On a whim, I set out recently to find some good Japanese juke, or at least juke-inflected beat work. Big surprise: there's some great shit. Over the next week, I'll do a short series about the country's take on the stuttering style.
One of the first producers that really stood out was Parkgolf, born in 1990 and based out of Sapporo. Check out his literally drippy percussion on "Sense of Water". Just perfect. Another track of his, the guitar strum-warping "Lovin," opens a new compilation by the Osaka club night Innit. (They seem pretty legit—they'll host LA's Low End Theory this Sunday.) Innit's party in Osaka is 1,500 miles south of Parkgolf's Sapporo, but Innit are throwing an event in his city on June 1st with 10 other artists, too, including Madegg, who we've covered before for his work on the label Flau. To celebrate the Sapporo show, Innit put together a compilation of the night's performers—quite the convenient intro for newcomers to their scene (i.e., me). Most of the compilation is far from the sound of footwork—Rebel Musical make MPC hip-hop, And Vice Versa do techno, etc.—but there are some real gems.
Stream: INNIT's Sapporo Compilation
Download: Parkgolf, "Sense of Water"