Today we welcome our fifth guest mix selection - this time from cosmic guitarist and 'Japanese B-Musicologist' extraordinaire, Dustin Wong (Thrill Jockey).

Dustin first caught my attention back in 2010 with his minimalist brand of post-Kosmische - one entirely constructed of insanely hyperactive, colourful guitar loops. Dustin had a way of playing where he would employ a complex array of effects and pedals but retain the organic texture of the hand played - very reminiscent of Manuel Göttsching, but modernising that minimalist sound with all kinds of interesting affectations and influences. As his loops would build, overlap and criss-cross, familiar forms were transformed into glowing new incarnations - entirely synthetic, cosmic lattices of percussive energy. When he moved back to Tokyo (the city where he spent most of his youth) from the States, he collaborated on four albums with 90's J-pop icon Takako Minekawa - this connection is a joy and is hard to define - artificial yet organic - unexpected varieties of sound grow in optimistic and daring superabundance.

Dustin is also an expert digger - one of his exploratory record digs in Japan ended up with tea at Motohiko Hamase’s house. His guest mix takes us on a musical journey through Japan - visiting synthesised environments and minimal interior spaces built of airy architectures and gaseous textures before delving into a humid metropolis of interlocking geometric rhythms. Always serene and spacious - the mood, however, is enigmatic, not strictly soothing.

We are also celebrating the impending release of our second reissue (June 1st) - Toshioki Matsumura’s A Visual Brain: 1986-1993.

For two decades, Toshi recorded soundtracks as a member of Visual Brains, a pioneering video-art collective based in Tokyo. This set of prime archival selections is a seamless mix of the organic and inorganic, the recent past and distant future. A Visual Brain is both damaged steel pan dub and hi-tech new wave balladry, damply ambient synth-pop and Reichian magnificence. Minimalist tropes wrapped in candy striped technicolor. Available on Vinyl via Light In The Attic and Digital via the chOOn!! Bandcamp.

You can catch up on some other radio forays - all Japanese currents in the run up to the release of our second reissue.

We travelled across Glasgow via quarantine to guest on Clyde Built Radio (04.04.20). You can listen back to my offering on the cloud via

soundcloud.com/clydebuiltradio/choon-4-4-20

... and if you haven't already, catch up with our guest slot on Dublab in Los Angeles where the fascination with Japanese oddwaves continues.

Stream via the Dublab archive at

dublab.com/archive/choon-guest-session-02-29-20

Finally, big thanks to P-Vine Records for sending in the wonderful reissue of Akira Inoue’s 1984 masterpiece Karsavina - available again from April 30th. To Manda, curator of Japanese gems and to Andrew Ackermann - the wonderful painter and sleeve designer for Japanese music royalty. Thanks!

chOOn!!