Making Art with MPCs Since the 90s

Instrumental beatmaking is a universal language these days, with MPC technology now accessible on basically any mobile device. But true eggheads like Toyko’s Himuro Yoshiteru have been at it since the 90s, making high art with MIDI controllers and effects processors for years while rising to prominence in Japan.

In 1998, Himuro was already steeped in 8bit and stuttering beats, dropping chopped up tracks like these for the endangered bastion of rave kids. Over the last 14 years he’s developed a knack for warping EDM (namely a lot of drum and bass in those early days) into wild, dense tangles for the kids who were always too brainy for house music.

Over the years Himuro has dropped seven studio albums through six labels in the US, France, Australia, and Japan — including his own label, TaNGRaM. Already in 2012 he’s released an EP on Generation Bass and an album on Oilworks. The years haven’t slowed him down.

These days his sound is more dubstep-leaning, but the 8bit blips and spastic brutality on conventional logic definitely remains intact. From his new album Our Turn,Anytime begat Himuro’s only music video, set to his sludgy, grinding, downtempo track “REM Sleep.”