Next up on New Zealand`s Strangelove is Viola Renea`s Syguiria Lady – an LP of new wave, synth pop and post-punk jazz-funk from `80s Osaka. Music that echoes in places that of contemporaries such as EP-4, but perhaps more strongly bears the European influence of imprints such as Rough Trade, Factory and Factory-Benelux. All of it characterized by a sometimes folk-flavoured, virtuoso, trebly guitar. A James-like jam. A Johnny Marr-esque jangle. The mostly long tracks, incorporating instrumental sections. Fretless bass mantras tied to tumbling Burundi-like tom-toms, topped by large circular, tremolo`d riffs, and that lyrical lead. The anguished, existential male vocal sometimes softened by a more ethereal, celestial female counterpart. Maya Candra is almost disco. Tropical in tone and tempo. Suffused with skanking squiggles. While Polaris Line fully is reggae-rhythmed – with icy synths and cello strings, and a b-line that reinvents New Order`s We All Stand.  

You can order a copy of Viola Renea`s Syguiria Lady directly from Strangelove. 

P.S. / If you’re into Japanese post-punk also check the recent Kiyoaki Iwamoto reissue on the always excellently off the wall Em Records.