This week’s guest mix comes all the way from the northern island of Hokkaido in Japan courtesy of jealousguy, a female producer who was brought to our attention in the last few months after her live appearance at the Mo’ Fun party in Tokyo alongside Daisuke Tanabe in September. It was shortly after this show that Repeat Pattern got in touch saying how impressed he and Daisuke had been by her performance and one thing leading to another we got in touch with Masami as she is legally known and asked her to deliver a guest mix, for which she put together a live set recorded at home exclusively for Rhythm Incursions!

With a couple of releases under her belt – the latest of which, Hydration, can be purchased on iTunes – jealousguy has been primarily active in her native Japan though we’re hoping her recent appearances there alongside the likes of Daisuke Tanabe and Gold Panda will help to raise her international profile. And this live mix she put together for us I’m sure will convince a few more people of her talent.

Using a fairly simple set up involving her laptop, a MIDI controller and a trusted SP-404, she manages to bring together the most disparate and unlikely sounds and samples while keeping a funk and swing that reminds me of why I first fell in love with many of the modern Japanese producers we’ve championed on Rhythm Inc over the years. There is something distinctively Japanese and unique in her approach, even if at times you can tell there is a degree of emulating what she’s hearing from Western producers and labels. The set also features tracks from her latest release.

As always though we’ll let you be the judges of that and if you like what you hear be sure to check out her blog which includes details of her releases as well as live appearances and sets – there’s a Mixcloud of her Mo’ Fun appearance here on a similar tip to the set she’s put together for us.

Big thanks go to Repeat Pattern for the hook up and Masami for her time and effort. As always you can download and/or stream below or simply subscribe to our RSS/iTunes feed to receive all the shows directly to your inbox.

Enjoy!

Download Jealousguy live set for Rhythm Incursions (right click and save as)

We kick off our Tokyo State Of Mind (TSOM) series alongside the homies at Percussion Lab with a live show from one of our oldest Tokyo supporter and friend, Ken One. The series officially kicked off a few days ago over at Percussion Lab with a live set by Himuro Yoshiteru, and will continue with live sets from Yosi Horikawa, Daisuke Tanabe and Keizo Machine (on Percussion Lab) and DJ Duct (on Rhythm Incursions). All these live sets were recorded at the Nihon Kizuna Tokyo release party (Himuro, Daisuke, Yosi and Ken One) as well as the Skratch Evolution 3 event organised by Ken One (Duct and KeizoMachine).

As most of you should already know, Nihon Kizuna is a compilation of music that myself, XLII, Broken Haze and Audace put together the week following the earthquake and tsunami of March 11 which devastated the Northern Coast of Japan. The compilation has so far raised an incredible $30,000 for the Japanese Red Cross and we simply ask that if you’ve not yet donated you simply purchase a copy of the compilation, all the proceeds from which go to the Japanese Red Cross. Despite the earthquake and its aftermath no longer being in the focus of news outside of Japan, people there still need help.

You can purchase the compilation via bandcamp or iTunes. You can also stream and buy via the widget below.

As for this set, it’s a pretty standard Ken One affair which sees him chop and cut his way through 30 minutes of classic hip hop, breaks and his own music, including the Mind Rain track which is featured on the Nihon Kizuna compilation. All live of course.

You can stream and/or download below as always, or simply subscribe to our RSS/iTunes feed to never miss a show.

Look out for further instalments of the TSOM series over the next two weeks both here and over at Percussion Lab.

Download Ken One – Live at Nihon Kizuna release party (right click and save as)

Hello and welcome to another edition of Rhythm Incursions “In-Session” with your selector Dday One broadcasting from Mid-City Los Angeles, CA

This episode is the first in the “Selections” mix series. Selections will cover topic specific mixes, for example genre, era and events. This month’s “Selection” is a 60 min celebration of classic breaks, jazz, prog-rock and soul music from Japan.

Most of the music featured comes from records stores and supporters on visits to Japan. The most recent visit was early March for Superheadz VJ’s presents “Live Harinezumi No Mori“, then returning home two days before the March 11th earthquake and tsunami. After getting word of the event, days where spent checking the well being of friends in the region and reflecting. This mix comes out those reflections.

With news transmitting at light-speed it’s easy to forget but I hope this mix helps to keep those affected by the devastation in your thoughts and prayers.

Please join the worldwide assistance drive by directly donating to recognized charitable organization like Japanese Red Cross and Oxfam.

To the supporters this mix is dedicated to you! Thanks for being a constant source of inspiration! Heiwa!

**Enjoy and share this mix!**

Dday One (Content Label / Project Mooncircle)

Download Dday One – Selections: Japan (right click and save as)

Dday One In Session #11
SELECTIONS: JAPAN

Tracklist:
Ryo Kawasaki – Raisins
Teruo Nakamura – Mescalito
Maki Asakawa – Watashi Ga Snoufu Ni Nattanara
Jun Fukamachi- Bamboo Bong
Happenings Four- ????
Flower Travellin’ Band – Satori Part II
Kuni Kawachi – Kanemochi no Kanemochisan
Japanese Cast of Hair – Where do I go
Helpful Soul – Fire
The Spiders – Lucille
Kuni Kawachi – Kazeyori Gokurousan
Yasumi No Kuni – Mary Jane
Tomita – Imagine
Hideo Shiraki Quintet – Matsuri No Genzo
Flied Egg – Oke-Kus
Maki Asakawa – Asahi no ataru ie
Sadistic Mika Band – Silver Child
Teruo Nakamura -Umma Be Me
Masaaki Hirao – Hissatsu Shigotonin (TV) Vol. 1
Harumi- Hunters Of Heaven
People – Prayer Part 2

Damn what a week… As most of you know Rhythm Incursions has been in Japan since the day before the earthquake. With the terrible events in the north of the country – earthquake, tsunami and a nuclear meltdown – the first few gigs of the Japan tour were cancelled and instead I found myself embarking on a rather surreal adventure with fellow Rhythm Inc presenters XLII and Broken Haze as well as our friend DJ Audace. Together we worked on putting together a music compilation to help raise awareness and money for those most in need.

It all came together in five days and on Friday we released Nihon Kizuna – roughly translated as ‘bond of friendship with Japan – featuring 50 worldwide artists and labels who donated music to raise money. The success of the compilation then has been nuts to say the least. In a little more than 48 hours we raised over $10K and managed to get a swelling of support online from blogs, magazine, Twitter and Facebook.

People appearing on the compilation include many long time friends, past guests and favourites of ours such as Kode 9, Kuedo, Ninja Tune, All City Records, Om Unit, Paul White, Darkhouse Family, Illum Sphere, Yosi Horikawa, Himuro Yoshiteru and more as well as XLII, Broken Haze, Audace and myself.

The compilation can be bought at www.nihonkizuna.com/buy/ via Bandcamp – the base price is £10 (or equivalent) or donate what you want. iTunes Japan should follow shortly. You can also stream and buy below directly from the embed.

Despite the success in such a short time I would urge you to buy a copy if you haven’t yet because we need to raise as much as possible considering the ongoing news coming out of the region. Just today – over a week after the earthquake – the death toll has risen to over 21,000 and the damage will likely take years to rebuild. All money from the compilation will go to Japan Red Cross who are best placed to help those most affected by the disaster.

In addition, and as an enticement, I am podcasting/releasing a spare track which was sent in for the compilation by our good friend Jay Scarlett of Beat Dimensions fame. Entitled ‘In Tokyo (Love)’ it features Kissey Asplund and Distant Starr and is available only via Rhythm Incursions. If you download this track, enjoy it and haven’t yet bought a copy please do so. It was written and produced shortly after Jay’s Japanese tour a few years back.

Look out for more Nihon Kizuna news in coming days.

As for our regular podcast/broadcast – as you can imagine this month’s show are slightly disrupted, also due to personal matters with all presenters. As such both my and the RIRS podcast are cancelled this month while RIPL presented by Primus Luta will go out in the coming week. There will be some guest mixes too and then we’ll resume normal broadcast next month – including special live audio from Skratch Evolution 3 and a joint RIRS and Rhythm Inc show live from Tokyo. Oh and this Friday, March 25th Raid System and myself will be Ustream-ing live from Tokyo as per our original announcement.

For now enjoy this free track and please donate to Nihon Kizuna, or to your charity/fund raising event of your choice.

Download Jay Scarlett ft. Kissey and Distant Starr – In Tokyo (Love) (right click and save as)

Somehow I never quite thought I’d ever write something like this. But hey it’s happening, I’ll be doing a little tour of Japan and Tokyo in March and April representing Rhythm Incursions and taking in 5 dates across 4 weeks, with 4 shows in the capital and one outside.

Those that have been following us for a while, and over at our sister site Turntable Radio, will know that I lived in Japan in 2007/8 and that we’ve always had strong links to the country’s underground scenes – manifested through some pretty killer guest mixes over the last few years by the likes of Ichiro_, Himuro Yoshiteru, Olive Oil, Ken One and Yosi Horikawa among others as well as our regular Raid System podcast presented by XLII and Broken Haze from Tokyo.

Dates for the shows are below – if you are in area or know anyone that is please do come down and say hello or spread the word. Japan is now our third biggest listener base so it’d be great to meet some of the listeners whilst having a good time. I’ll be playing alongside some very dope people too including close friends of ours like Raid System, Ken One, Goth Trad, and ENA as well as Japanese beat maker RLP and Exodus from Leeds.

All dates are DJ sets and you can expect the same wide ranging approach as the shows but with the dancefloor in mind of course. I should also be doing a special beats set for the In Dope Like This party – a short promo mix for which you can stream/download above – and potentially a 2006/7 dubstep set at BTC as I’ll be recovering all my dubstep vinyl which has been left in storage in Tokyo for the last 3 years.

Also the March 25 gig with Raid System will be broadcast live on their Ustream channel so no excuse not to join us if you’re online at the same time – that should be a very special party.

Rhythm Incursions Japan tour 2011:

12/03 | Gnarbeats @ Q-tips | Hakuba, Nagano-ken, Japan | Facebook event page
18/03 | In Dope Like This vol.3 @ Harajuku U | Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan | Facebook page
25/03 | Raid System Radio vol. 15 @ Heavy Sick Zero | Nakano, Tokyo, Japan | Website + streamed live
07/04 | Back To Chill @ Club Asia | Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan | Website
09/04 | Mo’ Fun vol.12 @ Heavy Sick Zero | Nakano, Tokyo, Japan | Facebook page

A massive thank you to all the people who made this possible (in no special order): Goth Trad, XLII, Broken Haze, Asa, Keijiro and Dopement. And a special thank you to Serato and Rane for their support.

Tokyo regularly gets a lot of the shine and attention when it comes to Japan’s new school of producers, whether we’re talking hip hop or electronic. And yet the rest of the country offers a ground that is as fertile if not more than the capital. One of the prime examples of this is Olive Oil who is based in Fukuoka, one of the main cities in the southern island of Kyushu, and has been one of the pioneering Japanese producers for beats and electronic hip hop for nearly a decade now (by the way you can check a guest mix and music from Olive Oil right here).

With this in mind it was quite refreshing when I recently received a beat/demo tape from a young producer also based in Fukuoka called SATO (thanks to XLII). Having given it a few spins I found his approach interesting, and while not groundbreaking it definitely showed hints of more than just someone aping the current beat thing. The main thing that has always attracted me to a lot of underground Japanese producers’ music is what I always felt is a unique quality to how they interpret sounds from outside their country – they seem capable of incubating sounds and styles in entirely new ways before bringing them back in a style that is fascinating to my western ears. The rise of popularity in recent years of people like Fly Lo and the increasing prevalence of networks like myspace, facebook and soundcloud has unfortunately meant that this incubation happens less as Japanese producers are able to hear and reproduce what they hear from the west quicker. Despite this I still think this unique quality can come through.

Which leads us to SATO who holds the record for the quickest guest mix delivery having literally dropped it in our inbox 24 hours after we asked him for it. What you get is 40 minutes of his own productions mixed with favourites and wrapped up in a headnoding package sure to leave your feet and head bouncing. No tracklist on this one!

As always you can download and/or stream the mix below, or just subscribe to the RSS/iTunes feed to never miss a show.

Big thanks to SATO for his time, and to XLII for being the middle man who speaks proper Japanese. You can check SATO’s previous releases on his myspace and also on the latest Project Mooncircle compilation ‘Finest Ego’ which can be downloaded exclusively for free on our site until tomorrow lunchtime to celebrate its release and this mix.

Download SATO – Some Timmer (right click and save as)

It gives me great pleasure to present as the last guest mix this month an exclusive live set from one of the most fascinating bands I saw when I lived in Japan, Draco. They aren’t your usual band, a combination of traditional instruments and electronic musicians but with a little twist, as with most Japanese things.

I discovered them at the Kaikoo Meets Revolution party (organised by our friends from Pop Group) in Yokohama in April 08 where they were one of the headlining acts in the afternoon. I was already familiar with the electronic half of the band (Numb and Saidrum) and so was really curious to see what this new project was about. The show left me speechless, one of the most fascinating and engrossing experiences during my time there, and since then too. Below is a low quality video of some of that show, to give you a little taste.

Draco are composed of electronic producers Numb and Saidrum, sitar player Kenji Inoue and tabla player Masaki Yoshimi. The former are best known for their work in the techno and house scenes, pioneering albums for the Revirth label and live shows based around the Korg ZERO8 mixer which they helped to R&D, while Kenji is a renowned Japanese sitar player who studied his instrument in India and combines traditional sitar playing with a style that resembles how the Japanese shamisen is played, and Masaki is one of Japan’s best tabla players who also studied in India. Together the four formed Draco following a session organised for a DVD documentary in 2007, Boycott Rhythm Machine II Versus. This led to them recording an album, ‘Zero’, which they released in 08 and is unfortunately rather hard to get a hold of outside the country. Following this they continued to perform live at festivals and venues around the country also incorporating visuals into the mix for a truly unforgettable experience. For those interested, Draco means the star that shines magnificently in the northern heaven sky.

I’d been wanting to try and get them on the show for some time now and once more thanks to the wonders of Twitter, I managed to get in contact with Numb and with a little help from our good friend Tatsuki they agreed to send us some Draco live recordings to use for a guest mix. We settled on the live at Samarat, also from 2008, which is a perfect example of the impact their live can make, at least without being there in person.

Massive thanks go out to Tatsuki and Numb for their help and to Draco for letting us air this live show. For more on them check their myspaces: Draco and Numb & Saidrum.

Download Draco live at Samarat 2008 (right click and save as)

We conclude our special on the Raid System label and collective with a mix from their latest member and close friend of the Rhythm Inc and Turntable Radio family, Ken One. Regular listeners will remember Ken from the many live sessions we did with him on Turntable Radio and more recently the Skratch Evolution special we ran at the beginning of the year featuring exclusive live sets from the man himself and the cream of the Japanese underground. If you missed them you can catch all 4 of them here and the rest of them on Turntable Radio.

For the first two parts of our Raid System special, featuring Broken Haze and XLII respectively, click the following links – part 1, part 2.

A short introduction to the man runs something like this… Ken is without a doubt for me one of the most interesting and underrated scratch DJs to come out of the Japanese scene in the last ten years. A true underground soldier he did his thing in the battle scene, like most scratch DJs, before moving on and focusing on both his own music and working with various other underground Japanese musicians and labels like MC Kan, Olive Oil, DJ Baku, Back to Chill or the Pop Group and Steppin’ Ahead label. A quiet person he’s always found at events around Tokyo both on stage and in the crowd. His music has primarily been focused on the scratch end of things but married with his love of hip hop and electronic music, resulting in rather unique productions that bridge from the insular scratch music niche to more experimental sounds. In fewer words, he’s a dope DJ and producer you need to check. Find more on him at his myspace and over at TTR where you can listen to his music and the many specials we organised together while I lived in Tokyo.

For this mix Ken put together 22 minutes of absolute fire covering many of our favourites here at Rhythm Inc tower, all mixed and cut up in an absolutely flawless style. This is a great taste of his live sets and the perfect way to round up the Raid System showcase. Look out for more from him, XLII and Broken Haze on the label in the coming months.

Now though, sit back, crank up the volume and take a trip through the Tokyo underground.

Download Ken One – Raid System special pt 3 (right click and save as)

Tracklist:
1. OLV Sound Cuts / DJ KEN-ONE
2. Sambap Ho / Soloal One
3. Radiant Industry / Jamie Vex’d
4. Nylon Polymer / Daddy Kev
5. Unknown Beat from Ricci Rucker’s Japan Limited Mix
6. Rebuild – Machinedrum remix / Broken Haze
7. Terror In Dub / D-styles + Mr Henshaw
8. Oh Jesus / Himuro Yoshiteru
9. J-RAP / Tamaki Roy
10. Podgy Swing / XLII

We roll on with our new series of guest mixes from Japanese label and collective Raid System. Following last week’s firing shot with Broken Haze (catch it here if you haven’t yet) we continue with XLII (pronounced schlee), a Tokyo-based European expatriate whose music we’ve featured in previous shows and who was also part of the Skratch Evolution special earlier this year.

As I mentioned previously, XLII is a Ukrainian-born producer, MC and engineer extraordinaire (man has golden ears trust us) currently living in Tokyo after a stint in the UK. In the time he’s spent in Japan he’s settled himself in the Tokyo underground releasing on his own label and elsewhere as well as engineering and gigging left, right and center. We first hooked up via some mutual friends when I was living in Tokyo in 07/08 and it was actually XLII who introduced me to Raid System after they picked up his last album for release alongside his own Fubar label. XLII has definitely been instrumental in helping our continuous links with the Tokyo underground since I left, so it’s nice to be able to have him on the show for a proper guest spot.

Here’s what he had to say on the mix and Raid System:

I am the lighter & rougher bastard of the bunch, so I probably bring you the lighter and rougher mix in this 3 part Raid System series. Lighter in a way that I’d play anything so long as it kicks & bumps & makes me drool (or laugh or giggle… Think Flo Rida or the mental Run DMC orchestra stab twitchout), rougher in a way that I’m not into long arse dragged out DJ transitions. So my mix style is: “Now you see it, now you… WTF?!” So, in the immortal words of Cheech (from Cheech & Chong): “We play everything from Santana to El Chicano, man.”

Which is a pretty accurate description. Whereas his first guest appearance was for his live show, for this one XLII has cooked up an exclusive mix of his own beats alongside stuff from people he’s picked up on tour and other favourites, all mixed and mashed up live in Ableton. It gets crazy, but in a good way.

XLII’s latest album, ‘Ego Friendly’, is out now on Raid System and Fubar Recordings and we definitely recommend you get a copy if you haven’t yet. It’s available worldwide via digital release. Check the promo video below and the website for details of where and how to buy it. You can also buy the album directly from iTunes right here (iTunes link).

But for now though sit back and enjoy a 30 minute ride into the mind of a true world citizen and talented producer. And stay tuned for part 3 of the Raid System special dropping next week!

Download XLII – Raid System special pt 2 (right click and save as)

I first came across Himuro Yoshiteru via Soundcloud sometime last year. I really liked what I heard and started following him before asking if he’d like to do a guest mix for the show. It’s at that point that I realised he was actually a fairly well-established electronic producer in the Tokyo underground, having been releasing music for over ten years now.

His output has been steady in that time, with 2 albums and a string of remixes and singles, and he’s releasing his third album, ‘Where Does Sound Come From?’ in March this year on the Japanese label Murder Channel. This guest mix for us is in celebration of this release which will be out by the time you read this. Actual copies of this mix will be available with the first batch of album CDs in Japan.

Here’s some more info on the man himself:

Himuro Yoshiteru has a remarkable ability to sculpt sweet melodies and weave them into intricate beats. He’s based in Tokyo and has had a number of releases on labels such as File Records(JP), Couchblip(AUS), Zod Records(US),Invitro(FR) and his own label TaNGRaM DiSK. His releases are mostly within the electronic music genres of drum and bass, electronica, hip hop, and IDM, with a significant jazz influence. His style is often described in the media as very playful. It is comprised of finely chopped, fast rhythms in combination with jazzy bass and bleepy synthesizer lines and 8bit sounds (like video game music). In this area he is one of the prominent Japanese musicians of this time.

As indicated by the bio above, his music has a strong electronic slant, delving deep into various styles with surprising ease and an easily recognisable Japanese flavour. It’s this same distinct Japanese flavour that makes a lot of the underground electronic and dance music I’ve come across in Japan in recent years more exciting than a lot of what comes out of the West. And this also stands for the hip hop I discovered out there. It really boils down to what I see as a typically Japanese interpretation of the standards and templates formulated in the West, an interpretation that makes these standards and templates sound a lot fresher by approaching them from a totally different angle, both sonically and stylistically.

His new album manages to combine and cover a lot of ground over a short space without feeling too forced. It is a very intense ride at times though, but rewarding when you get to the other side. From cut up to glitched out riddims, junglist workouts to breakcore assaults, ‘Where Does Sound Come From’ isn’t your average release but then again the man who made it doesn’t strike me as your average producer.

This mix, ‘Gimme Your 30 Minutes’, is a perfect example of this featuring all his own productions mixed rapidly and blended into one another for a 30 minute ride of electronic eclecticism that will leave you feeling a little dizzy. It’s well worth it though.

As we said above the new album is out now, and can be purchased directly right here (some Japanese required) or via the Murder Channel myspace page. It features some rather amazing artwork by LOWORKS as well. You can find more music and previous releases by Himuro on his myspace, including a couple of EPs available via bandcamp. You can also hear tracks from the album in recent shows, check the archive.

For now though strap up and enjoy the ride, 30 minutes of electronic maddizms from the streets of Tokyo.

Download Himuro Yoshiteru – Gimme Your 30 Minutes (right click and save as)

Tracklist:
Stupid party
Mrs.Loop
Beginner’s luck
Pay for what?
Enjoy alone
Strings thing
Do what you must do
Action script
Unwind and rewind
In one day #3
We,mess-age
Sort of DnB
Bold lines
Changing mind
Xylophone rush
Welcome myself
1 to 7

All tracks written, additional produced and remixed by Himuro Yoshiteru