Various Artists

Double LP housed in wide–spine jacket

4 STARS ALL MUSIC GUIDE

Compiled by Yosuke Kitazawa and Dublab's Mark “Frosty” McNeill, this latest collection of Japanese obscurities from Light in the Attic sweeps up bizarre loose threads that fall through the cracks between the label's already released collections of city pop and ambient and new age music. Those two compilations spoke to the YouTube-driven resurgence of interest in albums like Hiroshi Yoshimura's "Green" and artists like Happy End's Haruomi Hosono and Shigeru Suzuki, and "Somewhere Between" investigates the fringes, dark crevices and unpicked crates.

Diggers will clearly get a kick from these rarities, but Kitazawa and McNeill have done such a great job with the selection that it's far more than just a curiosity. "Somewhere Between" is an invigorating listen, like a particularly wild and wonderful mixtape handed over by a trusted friend. It's a musical time capsule to get lost in.

ARTISTS AND THEMES:

• LP ONE

• A1. NORIKO MIYAMOTO ........ Arrows & Eyes
• A2. MISHIO OGAWA ........ Hikari No Ito Kin No Ito
• A3. YOSHIO OJIMA ........ Days Man

• B1. MKWAJU ENSEMBLE ........ Tira-Rin
• B2. R.N.A-ORGANISM ........ Weimar 22
• B3. NAOKI ASAI ........ Yakan Hikou
• B4. TAKAMI HASEGAWA ........ Koneko To Watashi
• ________________________________

• LP TWO

• C1. MAMMY ........ Mizu No Naka No Himitsu
• C2. DIP IN THE POOL ........ Hasu No Enishi
• C3. WHA HA HA ........ Akatere

• D1. D-DAY ........ Sweet Sultan
• D2. PERFECT MOTHER ........ Dark Disco-Da·Da·Da·Da·Run
• D3. NEO MUSEUM ........ Area
• D4. SONOKO ........ Wedding With God (A` Nijinski)