hree years after he released the incredible New Experience EP (picking up plaudits from Bill Brewster, Tim Sweeney, Laurent Garnier, Horse Meat Disco, Leo Mas & 6Music’s Tom Ravenscroft, among many more), Tokyo’s Kota Motomura returns to Hobbes Music for his debut LP, Pay It Forward. This is the first vinyl release on Hobbes Music since the much-loved ‘Aranath’ EP by Leonidas & Hobbes last Spring. While the label maintains the level of quality control for which it has become recognised, the artist continues to subvert electronic and dance music norms in his iconoclastic way on this extraordinary record. He’s a mysterious character with an ear for idiosyncratic music that runs the gamut from ambient, exotica and jazz to disco, house and techno via post punk, new wave and funk. It’s highly original and all adds up to a confection perhaps best described as ‘Balearic’. Album opener Paradise is a certified jazz-funk JAM. Destined for dance floors worldwide, this one’s been dropping well with DJs, Motomura demonstrating his piano chops alongside Mutsumi Takeuchi’s sax. Tropical pushes the boat in a more rhythmic direction, some pretty wild drum programming laced with more sounds of the, um, tropics, before mad vocal yelps suggest something yet more tribal. To Be Free initially resembles early 90s progressive house (pulsing bassline, synth-driven melodies), before the arrival of some new wave guitar licks a la classic Talking Heads/David Byrne and ooh ooh vocal chants take it to another dimension altogether. B-side opener Emotion features Takeuchi again (on flute this time) and more vocal chants before things take a dramatic turn, threatening to open up into a full fanfare before calming and then bursting into wild life again with the exhortation that “C’mon, everybody dancing!” Rhythm flirts with an energy and pace more akin to a techno record: drums, drums, more drums plus a fair few yelps and chants - the kind of DJ tool that will send a simmering dance floor wild in the right hands. Flower closes things in a more melancholy style, familiar to fans of ‘Aboy’ from the New Experience EP, with plaintive acoustic guitar (performed by Akichi), birdsong and big piano chords. More

Brand new Hobbes Music signing from Tokyo, Kota Motomura is a slightly mysterious character with an ear for idiosyncratic music that runs the gamut from Exotica and Jazz to House and Techno. Highly original, it all adds up to a confection perhaps best described as Balearic. This is his second release.Opening track ‘Aboy’ sets you afloat down a psychedelic stream, plucked strings lulling you into a dreamy state, while the occasional image from some long-forgotten Miyazaki film flows past. It’s a rare gem, sounding a bit like few things from the past but like nothing else out there right now. A2 ‘Yes’ ups the tempo and adds beats, saxophone and vox but is no less unusual, occasional bird calls and other fx dropping into a mix which gets stranger as it progresses over for a marathon ten minutes. Accelerating hyper-actively towards the end, it’s sure to leave a few DJs scratching their heads... The B-side is a bit straighter: opening track Stars is a bossa nova style house number with infectious piano motifs, while B2 Cry Baby sounds a bit like Carl Craig’s seminal ‘Throw’ re-imagined with different vocal and a wonky piano. Bonus track Satellites (download only) is the kind of low-slung plodder Detroit legend Theo Parrish might drop in one of his warm-up sets, all solid groove and scat-style vocal fx with a nagging keyboard refrain and featherlight shakers against a HEAVY bottom end. And secondary bonus Return (download only) is the kind of bonkers techno bizniz Maurice Fulton or Pepe Bradock might dream up when they're feeling a bit goofy... More

(ronny & renzo remix) 180 gr vinyl !! Naruto is a midtempo cosmic disco chugger with fragments of spiritual jazz and swampy blues. The remix by R&R is a mix of robot disco & deep techno.
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