Sakana Hosomi and Maju Essentials

Sakana Hosomi's pointillist compositions feel like a gentle midpoint between the glitchy digital manipulation of Nobukazu Takemura and the warm-bath ambient of Brian Eno. The Japanese multi-instrumentalist and producer maintains a pastoral feel for much of his solo material and his collaboration with Chihei Hatakeyama, but gets into much more abstract territory with his project Maju. Recorded with Masaki Narita and Hikaru Sekine, the group's five-album series brings out Hosomi's most fractured side with long trails of digital detritus and minimalist beats wandering through the stereo field.