In 2022, Time Capsule released the compilation, Anime & Manga Synth Pop Soundtracks 1984-1990. Their new follow-up, TV, Anime & Manga New Age Soundtracks 1984-1993, might be the perfect, contrasting companion. Where the first record showcased sharp, futuristic, electronic sounds, we’re now treated to a conscious meeting / mixing of ancient and modern. A concept immediately conveyed by the album sleeve, which features a robot surrounded by priests, inside a temple. 

Many of the tracks are built around traditional percussion. Yas-Kaz’s Hei (Theme Of Shikioni), for example, tumbles and rumbles on Kodo taiko collisions, while high-pitched – Master Musicians Of JouJouka-esque – reeds let rip in a free-jazz flailing, wailing ritual. Two tunes from Yoichiro Yoshikawa also centre on ceremonial drum circles. Tassili N’Ajier uses tabla and sharply bowed strings to produce Jon Hassell / Fourth World feels. Fiesta Del Fuego adds enchanted voices, fretless bass and a whistling synth, and calls to mind the music of Wally Badarou and Jasper Van’t Hof’s Pili Pili. Geinoh Yamashirogumi’s Theme Of Kaneda introduces itself with a fearsome thunderclap, and then summons a storm of shaking, rattling, chants and marimba. Columbia Orchestra’s Heart Beats likewise has more mallets hammered on wooden and metal tongues, but tops the cool counter rhythms off with a jazzy sax solo. 

All the scores are fairly avant-garde and experimental. Norihiro Tsuru’s Farsighted Person is a dramatic, doomed, romantic tango played out on Roma fiddle, with an undercurrent of buzzing electric guitar feedback. Kan Ogasawara’s Gishin Anki has a new age-y Ambient arrangement of 6-string chimes and keys cycle and rise in waves to a final, epic intensity. Only the opener, Korogi ’73’s Fushigi Song, comes close to the Westerner’s preconceived concept of a cliched anime soundtrack. A moment of mid-tempo fusion, it’s kinda spiritual, cosmic funk. Accompanied by shakuhachi and exaggerated, uncanny vocals, plus the odd spooky scream and shout, tellingly it’s the oldest track here and was composed by the legendary Chumei Watanabe, who began his career back in the ’50s, making his name in the “Mecha” world of the Super Robot. 

Expertly compiled by Kay Suzuki and Vinyl Delivery Service’s Rintaro Sekizuka, TV, Anime & Manga New Age Soundtracks 1984 – 1993 can be ordered directly from Time Capsule.