Yoshinori Hayashi – Pulse of Defiance 2LP Online now

Fusing elements of free jazz, breakbeat, acid house, dub, ambient, and more, the Tokyo producer’s second full-length album is simultaneously comforting and destabilizing. Pitchfork

Combining left-field techno with “piano drama”, Hayashi finds inspiration in free jazz rhythms on this journey, to create a far-out romp through his current creative spirit. The Vinyl Factory

Pulse of Defiance is the latest and most fascinating step in Hayashi s still-blooming career—a half-decade of fantastically quixotic output that s established him as one of electronic music s most fascinating aural conjurers. After a string of releases on esteemed labels like Lovers Rock, Going Good, and JINN, Hayashi made his Smalltown Supersound debut with 2019 s Ambivalence, his first full-length album. An immersive and fascinating work, Ambivalence submerged Hayashi s sound in distant, underwater textures that added layers of allure to its loose, jazzy confines; it was followed up by last year s Y, a four-tracker that splayed drum-machine freakouts and wobbly low-frequency textures across techno s brittle framework.

Earlier this year, space disco masterminds Prins Thomas and Bjørn Torske offered lush remixes of Ambivalence cuts that emphasized just how musically fluid Hayashi s style is—and Pulse of Defiance is more concrete proof that he s working without limitations. Within the opening third of the album s enticing sprawl, the listener s treated to gorgeous jazzy hip-hop breaks, upward-scaling piano drama, and cavernous techno reminiscent of rave-era greats like Orbital and Underworld. From noise-bursted drum n bass to rapid-fire club music, there simply is nothing Hayashi can t do.

Indeed, such virtuosic and diverse-sounding music collected in a single statement brings to mind myriad reference points; but Pulse of Defiance is also a work that could only come from him at this point, the latest delightfully surprising release from a musician that continues to chart his own path.