Song You Need: Hakushi Hasegawa’s hysterical prog-rave

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All things considered, the 2020 edition of Porter Robinson‘s Secret Sky Festival — an online-only pandemic edition of his annual gathering — was a high-water mark of COVID-era music events. There seemed to be a conscious effort to transport the viewer beyond the computer screen but not to an IRL space, exactly. Japanese producer Hakushi Hasegawa’s set left an impression that remains today because it showed an internal life thriving in the face of an uncertain and despairing world. It was an otherworldly introduction to their sound, a prog-jazz scion of Squarepusher articulated in vivid, fantastical hues.

That spirit remains on “Mouth Flash (Kuchinohanabi).” It’s apparent what kind of trip Hasegawa wants to take us on from the song’s opening seconds. Its virtuosic weirdness is announced by drums that rattle and zap like they’re being struck by lasers, ghostly melodies, and carnival chords stabbed out on an electronic organ. There’s an ecstasy to the song, in the original sense of the word; a snake handler quality refuses to relent, especially its lyrics, wild-eyed free-associated beat poetry delivered through achingly beautiful melody.

“What I feel I should do from now on is to disturb the music with my own body,” Hasegawa says in a press statement, “and to expose the chaos, although it is not coherent. I believe that this song is the very beginning of that process. (The body is always subject to the forces of history and categorization, but always seems to be situated between individual narratives, songs, and dances at the same time.)

“It is a real honor to be able to release the song on such an important label as Brainfeeder,” they continue, “which has been presenting the chaos of music throughout its activities since 2008… Please give it a listen – I did my best!”