Fuses beats and hip-hop with classic Japanese sounds on ‘Beat Theme’ out now via Arte Sonata.
Tokyo based beat-maker Sweet William is poised to announce a brand new release with the arrival of ‘Beat Theme’, a brand new album consisting of 14 eclectic tracks drawing on traditional classic Japanese sounds for inspiration, flirting with deep, low-slung beats and laidback percussive styles.
He says: “I started working on this album right after the release of my EP ‘Brown’ in 2019, and it’s my first album under my own name since ‘Arte Frasco’ in 2016. This is the first time I’ve made an album where Instrumental or beat plays the main role, and this Beat Album was made with the help of many people. I feel like I can finally take a step forward as a Beatmaker. I hope you enjoy listening to it, dancing to it, and watching it in many different places.”
Born in 1990 in Aichi Prefecture, he quickly gained a name for himself in the Japanese hip hop scene alongside Okinawan MC 唾奇 (Tsubaki) – with the release of their album ‘Jasmine’ in 2017, which quickly became revered by the community as a modern classic. la blanka (2018) saw him collaborate with Tokyo based rapper Jinmenusagi but it was the instrumental versions of both albums that give the music global appeal, where his meticulous productions shine on their own.
Sweet William also collaborated with on two tracks “Amaneki” and “Karakai” with ambient folk artist Ichiko Aoba – who is rapidly gaining cult status worldwide herself with her latest album Windswept Adan. His sympathetic approach to reinterpreting her music, and this same versatility and creativity shows on his latest solo production ‘Beat Theme’, which he releases on his own label Arte Sonata.
Inspired in part by late 90s hip-hop, “Beat Theme” exemplifies the subtlety and sophistication of his craft – with samples from classic Japanese songs as well as classic video games, fusing a sense of nostalgia with hip-hop to create something exciting and unique.
In order to create a visual aesthetic to the album, Sweet William commissioned acclaimed illustrator Moeno Otsu who created a series of animated loops for each individual track – and the artist’s intention is for the body of work to be enjoyed as a whole.
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