Track Of The Day: Makoto - What Do You Want

Track Of The Day: Makoto - What Do You Want

LTJ Bukem’s label Good Looking Records was the first official home for Japan’s Makoto. His journey began there with jazzy, acoustic feel to drum & bass on his debut LP, Human Elements. Turning the pages of Makoto’s career, his adventures since then have led to his own label launch, sentimentally named Human Elements (and its offshoot, HE:Digital). Last year’s debut on his own label proved that Makoto hasn’t only been open to new ventures; he’s been equally open to new sounds and influences, as is evident from this past week’s release on the Tokyo label 7even Recordings.

Makoto - What Do You Want [7even Recordings]

On both tracks, Makoto enters a familiar 135-BPM mode that plays with half-time concepts made popular by dubstep, but his use of double snare hits picks up the pace and leaves your genre-radar jammed. The soulful elegance of a track like “What Do You Want” might come to be expected from someone so well versed in production, but this is something entirely new for Makoto. He creates heavenly builds that ride to their peak with help from ascending snyth components and a blissful, filtered vocal loop.