Keisaku by Toupaz

Austrian maverick Toupaz mints the latest Soft Raw with a grip of rhythmically dexterous, highdefinition firecrackers for the club. Keisaku is a continuation of Danielle’s commitment to highlight the most innovative emergent talent striking a sweet spot between elegance and intensity on her label.

If you’ve kept your ear to the ground these past few years you might have come across Graz resident Timo Bürgler’s outstanding transmissions as Awo Ojiji which landed on well-respected labels like Eclipse Tribez and Control Freak. He debuted as Toupaz last year with a drop on the equally on-point Well Street, and now he builds on the promise of that release with this fiercely inventive four-tracker.

The magic in the Toupaz sound lies in the way he manipulates drums, using non-standard palettes of percussion and making them move in mind-bending ways. The wild rhythmic displays are matched by a virtuoso approach to synthesis and sound design which ducks, dives and darts around the many-limbed beats.

It’s not a simple case of studio shock and awe, though — Timo understands how to maintain subtlety and intrigue even in the most complex, fizzing peaks of his tracks. That’s why, from the bashy strains of ‘Hiccup’ to the high-pressure piledrive of ‘Tubular’, he delivers a sound absolutely in line with the Soft Raw ethos. It’s volatile, daring material, but in the right hands it has an unreal power to unleash on an unsuspecting dancefloor.

Polyrhythmic finks, broken beats and atmospheric textures

fka Awo Ojiji

https://soundcloud.com/toupaz