Tokyo’s KΣITO is up next on Tzusing’s Sea Cucuber label with the ‘Jakuzure Butoh’ EP. Listen to ‘Makimura’ below.
Across seven tracks, KΣITO presents a personalised take on gqom, the percussive South African club music genre, while simultaneously incorporating elements of Japanese gorge music. Gorge is a musical movement that originated about a decade ago, which, like gqom, places an emphasis on thunderous percussion – particularly the tom drum. A loose, humorous and non-dogmatic movement (its motto includes the words “don’t say it’s art”), the sound is more influenced by rock climbing and mountaineering than it is by any other musical style, and is intended to reflect the hard and rugged texture of rock formations.
KΣITO’s tracks are indeed hard and rugged, and the pounding drums and resonant soundscapes across ‘Jakuzure Butoh’ at points feel like their echoing through a vast canyon. There’s also plenty of room for melodies, which screech across tracks like ‘Iara’, ‘Makimura’ and ‘Jakuzure’ like birds of prey.
KΣITO is on the bill for this weekend’s Nyege Nyege Festival in Kampala, where he’ll bring his hybrid live/DJ set, incorporating finger drumming on an Akai MPC-style MIDI controller.
In 2018, KΣITO and a group of other Tokyo producers/DJs launched the gqom-focused night, TYO GQOM, at the Forestlimit Hatagaya venue, which has helped build a following for the genre in the city, alongside the sounds of amapiano, Afro house, UK bass and singeli.
‘Jakuzure Butoh’ will be released on 22nd September. Pre-order it here.
