Daigos - 桃源郷 (Tougen-Kyo) [Teeth]

*** This post first appeared in TSMM's March 29th Newsletter, where you can get all the tips (and more) first. ***

I’ve never heard of Daigos, or Daigo Sakuragi before this release, but I’ll be keeping tabs on him for sure. Whilst in Tokyo this composer, guitar player and machine meddler teamed up with bass playing Jinya Ichikawa, stick wielding Kazuya Ooi and sax blowing Shoei Ikeda to bring his compositions to life. Post recording he decamped to London to get a different perspective on the recordings and the result is this transcendent, cosmic electroacoustic fusion.

The LP for London’s Teeth label starts off hallucinating images of an orbiting jacuzzi, the bathers eventually roused by some live hip hop beats before the band embark on some East meets West acid-folk, which in turn paves the way for some heavy jazztronica - the sax soaring over the big system primed drums and low frequencies. Ambient jazz then does battle with jazzy drum and bass with the only winner being the listener. The sounds of nature recorded during temple rituals then raises the spiritual vibe, intertwining with some laid back sax licked beats to wind this remarkable session down and send you back to the start for another listen.

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Playlist Companion

Find Daigos floating around the forward looking Slow Jazz Playlist.