I first heard Japanese producer Kent Alexander’s solo music on a compilation by label Pan Pacific Playa. His track, “Hot Girl,” stuck out like a sore thumb, an awesome tar-footed number that barely made it to the end of its nearly four-minute drag. The track wasn’t very indicative of Kent’s modus operandi, precisely because his modus operandi is so ill-defined to begin with: when he’s not producing with the Paisley Parks crew, he’s jumping from club to crunkcore to moombahton to chill without skipping a beat (unless it’s intentional), to sometimes mixed results.
But “羅生門学園” (“Rashomon School”) is something different altogether. It’s playful, hyperactive, and cutting like the rest of his tracks, but here Kent is continually screwing with the beats, the tempo, the flow, the samples, flipping shit every handful of measures — a je ne sais quoi obscured and in perpetual flux. Check it out here:
• Kent Alexander: http://soundcloud.com/kent045
• Paisley Parks: http://soundcloud.com/paisleyparks
• Pan Pacific Playa: http://www.panpacificplaya.jp/blog
