If you have ever tried diving deep into the early 80s Japanese electronic music, you may know the synth-pop trio Ippu Do and their leader, Masami Tsuchiya. Western rock fans may remember him as the guitarist of the last Japan live line-up, and Japanese rock fans – as the musician who coins from Ryuichi Sakamoto the tune oddly reminding The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army that appeared years later.

Meanwhile, Ippu Do is one of those peculiar Japanese projects worth digging through the music backlog. Radio Fantasy – their only album released outside Japan – is the best choice for a ‘first date’. Recorded at the climax of the band’s career – before the hiatus and the final break – it reflects the variety of tastes of its creators. And this variety is what makes the album so alluring.

Yes, in a certain way, these are the typical electronic compositions from the early 80s, but less geeky than YMO‘s. And there is already much more mixed in it than the oriental interpretation of Autobahn, as it was in the early works of Ippu Do when the band even travelled to record in Berlin.

On Radio Fantasy you can also hear the influence of local beat groups of the late 60s (young Masami ran away from home, added himself a couple of extra years, and became a Golden Cups’ roadie), elements of always popular in Japan traditional Hawaiian music, and imitation of Chinese and Japanese folk motifs. And cha-cha-cha.

It was a complicated last album, but it gained in erudition and retained a very youthful, slightly hooligan charm. Ephemeral, like a polaroid picture of the late spring.