Audio Asia: bumping deep house grooves on Ryuta Muramatsu's 'Love Thing'

Title: Love Thing
Artist: Ryuta Muramatsu
Label: Kooley High
Release Date: Out now

UK-based label Kooley High continue their quest to showcase the deeper shades of both house and instrumental hip hop on the latest of their thick and fast release schedule. With the 'Pressure Off EP', label boss Deej has once again looked to the east to search for artists to help forge the label's signature sound, this time uncovering an entirely untapped talent in the process. As far as we're aware, this Ryuta Muramatsu's very first release, and our tireless research has uncovered precious little in the way of background information on the artist – all we could garner from his Soundcloud page is that he's “a good citizen who makes music,” which is entirely admirable. With that in mind, the work contained within this four-track outing is genuinely impressive.

Title track 'Pressure Off' is a stylish production, warm chords, skippy beats and sampled vocal chops give the track a decidedly classic feel, and the music expertly skirts the line between the underground and bar-friendly ends of the deep house spectrum. Our choice to play you here is the similarly themed 'Love Thing'. The track again features atmospheric chords over a solid house rhythm and low-slung bass, but the interplay between the sampled vocal and soprano sax give it enough edge and personality to stand out for us.

Also included on the EP are two well-turned hip hop tracks, both of which make expert use of some clever sampling. 'Earthquake' repurposes jazzy refrains and an unexpected vocal to great effect before making room for a deliciously deviant and growling synth lead. 'Select Of Pattern' again offsets a silky sample over a well-programmed beat, layering sinister bass stabs to add the desired weight before abruptly coming to a halt. The entire EP represents some fine work from Ryuta Muramatsu, proving that his is certainly a name to watch out for.

Ryuta Muramatsu 'Pressure Off EP' is out now, you can buy it here