Que Sakamoto & NT, Hoshina Anniversary turn up the heat for Brooklyn's Blood of Thrones

The Brooklyn based imprint co-founded by The Rapture and James Friedman, Throne of Blood, continues their sixteenth anniversary celebrations with moody, oddball EP, ripe for the dance floor.

UK producer Daniel Avery kicks off the four-track EP with a more-dreamy-than-moody slice of hazy techno titled ‘Ricochet’. His warm welcome to the label’s fourth commemoration to their sixteenth anniversary is followed up with brooding dark energy from Lost Soul Enterprises resident Heidi Sabertooth’s ‘Nylon Future’ — a synth fuelled gloomy space jam riding on a broken beat and suspenseful sub bass.

Adding to the balance of variety on the EP, two of Japan’s eclectic selectors and producers, Hoshina Anniversary and Que Sakamoto & NT, deliver fired up dark disco and electro.

Que Sakamoto & NT enrich the incessant breakbeat of ‘Kakege’ with mild psychedelic nuances and soaring tones that glide the track into a celestial nook. Speaking with Mixmag Asia, Que says, “This track was inspired by a recent visit to Rio de Janeiro, where I got to see and experience ‘the sleeping giant’ — the landscape painted a great musical image for me, and that’s where I got the idea to use my own vocals over a jungle-sounding breakbeat groove.”

For the final gear shift on the EP, Que’s Tokyo-based counterpart, Hoshina Anniversary, drops the tempo for an exotic, chuggy dose of disco noir with ‘Eiroku 永禄’. The deep and moody bassline takes us straight to Mr Fingers’ domain with a hint of a ‘Mysteries of Love’ vibe, but with a twist; ‘Eiroku 永禄’ takes an oriental instrument path, but Hoshina ensures this piece of work retains authenticity, and avoids falling towards oriental cliche.

Starting way back at the end of 2006, The Rapture and James Friendman came together to set up Throne of Blood Records. They steadily grew into a digital and vinyl imprint with the help of releases from Ford Inc, Daniel Avery, Mugwump, Clouded Vision, early works from Bicep, Cosmic Kids and Waze & Odyssey. Fast forward to the end of 2022, four bloody fantastic tracks that are very uniquely packaged and curated now leave us waiting on what’s to come next from the Brooklyn label.

Four fantastic tracks that are very uniquely packaged and curated leave us waiting on what’s to come next from the Brooklyn label.

TOB 16TH ANNIVERSARY COMP 4 is out now Throne of Blood. Have a listen to Que Sakamoto 'Kakegae' below and grab your vinyl or digital copy here.