New Ryuuta Takaki: Cosmic Era Vol. 1

Japan’s electronic music scene has mutated into all sorts of fascinating shapes – the spastic lockstep of Seiho, the gooey synth washes courtesy of Avec Avec, the hair-raising lurch of Eadonmm just to name a few – yet most of it originated from the same place. Many of these artists came from (or were inspired by) beat music, name explaining it mainly, with Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder imprint being a widespread source of inspiration. Tokyo music maker Ryuuta Takaki’s newest, Cosmic Era Vol. 1, feels like a throwback in a time where electronic producers are darting off into all sorts of directions. It is, primarily, a beat tape, the sort of collection someone would try to sneak into a rapper’s front seat, at least after the spacey (it has, like, NASA mission control samples) intro. From there though, Takaki hits on skeletal, piano-driven stuff (“Halo (Quiet)”) to glowing (“SA-506”) to a bass-leaning cut (“Time Leap”). It’s minimal nature places the emphasis on the beat, and thus this feels more like a beat tape than, say, what Ryuuta Takaki has done elsewhere. Yet his beats, glazed with an electronic, deep-cosmos feel, are better than most. Listen below, or get it here.