Billed as the Global Acid E.P. this taste of Akio Nagase`s recent work updates the classic sound of Chicago house – think basically Trax but cleaner, clearer and with much, much bigger bass – and travels Asia, as far north as Mongolia’s Russian border, and south to Vietnam, to harvest and harness ancient, traditional, elements. Across a range of BPMs – from 100 to around 118 – Akio fuses folk with the modern magic of funky emissions from Roland`s silver box. The TB-303 making itself felt on all 4 tracks. 

On Jurassic Shanghai Acid it synergises with the spectral strains of strange plucked strings – quite possibly the zing of a Paulownia wood guzheng. The harp-like harmony, glissando and vibrato continuing on Mongol 303 – which also – barely – contains Khoomii overtone singing. The singer employing a prism of mouth, nose, and throat – larynx and pharynx each resonating at separate frequencies. Splitting sound into rainbows, while navigating sharp lysergic spikes. 

On Okinawa Yunta bongos back what I thought was a Buddhist monk – chants and prayers – but turns out to be a tune from the tiny Taketomi Island – a 5.42 Km squared circle of coral with a resident population of only a few hundred, off the south west coast of the titular Okinawa. A bamboo shakuhachi further interwoven with the track`s hypnotic plod and thud. The closing Saigon Acid pits pretty programed patterns against a shamanic duet of Vietnamese song and the bowed jig and reel of a snakeskin covered dan nhi lute. 

The digital`s been around for a while, but you can also pre-order the vinyl here.