Japan’s legendary treasure of electronic, exotic, and dub music, KING OF OPUS, has released his fourth album—his first in four years!!! On this album, he boldly features vocals, rap, talkbox, and even live instrumentation, King of Opus has created an ambitious masterpiece—a work uniquely his own—that fuses and dub-ifies exotic, psychedelic sounds with the mysterious melancholy, fresh surprises, and commanding presence of exotic scenes from Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and Malaysia. I highly recommend this album.
From the opening introduction—which hints at the exciting and enchanting world of Exo-Dub that is about to unfold—to the second track, “Desert,” then to Track 3, “I Still Love You feat. chisha,” a track that seems to symbolize this album itself—a prayer for eternal peace, with a slowed-down 90s house-flavored backing track that makes it feel as though calm, peaceful days stretch on forever beyond the horizon, featuring chisha on vocals , Track 16, “I Still Love You TALKBOX VERSION feat. Ryu Tsuruoka” (sample 1), a reimagined version of the same track that reappears at the album’s close, featuring a talkbox performance by Luvraw (Ryu Tsuruoka), Track 4, “everyday feat. HIDENKA,” a future dub beat track featuring HIDENKA’s rap; Track 5, “EXOKOSs,” with its xylophone tones and steel guitar creating an exotic utopia; Track 7, “Midsummer Cave,” a mysterious psychedelic dub zone featuring Indonesian gamelan; Track 9, “In the Forest,” a meditative dub track where the resonance of the gamelan gongs, the pauses, electronic sounds, and effects all harmonize; Track 12, “happy time” (sample 2), a cute, euphoric Slenten track with a game music vibe, featuring a memorable rhythm machine reminiscent of The Congos’ “The Congoman,” Track 13, “macha macha feat. chiha,” a love song in the Indonesian/Malaysian folk style known as “Kronchon,” with Japanese lyrics and a sound that will leave you spellbound; Track 14, “How are you feat. chisha,” a dreamy, melancholic ambient track; and finally, Track 15, “the last song” (sample 3)—a soulful, folky, and peaceful track with superb synth tones in the latter half that brings this album to a magnificent close—for a total of 16 tracks. Be sure to check out the track list as well.
(Original Japanese text by COMPUMA)
From the opening introduction—which hints at the exciting and enchanting world of Exo-Dub that is about to unfold—to the second track, “Desert,” then to Track 3, “I Still Love You feat. chisha,” a track that seems to symbolize this album itself—a prayer for eternal peace, with a slowed-down 90s house-flavored backing track that makes it feel as though calm, peaceful days stretch on forever beyond the horizon, featuring chisha on vocals , Track 16, “I Still Love You TALKBOX VERSION feat. Ryu Tsuruoka” (sample 1), a reimagined version of the same track that reappears at the album’s close, featuring a talkbox performance by Luvraw (Ryu Tsuruoka), Track 4, “everyday feat. HIDENKA,” a future dub beat track featuring HIDENKA’s rap; Track 5, “EXOKOSs,” with its xylophone tones and steel guitar creating an exotic utopia; Track 7, “Midsummer Cave,” a mysterious psychedelic dub zone featuring Indonesian gamelan; Track 9, “In the Forest,” a meditative dub track where the resonance of the gamelan gongs, the pauses, electronic sounds, and effects all harmonize; Track 12, “happy time” (sample 2), a cute, euphoric Slenten track with a game music vibe, featuring a memorable rhythm machine reminiscent of The Congos’ “The Congoman,” Track 13, “macha macha feat. chiha,” a love song in the Indonesian/Malaysian folk style known as “Kronchon,” with Japanese lyrics and a sound that will leave you spellbound; Track 14, “How are you feat. chisha,” a dreamy, melancholic ambient track; and finally, Track 15, “the last song” (sample 3)—a soulful, folky, and peaceful track with superb synth tones in the latter half that brings this album to a magnificent close—for a total of 16 tracks. Be sure to check out the track list as well. (Original Japanese text by COMPUMA)