Some serious sweetness from Jex Opolis on Bad Timin' the sub label of the beloved Good Timin' records. While 2018's Bad Timin' Vol. I charted a course into the art of darkness, this second volume re-imagines the imprint's focus and aims for a more colorful--and inclusive--dancefloor experience. Along with some searing club dynamics, many of those Jex touchstones we all know and love are here in full force: The playful melody, the disdain for genre, the bad puns ... On EP opener "Fought Experiment," Jex pumps the breaks during a drive on the Big Beat highway, with buzz-saw FX, turntablist scratching and a bubbling bassline along for the ride. Meanwhile, two mixes of "Soft Guidance" let the Canadian producer reflect on his late 90s "Global Underground" phase--while swapping out Oakenfold for wash-n-fold, given Jexy's newfound domesticity. Closing out the EP, "Scott Says" keeps the BPMs high and filters dubby techno through a deep house sieve, all while namechecking a little-known Edmonton techno producer. Recommended!! More

The last time we heard from JEX, he was cruising dance floors with his 2015 slapper "Studio E" on Running Back. Three years later, JEX returns with "Bad Timin' Vol. 1," a four-tracker made for working DJs on the newly christened Bad Timin' label. Ranging from the scorched-earth acid of "Zone Phased" to the melancholic deep of "FEE WIFI," the EP has something for everyone--well, everyone who likes hanging out at dance clubs, that is! More

Japanese vibraphonist and marimba player Masayoshi Fujita returns with Migratory, his masterful new solo album, where his sonic explorations into the unknown continue.

In 2020, after 13 years of living in Berlin, Fujita returned to his native Japan with his wife and their three children, fulfilling his life-long dream of living and composing music in the midst of nature. The family found their new home in the mountain hills along the coast of Kami-cho, Hyogo, three hours west of Kyoto.

Once settled in, Fujita spent his time turning an old kindergarten into his own music studio, Kebi Bird Studio, which became the birthplace of Migratory. On his new album, the composer and producer masterfully reimagines and mesmerises with his trademark sounds of vibraphone, and resumes his experimentation with the marimba and synthesisers that he first incorporated on his 2021 album, Bird Ambience, which followed the release of his acclaimed vibraphone triptych: Stories (2012), Apologues (2015) and Book of Life (2018).

On Fujita’s ever-evolving list of collaborators, Migratory introduces vocals from Moor Mother on ‘Our Mother’s Lights’ and Hatis Noit on ‘Higurashi’, as well as sho and saxophone to its soundscapes.

Whilst at a music residency in Stockholm in 2021, Fujita met Swedish sho player Mattias Hållsten. Although it was a brief encounter, the two musicians stayed in touch. During a visit to Japan, Hållsten stopped by the studio and played on three of the tracks, including the alluring album closer ‘Yodaka’, exceeding Fujita’s own expectations.

Another collaborator, American poet Moor Mother asked Fujita to contribute vibraphone to her upcoming album, and in return lent her powerful voice to the Migratory’s centrepiece, Our Mother’s Lights — “it carries a kind of African and Asian vibe, a perfect match for the energy of the piece,” he adds.

As with Bird Ambience, Fujita continues to be inspired by our feathered friends. The album’s title, Migratory, originates from an image that came to him of migratory birds, travelling somewhere between Africa, Southeast Asia and Japan, imagining them hearing the music from the land underneath, and how their point of view of the world from above blurs the boundaries of music and land.

Expanding on this, Fujita says: “these ideas and images were inspired by my experiences of living abroad and returning to my homeland, as well as by the artists featured on this album who also somehow travelled or lived in other countries across the boundaries, and being influenced by the music of other lands but at the same time somehow led to their roots."

Masayoshi’s parents too made a life abroad in Thailand for over 15 years. After returning to Japan, Fujita’s mother passed away in the beginning of 2023. So he invited his father to come for a visit, to spend time with him and his grandchildren. A lifelong musician in his own right, the two of them soon found themselves holed up in Kebi Bird Studio. Fujita senior had brought his saxophone, which he played on top of the then unfinished recordings, resulting in three breathtaking pieces. The slow jazz-tinged ‘Blue Rock Thrush’ stands out, with the saxophone and marimba blending harmoniously reaching new artistic heights.

Nature has always been a source of inspiration for Fujita, and on Migratory it takes centre stage. You can hear it on the album’s peaceful and considered field recordings, but most importantly, Masayoshi highlights – “nature is there as the image to be evoked by the listener from the music.” On the record’s sleeve notes, written by renowned novelist and travel writer Pico Iyer, we learn about the Japan that he hears as he sits down and listens to the music. It educates and encapsulates us, in the same way Fujita’s imaginary birds vividly depict the essence of musical migration. More