Scotch Rolex - Tewari LP
Veteran Japanese producer Shigeru Ishihara (aka DJ Scotch Egg) has been assembling serrated, genre-busting ear bleeders for almost two decades, and arrives to the Hakuna Kulala stable with a crucial new project: Scotch Rolex, named after the popular Ugandan street food. On "Tewari" the Berlin-based noisemaker melts his breakcore, gabber and chiptune background into a fresh palette of influences, with help from collaborators MC Yallah, DUMA's Lord Spikeheart, Swordman Kitala, Chrisman and Don Zilla.
The record was assembled after Ishihara was invited to Uganda for a residency at the Nyege Nyege Villa in 2019. Exposed to Hakuna Kulala's family of artists, the producer began experimenting, twisting trap and dancehall rhythms with 8-bit immediacy and the ragged energy of grindcore. Somehow he has managed to distill the essence of Nyege Nyege's scene-shaping yearly festival, where global dance and experimental forms come together under a banner of East African musical experimentation and physicality.
Ishihara is no stranger to collaboration; in recent years he's been spotted working with King Midas Sound's Kiki Hitomi in dub-pop outfit WaqWaq Kingdom and playing bass with electro-shoegaze pioneers Seefeel. But Scotch Rolex is his most ambitious project to date, jumping seamlessly from slithering doom trap (Omuzira) to anxious hyper-fast electro death metal (Sniper) to breathless Ugandan club (Afro Samurai) and beyond without stopping for breath.
Whether crafting rhythms for MC Yallah's tongue-twisting rhymes, Lord Spikeheart's hoarse, guttural screams or Swordman Kitala's familiar sing-along chants, Ishihara feels completely at home with his collaborators and celebrates their presence. "Scotch Rolex & Co." is a love letter to Hakuna Kulala from one of experimental dance music's true originals, it's a joyful rumination on the fluidity and versatility of electronic music that manages eclecticism without ever sacrificing coherence.
Tracklist:
1. UGA262000113 - Omuzira [feat. MC Yallah]
2. Success [feat. Lord Spikeheart]
3. Cheza [feat. Chrisman]
4. Nfulula Biswa [feat. Swordman Kitala]
5. Afro Samurai [feat. Don Zilla]
6. Tewari
7. Juice [feat. MC Yallah]
8. U.T.B. 88
9. Sniper [feat. Lord Spikeheart]
10. Wa kalebule
11. Lapis Lazuli [feat. Lord Spikeheart]
About this product: this is pressed on red and white splatter vinyl.