NHK'Koyxeи Dance Classics Vol I

Have been meaning to write about NHK'Koyxeи ever since I bought Dance Classics Vol 1 (a misleading title if ever there was one btw) and now that both Kouhei Matsunaga (aka NHK'Koyxeи) and Bill Kouligas of Pan Records are tweeting about the imminent release of Vol II I might as get on with it.

'Dance Classics Vol. I' is an incredible album, massively complex rhythmically but not at all dry. The total opposite in fact, it's immediate, accessible and intuitively enjoyable even though it's really quite clever. Actress-like yes, but more technical and less emotive - although some of the more experimental tracks have a certain whimsicalness to them.

It's very structural music, with a construction far more complex than its immediacy and visceral impact would suggest. The basic pattern is set up then further elaborate flourishes and layers develop out of it, and the best moments of the album (see opener 587) are when these new elements breathe fresh shimmers of unexpected richness into the sounds. 

There are a couple of tracks with real dancefloor appeal. The bassline of 587 wouldn't be out of place on any bass music or dubstep dancefloor (is dubstep still a thing?); 530's beats are so laid-back they almost trip over themselves but it still lopes along with irresistible, vibrating force, and the unsettling insistency of 572_2 just makes you want to put a puffa jacket and baseball cap on and start winding. Other tracks are way more abstract and dreamy, one sounds like a girl's music box which needs winding up, another like a skittery anxious collction of recorded sound and digital fragments. With the two kinds of tracks complementing each other so perfectly it makes for a really rather amaze album altogether. Very much looking forward to VOL II. 

For more sounds check out the nhk_koyxen Soundcloud page and his Raster Noton podcast.