I have a friend, Luca, who is the prog savant in my life. I haven’t been playing super close attention to the progressive tech scene in Australia or globally for about a year now since I got a bit worn out of it, but I find myself often pretty wowed by his selections when he’s drawing from his deep bag of steppers. I have a hard time trying to find tracks that impress him in the same way, mostly because it’s hard to surprise anyone who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of their scene. Anyway, a couple of months ago I played Tokyo producer Oyubi’s ‘Supa Dub’ (not expecting any reaction) and he went nuts. Fair enough. The track plays it straight at first, fleshing out a rock-solid speed garage groove for a minute before unleashing a vicious, growling breakdown. It sneaks up on you, then suddenly commands your attention.

Oyubi adopts the same general approach on a recent short-but-sweet EP, A_DUBZ. It has three tracks, and each one is meticulously built: first, by delicately setting up the percussion structure like scaffolding; then by dropping a slab of substantial bass; and finally by adding some decorative flair. That’s not to say the EP feels formulaic or repetitive. Each track is rhythmically and tonally distinct, even though the tempo remains a consistent 160bpm. On the drill-dubstep hybrid ‘ichigatsu’, you can hear air, water and earth: the whistle of the wind, splashing puddles and subterranean bass. It is elemental and natural, made for swaying bodies in the outdoors. By contrast, the restrained footwork of ‘Releasing that mind’ feels lived-in and introspective; its wandering bassline, whispered vocal loops and harmonic passages are best suited for headphone listening. Still, neither track approaches the raucous intensity of ‘阿佐ヶ谷極速快車手(vip)’, which sounds like Amor Satyr and Siu Mata’s Speed Dembow under the influence of an all-syrup Super Squishee. A minute in, rave-y chord stabs give way to a murderous bass drop and it’s delirium from there on out.

82

Sam Gollings

11 January 2024