Tabs Out

Foodman “How”
5.2.14 by Mike Haley

When I first read the name “Foodman” I laughed because “Foodman” sounds funny. But you know what isn’t funny? Brilliantly creative, genre-jumping, electronic unpredictability. Actually, I supposed that could be funny if you found that sort of thing to be humorous, but I don’t. I find the music of 食品まつりa.k.a Foodman to be awe inspiring. Awesome as the kids say.  That introduction, the one where I was like “Foodman. haha”, was a 2012 cassette called Shokuhin on Orange Milk. The 18 tracks, ranging from 30 seconds to just over two minutes, ricocheted around eccentric flavors of dance, chiptune, and noise. Stellar material that didn’t seem to have any clue as to what an off switch was. Foodman kept pumping, contorting, and exposing a spectrum of quirkiness shade by shade.

When the follow up cassette on Digitalis dropped the following year I let out a tiny giggle at the  Foodman moniker (I’m only human) then gripped it right up.「IROIRO」was another banger and I was starting to believe that Foodman could do no wrong. Which is why I was so excited to hear that a cassette release was in the works for one of my new favorite labels Noumenal Loom. The “Drum Desu” C39, due out this month, will be an edition of 100 pro-dubbers with storybook style artwork by Oal Yor.

Stream the sociable, rhythmic thumping and glossy glimmers of the track “How”, then get ready for the rest in the coming days.