Bastard Jazz is happy to give a first look at mainstay Japanese producers Aru-2 & Kzyboost’s full length album “Hot Pants” (August 13) with a special 7″ showcasing a couple of favorites from the album. On the A side is “Shooby Dooby”, a slice of future funk with a bubbling analog synth bassline and Aru-2’s signature talkbox vocals, while on the B-Side “Boost Step” takes things a little more downtempo into instrumental hip-hop territory, still rife with funk vibes, and synth solos.
Aru-2 and Kzyboost are both Tokyo-based producers, known for their work in the Japanese underground hip hop scene. Aru-2 got his start producing for prominent J-hip hop artists like ISSUGI, SENNINSHO, Tamaki Roy, and KID FRESINO. His first EP, ‘Arµ-2,’ arrived in 2013, and was featured in OkayPlayer, while the collaborative album ‘TANH ,’ with Lee (asano+ryuhei) came out in 2014 and was critically acclaimed by Pitchfork. Kzyboost specialises in the talk-box and is one of the best known talk-box artists in Japan. He’s released two studio albums, ‘Callin’ U’ (2019), and ‘Keep Smoovin” (2020, fusing West Coast hip hop, and 90s R&B and soul. The two artists bonded over their shared love of music through sessions at Aru-2″s home studio, resulting in the upcoming collaboration.
‘Shooby Dooby / Boost Step’ is due out on Brooklyn’s Bastard Jazz Recordings in July, ahead of the duo’s debut LP ‘Hot Pants’ in August.
