D-DAY-GRAPE IRIS, LP, 1986, JAPAN

Long touted as a minimal synth album of some note, this is actually more of a mixed bag of new wave moves, disarming electronic confections and the sorta Japan-specific winsome preciosity that reminds you that this was the culture that gave us Hello Kitty. It is however worth noting that the majority of the slight stuff gets front loaded here, so stick with this curio and the rewards will become ever more manifest, though the apropos of nothing sampladelic interventions on the first track ought to at least signal that something about this shebang is gonna be rewardingly off. The outre interventions really begin coming to a head with the delicious synthetic woodblock and effected vocal side A closer "Sweet Sultan", and there's more where that came from on side B, along with the one explicitly minimal synthy number here; "Dust" , a sort of Nipponese spin on Algebra Suicide. I however am more apt to opt for what follows; particularly "Ki-Ra-I", a gorgeous Woo-like heat mirage of time-suspending beatbox exotica and the limpidly beautiful pastoral electronic album closer "Float A Bort".

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