Takashi Watanabe, better known these days as DJ Warp, is - without any doubt - one of the prominent stars of the current crop of Japanese tech-house producers.
Satsuma Headz is the latest side-project from Kagoshima’s aural master chef, and for his Elektrax Progressive debut, Watanabe ventures into the ulterior musical worlds of trance and progressive house - and proves himself an absolute master of both.
There is just the right amount of everything here: from the bouncy, superbly progressive club sounds of “Pale Ale”, to the laid-back and sweetly melodic “Giga Pudding” number, and on into the hypnotic, acid-trance masterpiece, “Stout”.
All up, this EP is perfectly assembled with just the right measure of each essential ingredient, and baked with a canny understanding of the genres he approaches here.