Looking for some albums from this year, I spotted this gem on Bandcamp. axion117 aka Shuya Sato is a Japanese producer and his latest album, Sketches, is fantastic. Sharp chops of pitched down 80s funk records are his MO and he executes this with the technique of a pro. I don’t say this because of the Japanese connections – I’m not that lazy – but the cuts are severe and merge with revived beauty. The beats are just as jagged yet absorb into the grooves left by the samples. We’ll be keeping tabs on axion117 and you should too.
Update: Alas, it’s no longer on Bandcamp but apparently someone has a copy on Discogs?