Japanese experimental electronic musician and illustrator Kohei Matsunaga has been producing music at an astonishing rate since the '90s, ranging from noise and experimental ambient to abstract hip-hop and glitch/IDM. He formed the duo NHK (named after Japan's public broadcasting corporation) with Toshio Munehiro in 2006, and since then he's released numerous solo recordings under several monikers, usually variations on the names NHK and/or Koyxen. While his releases under NHK or his own name tend to be his most abstract, noisy material, and Koyxen or NHKyx represent his ventures into mutated hip-hop, releases combining both monikers explore glitchy techno, often resulting in his most accessible material. Matsunaga made his international recording debut with Upside Down, released by Mille Plateaux in 1998. He worked with several notable experimental artists over the next few years, including Merzbow, Rudolf Eb.er, and Anla Courtis. A collaboration with experimental hip-hop artist Sensational was released by WordSound in 2006, with a second appearing on Skam in 2010. Important Records issued Matsunaga's CD Self VA, as well as collaborations or splits with Mika Vainio (Pan Sonic), Sean Booth (Autechre), and Asmus Tietchens. In 2012, Bill Kouligas' Pan label began releasing a trio of NHK'Koyxen LPs titled Dance Classics, representing some of Matsunaga's most beat-heavy work. Altering his moniker to NHK yx Koyxen, Matsunaga released EPs on Diagonal (Hallucinogenic Doom Steppy Verbs) and Episode (JP EP) in 2015. Following a 2016 EP on L.I.E.S. titled Sparrow's Gardens, the full-length Doom Steppy Reverb was issued by Diagonal. He then moved to DFA for the 2017 album Exit Entrance. ~ Paul Simpson