In Vivo / b.b.b.

32. Micoplasm

33. I.D.50 (Live)

34. M.I.C.

35. Macrolide (C H NO)

36. Bacteroides

37. InVitro

38. Proteus

39. Amoxicillin

40. Klebsiella

41. Micoplasma

42. Dead World (LC M)

43. Automatic Funny Sight 1

44. Endless Dark Dream 1

45. Automatic Funny Sight 2

46. Endless Dark Dream 2

47. Bunbunbae

48. Hyojyo No Uta

49. Inkasanka

50. Rogan

51. Lock And Role

52. Yasai Ga Kirai

53. Ninshiki Yoso

54. Moeagaru Chukinto

55. Nakayubi Tomare

56. Reito Shokki

57. Tori Ga Tonda Rarara

58. Zesshyo

Vanity Music

2. Hischool Pigs

3. Ignorant Animal

4. 213

5. …Of The Passive Voice Through The Light

6. Denki Noise Dance Part 1

7. Denki Noise Dance Part 5

8. Denki Noise Dance Part 6

9. Denki Noise Dance Part 7

10. Denki Noise Dance Part 8

11. Denki Noise Dance 14

12. Inka Sanka 1

13. Inka Sanka 2

14. Green Brain

15. Dolby Nr On

16. 1976

17. Bunders Nachrichten Dienst

18. Invivo

19. Artificial One