Review – Asian Electronic VHS Compilation (Nasty Wizard)

 
The concept is simple, to quote the Bandcamp webpage

Nasty Wizard Recordings have decided to celebrate the glorious medium of the VHS tape with a compilation of electronic artists from China and South Korea. Combining some of the most exciting purveyors of glitchy sounds and hard hitting beats in East Asia with static drenched visuals seemed was deemed the perfect stocking filler for a label that has so far dabbled in CDs, tapes, floppy disks, and dark matter (the last one might not be true). Yet despite the backdated format this line up is no lame duck, featuring music videos from Goooooose, Last Boss, Loads Nothing, Fløøød, Noise Arcade, and GUIGUISUISUI from China, and TENGGER and Yamagata Tweakster from South Korea.

The actual reality of mailing out VHS tapes has proved problematic to these wily retro futurists and you do need to visit the page in order to ascertain how / if you can get your hands on a physical copy (a download link to the digital version of the video is available).
It’s always, so this reviewer believes, a good move to incorporate some of the press release blurb into a review as it outlines how the artists / label view their product and how the listener should respond to it. Is this compilation “no lame duck” from some of the “most exciting purveyors” of Electronica from East Asia?
Well, yeah. Even shorn of the visuals, upon which this compilation rests some of its’ appeal this makes for a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience. “Oneul” by Tengger mines a similar vein to Grimes, although a touch more ethereal, vocally. Floood’s “Zwangs” sounds like a less disturbed Aphex Twin. Guiguisuisui and Yamagata remind you of early 80’s synth acts, the sort included on the two recent exemplary Cherry Red compilations and both are thoroughly charming. Lastboss recalls early “Before” Eno. Loads evoke The Advisory Circle’s analogue hauntology. There’s a beguiling freshness and variation to this eight-track compilation that engages. They’re not taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, but with tunes and a very perceptive ear to what’s going on in East Asia electronica. I look forward to hearing a second compilation soon.