Tokyo-based techno producer Suguru Kusumi first surfaced back in 1999 with his debut Ustkot 12″ on Ladomat, the somewhat enigmatic title stemming from the label’s misinterpretation of Kusumi’s somewhat messy handwriting (the full intended title being USKT07 or Urgent Situation In Side 7). While Kusumi continued to release several subsequent 12″s through Ladomat over the ensuing years, culminating in the release of his debut album Manual Music through the label in 2003, following its release he abruptly discontinued all of his musical activities, apparently on the advice of an astrologer (!). While Kusumi’s continuing partnership alongside childhood friend Emi Sano in the award-winning design firm speaker5 indicates that his professed ideals of becoming a salaryman might not have quite come to fruition, this download-only EP Equaller represents his first new musical output in four years. In many senses however, talk of Kusumi’s return to production may be slightly premature, as the four different mixes of Equaller collected here were apparently already recorded prior to his self-enforced hiatus.
In its Original mix form, Equaller fuses samples of a curiously Indian Subcontinental-sounding traditional female vocal with a rhythmic undercarriage that’s drawn straight from the Force Inc. / Kompakt minimalist techno school, sharp abrasive hi-hats and brooding bass drones curiously losing their edged menace to the warmth of the intimate vocal atop. While the vocal is certainly the most immediately arresting element on show, the slightly workmanlike and predictable programmed elements invariably begin to become repetitive even over the comparatively short four minute running time, something that the more than capable reworkings here go a long way towards remedying. For his Wabi mix, Kusumi strips the more abrasive, buzzing elements back in favour of spaciousness, sending creepy-sounding processed flute tones howling through a wash of Luciano-esque ricocheting metallic percussion and pulsing 4/4 kickdrums, leaving the Sabi mix to send delayed-out tones blurring out like doppler-effect car horns over spidery hi-hats. Finally, the Alphageneric mix manages to inject the largest portion of hypnotic headnodding bass groove here, resulting in it being the mix here most likely to get played out. A more than solid “comeback’ 12” from Kusumi, with many of the most memorable moments here coming from the thoughtfully prepared remixes.
Chris Downton
