D.F.X.
Relax Your Body

On steady rise following two sublime singles over the past year—Sagano b/w Haru Wa Akebono and Karakuri b/w Michinoku—Tokyo-based artist Hoshina Anniversary elaborates his eccentric musical point-of-view even further with a debut album for the ESP Institute entitled Jomon. Fourteen tracks stir a melting pot in line with our obsessions, a variety of styles which often stay in their own dedicated lanes while here their trajectories collide in demonstrable fusion. Hoshina gleans borderline absurdist qualities from late Jazz hero Chick Corea (evident in his wild and meticulous keyboard runs), calls upon ancient Japanese instruments, shrines and mythologies, and makes sideways nods to early minimal synth productions, yet all of the above are sifted through some granular equalization, an abstract veil that smooths the skin of Hoshina's mutant creation. A weight of experience pervades throughout, a requisite education in the electronic realm and a deep reverence for Jazz and its masters, and in turn this confidence transfers a sense of ease which leaves us poring over alternative approaches to otherwise familiar tropes. Once this conversation with the music is established, a subliminal push/pull tension toys with us across the length of the album, undulating our sense of space. The tonally rich, dynamic and melodic side of the works present a cool sense of depth but are violently contrasted by a slew of over-saturated punches, and at some point an inevitable alchemy casts these disparate expressions into a haunting monolithic array. Some are glistening and smooth, others are porous and jagged, but all amount to a staunch and cohesive work with the ability to transport listeners to regions unknown.

Huge 10 Track compilation featuring 10 exclusive new tracks from regular SRTX crew plus a few new faces.All sides are cut loud for DJ use and will bang the party and won’t disappoint fans of the label.The double LP features artwork from the hugely talented ‘Giacomo ‘Run’ Bufarini, a prolific street artist whose work appears around the globe and he’s nailed the vibe completely.

The Alias Sessions by MurcofMurcof, the primary project of producer Fernando Corona, returns to The Leaf Label for the first time in thirteen years with a mammoth and visionary double album, The Alias Sessions. This collection brings together all the elements incorporated into the project to date - meticulous sound design, ghostly samples, forceful beats, diaphanous atmosphere - but pushes the sound even further in terms of both abstraction and beauty. This is electronic music of exquisite tension and ecstatic release, moving from barely audible details to explosive peaks, much of it delivered by earth-moving bass.Murcof first emerged during an exciting period of electronic music, operating at its cutting edge. Debut album Martes appeared on Leaf in 2002, when alternative possibilities enabled by advancing technology were just starting to come into focus. By combining stark beats - minimal techno, microhouse and glitch were all entering their heyday - with carefully layered sampling drawn in part from modern classical music, Martes was compelling in its moment but also looked to the future. It refused classification, even as its parts had clear antecedents. It grooved, but wasn’t quite dance music; it experimented with tonality, but each track was memorable. And it sounded like no-one else.

Far over on the west coast of the USA we find a room full of drum machines, samplers and keyboards. Hard at work is Israel ‘Iz’ Gravning aka Tone Scientist, who’s been using this Seattle studio to produce genre-defying future music for more than 25 years.