- When Azuli announced its Future Disco compilation earlier this year, you had to cringe a little bit. Sure, the tracklisting was rock solid, but it also meant that the sound of bearded Bergenites and Arp-wielding Londoners had finally coalesced into something easily packagable. It's Now That's What I Call Space Disco!, and that can only mean that it's time to move on.
News travels a bit slower down in Australia, though, thank goodness. And sometimes music doesn't quite arrive sounding the same apparently either. Melbourne producer Junji Masayama's debut EP for Bear Funk sounds like it might fit in seamlessly into the cosmic milieu, but it has just enough edge to set it apart. That's obvious from the jump, as "Green Circle" bursts into life with an overdriven bassline accompanied by no less than three melody lines—and a sonar ping—competing for attention. It's overstuffed in the same way that Isolée pours too much into his minimal-in-name-only productions, a pleasantly plump reminder that sometimes more is good.
Masayama sacrifices simple hooks for his trouble, but tracks like "Monotone Radio" more than make up for it, wielding snatches of flute, errant arpeggiators and string sections worn down to the bone. "Oyster," meanwhile, sounds like an outtake from a Maurice Fulton Bubbletease podcast, and "Sponge Feet" takes at least a tiny bit of inspiration from the funkier side of mid-'90s IDM. Basically, it sounds exactly—and simultaneously nothing—like future disco. Screw moving on. There may be more to say after all.
Tracklist A1 Green Circle
A2 Monotone Radio
B1 Sponge Feet
B2 Oyster