Sympathy Nervous were one of the central groups associated with the amazing Japanese underground label Vanity, releasing a 7” and an LP on the label in 1980/81. This stunning compilation is drawn from Yosihumi Niinuma’s personal archive, bundling unreleased tracks recorded between the years 1979 to 1981, all originally slated for cassette release. Niinuma lost his house, all his belongings and all his recordings and music equipment in The Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011 and all proceeds from this LP go directly to him. This is hands-down one of the best collections of dark minimal synth and proto-Industrial kraut yet put together by Minimal Wave, with that classic Japanese urge-to-excess pushing the whole deal well into the red. Sympathy Nervous give the nod to Kraftwerk, La Dusseldorf and Conrad Schnitzler while formulating their own night rider/mirror shades basement aesthetic with processed computer vocals over ticking drum machines and minimal TG-style rhythms. The whole deal has that perfect nocturnal/early hours of the morning feel of all of the best Vanity recordings while generating a kind of cold, psychedelic atmosphere through the precise application of F/X. If you’re at all attuned to the cassette culture of the early years of the Industrial explosion but really your heart is in Japan, then this is the ultimate nightmare soundtrack, minimal, obsessively repetitive, cold, dark, beautifully austere, easily some of the greatest synth music to come out of that country’s ever-fertile underground. Comes on clear 180g vinyl with liners, highly recommended!