Hell Yeah Italy Vinilo y CD

Review: When it comes to sumptuous, sunrise-ready ambient, deep house and downtempo jams, there are few finer exponents of the art forms than Fukagawa Kivotaka AKA Calm - a Japanese producer whose work has been sound-tracking stunning sunsets since the turn of the '90s. Here Hell Yeah Recordings shine a light on two of his numerous killer remixes. On side A he delivers a stunning re-imagining of Kenkou's 2004 track "Everlasting Dreams", slowly building up from a lengthy Spanish guitar-sporting ambient intro to gentle, Latin-tinged deep house bliss over 11 atmospheric and evocative minutes. Over on the flip, he delivers his interpretation of Deadbundy's "Lorenz", serving up a chugging, mid-tempo cosmic disco-meets-deep house take flecked with jazzy guitar licks and propelled forwards by a suitably druggy electronic bassline.

Review: Kiyotaka Fukagawa released his latest album as Calm on Hell Yeah last year, but the label are wisely taking their time in revisiting the material to give it that extra dose of timelessness. On this second round of remixes, Mark Barrott brings a tasteful dose of Eastern mysticism to "Space Is My Place" on his aptly titled "Re-Imagination To The Sacred Heart Center". Turn the record over for My Friend Dario's "Etna Breeze" version of "Shadows & Lights" - an expansive acid laced ambient dream with a touch of 80s new age. This is classy stuff for gentle souls - Balearic heads take note!

Review: Calm is Fukagawa Kiyotaka, a producer traversing deep house, ambient and downtempo grooves since the late '90s. His last album From My Window in 2015 made a great impression on Hell Yeah label boss Marco 'Pee Doo' Gallerani - who reached out to him. The pair eventually hooked up in Tokyo, playing records together and soon discovering that they were kindred spirits. The new full length By Your Side is the Japanese producer's eighth album, spanning ambient balearica, deep nu-disco and chilled-out/sunkissed beats. Highly recommended for fans of Mark Barrott, Gaussian Curve or Gonno.

Review: The master of instrumental downtempo funk and soul returns with four more sides of gloriously laid back grooves as the label reissues his Before album. Fukagawa Kiyotaka was in top form here with supremely sunny sax motifs and deep, lush drums sinking you in right from the off. He then leans on his cultural heritage with Eastern melodies drifting over starry-eyed chords, layers in plenty of serene strings and even gets jazzy on the fantastic 'Feel It.' A downtempo and Balearic masterpiece for sure.

Review: Fukagawa Kiyotaka is the Japanese artist behind the Calm alias. He is a master of instrumental downtempo funk and soul, with lashings of Mediterranean and Balearic vibes in his lush and escapist sounds. He has put out many an album over the years and now Hell Yeah, a label he has recorded new material for recently, reissue one of his greats. Before takes a horizontal approach to disco and house with beautiful sax and synths, musical grooves and plenty of starry and sunny motifs.

Review: Calm is a Japanese master of downtempo and ambient. He has been turning out his sophisticated full-lengths in this scene for many years, and plenty of them have become cult classics, all while he offers up new tracks that are just as lush. Hell yeah has always been a keen supporter of his work and now the label reissue his early and excellent Moonage Electric Ensemble. It's a mix of spoken words and captivating melodies, downtempo beats, trip hop grooves and new classical melodies all with a fresh jazz sensibility that means it is as smooth and vital now as it ever was.

Review: On paper, this may seem an unlikely collaboration - Japanese ambient and deep acid stalwart meets eccentric Finnish lounge, jazz and exotica veteran - but it's a genuinely brilliant EP. 'Big City Takes' genuinely makes the best of both Calm and Jimi Tenor's talents, with the latter's eyes-closed vocals, evocative flutes and shuffling exotica rhythms fitting perfectly with the former's stirring strings and immersive ambient electronics. Tapes remixes, first delivering a jazzy hip-hop informed head-nodder before serving up some ambient dub/digi-dub fusion, before Calm delivers his version of a second Tenor collaboration, 'Time and Space' - an ambient jazz masterpiece. Vendetta Suite's warming, subtly tropical Balearic rework of that track is also brilliant. Tip!

Review: ***B-STOCK: Record ever so slightly warped, otherwise in excellent condition***


On paper, this may seem an unlikely collaboration - Japanese ambient and deep acid stalwart meets eccentric Finnish lounge, jazz and exotica veteran - but it's a genuinely brilliant EP. 'Big City Takes' genuinely makes the best of both Calm and Jimi Tenor's talents, with the latter's eyes-closed vocals, evocative flutes and shuffling exotica rhythms fitting perfectly with the former's stirring strings and immersive ambient electronics. Tapes remixes, first delivering a jazzy hip-hop informed head-nodder before serving up some ambient dub/digi-dub fusion, before Calm delivers his version of a second Tenor collaboration, 'Time and Space' - an ambient jazz masterpiece. Vendetta Suite's warming, subtly tropical Balearic rework of that track is also brilliant. Tip!