Real Youngin: Toyu’s Experiments EP

Last year, a duo made up of two teenaged girls living in New York but originally from Osaka appeared online. They called themselves BenZel, and claimed they met one another over a message board thanks to a shared love of J. Dilla. This seemed like a stretch. Naturally, the first song they ever released featured Jessie Ware. This definitely seemed like a stretch. But, with no evidence to the contrary, many of us in Japan remained unsure if BenZel were real or fake. Time went on, and the “two” released more songs. Then they played a live show in LA and…based on the photos on Instagram, they were either really manly 15-year-old girls or NOT 15-YEAR-OLD GIRLS. It was the latter, as the whole thing turned out to be bullshit…it was the side project for some British guy whose name I forgot.

What I’m getting at is that, even though BenZel weren’t real and just a dumb alter-ego aping another country that happens to be full of really talented producers, Japan does have at least one talented 15-year-old music maker. His name is Toyu, he’s based out in Nagano and (assuming he isn’t some clever marketing stunt) he just put out his first EP. Experiments finds Toyu appropriately playing around with different sounds: “Testing 8473299” a bouncy electro hopper featuring a really addictive flurry of digi needles while “African Horseman” brings in sonic ideas from the titular continent (Shangaan Electro, anyone?). Yet, especially impressive for someone his age, is “Save U,” which is far too ambitious to be just an experiment. It’s the most sinister sounding song on the EP, opening with heavy synth waves and a creepy vocal sample of a kid talking about…something. The beat fastens, and the synths grow in strength as the kid’s voice vanishes into the thickness. From there, “Save U” turns into a body-crushing dance number. Impressive from anyone, even more so from a high-school student. Get it here, or listen below.