Japanese experimenter Kouhei Matsunaga has been quietly building an exceptional discography as NHK yx Koyxen and the numerous variances. With prior NHK yx Koyxen output on PAN, Skam and Raster Noton, Matsunaga’s growing alliance with Powell’s Diagonal label makes perfect sense. A fresh NHK yx Koyxen LP that expands on his fuzzy, texture-laden, leftfield techno blueprint. So, while there’s plenty of industrial-influenced darkness, claustrophobic tape hiss, and redlined rhythms, the Japanese artist also includes quietly beautiful textures and hazy, looped melodies. This is most evident on the foreboding, late night swing of “Y”, where the application of dub delays helps emphasize the skewed, doom-laden mood.

vinyl / CD