TEWARI began a new era for Berlin based Scotch Rolex, aka DJ Scotch Egg aka Japanese producer and dj Shigeru Ishihara. I had only known him for his work in the indescribable genre bending live duo Waq Waq Kingdom, to which he continues all-time great, impossibly heavy dub influenced production. Throughout the years I’ve found most people know Ishihara best for his chiptune/hardcore/breaks records. Those seem to be pretty popular in the music underground even beyond fans of the genre and he’s still putting them out. Additionally he’s got all kinds of projects he plays synths and bass guitar in, from a group with blog favorite Taigan Kawabe of Bo Ningen to joining 90s shoegazers Seefeel. Still TEWARI feels like a new beginning in his large discography, a turning point that leads to the rest of his 2020s work.

What the hell is TEWARI? Truly insane beats that know no borders of governments or genres, paired with incredible features from a variety of cutting edge African MCs and producers. There’s a universally critically acclaimed record label called Nyge Nyge known for releasing the absolute best electronic music, traditional groups, and unique projects between the two from across Africa (though musicians throughout the world are represented across their discography.) They’ve got an imprint called Hakuna Kulala that showcases particularly experimental and dancefloor oriented releases. TEWARI is essentially Shigeru Ishihara vs the Hakuna Kulala roster in heavyweight dub.

He had touched on this sound before, with the SVBKVLT released collaboration “JAC” with Shanghai producer Goooooose. They actually met playing at the 2019 edition of the Nyge Nyge festival in Uganda. TEWARI is the first full length exploration of this bass-heavy, deconstructed club sound that Ishihara produced alone.

This is an extremely cohesive album despite a variety of features that bring strong flavor to the record. There’s one consistent musical style but the range within that style can accommodate the wordy lyrical stylings of MC Yallah as easily as the blackened trap metal vocals of Lord Spikehart. In some ways TEWARI clearly recalls the more guest heavy releases by The Bug, like “London Zoo.” Still Uganda and Japan are both pretty far from London and this record is pretty far from anything I’ve heard before. African rhythms, uptempo moments that recall grind and digital hardcore and more overt nods to trap production push beyond dub and dancehall sounds. Take the title track “Tewari” for example where African hip hop beats and his signature 8-bit style synths and samples coalesce into wall-rattler that’ll blow the doors off a club or a coupe. It’s a song like TNGHT would make if they were producing for a real underground trap tape.

I feel like making this record and the process of collaboration with Hakuna Kulala artists at the residency in Uganda turned a page for Ishihara. His collaborations had been previously more in line with his own influences including Japanese music, classic dub, and the sounds of the Berlin underground. On this record he really learns to speak a new musical language without diluting the strength of his own sound. I have not been surprised to see a number of incredible collaborations in the years since. His work is driven by a genuine curiosity and joy in the creative process and discovering new worlds of music, and that authenticity adds a richness to his futuristic electronic music that can’t be faked.