Tokyo Noir: The Feelin’ / Keep The Vibes Alive [ INNAR043 ]

Melbourne-based producer Tokyo-Noir has proven his versatility with juke/footwork excursions on Ground Mass and breakbeat hardcore stylings on Detrimental Audio. His latest release on Inna Riddim is no exception: he lays down a pair of very different tracks, both deadly but working in separate registers. ‘The Feelin’ is a monster, a rampant stomp constructed around a taut 4×4 kick and the breakbeats that he weaves in and out through them. But the power of this track comes from its gigantic, roaming bassline, winding its way inexorably forward like one of the giant sandworms in Frank Herbert’s Dune. A devastating track that work equally well at 3am at the darker sounds stage of a festival or pounding the stacks of a grimy warehouse rave. ‘Keep the Vibes Alive’ is the more upfront of the two: in fact its frantic energy is irrepressible, lulling the listener with endorphin-rushing pad washes and then smashing in a front-loaded breakbeat that doesn’t let up. Proof – if any is required – that hardcore will indeed never die.