Mysticisms have collected a few highlights from Japanese DJ / producer Kaoru Inoue’s back catalogue. Music he’s made under the moniker Chari Chari. Titled Folk Remedy Anthems 1 & 2, the comp is a set of machine-assisted, percussive drum circle rituals, that purposefully touch on and incorporate instruments and rhythms from around the world. 

There are a few versions of the opening track Aurora about, not just the 2002 OG, but also a near 10-minute acoustic guitar take, that appeared on New York label, Nite Grooves. The mix included here, a 2004 rework by Inoue’s fellow countryman, Kiyotaka Fukagawa aka Calm, is equally epic, trance-tinged tribal house, that’s at least partly influenced by `90s Italian anthems. On Beast In Batuque Kaoru goes full-on Rio carnival batucada. The heavy mid-tempo dub of Spirit In Tala is shot through with tabla and sitar-like buzz and drone. Night Stream, an ambient outing of soaring summer thermal-like synth swells, starts with cicadas and temple tingsha, before floating (little) fluffy clouds of fluttering flute, which build to bucolic, bird-call mimicking solos. Kesarian boasts booming bass, and a funky Fourth World feel. Its circuits and field recordings engaged in gentle chatter. The deep, layered, In Dope Rhythms gets some complex counterpoint business going, like the Durian Brothers doing it live at Dusseldorf’s Salon Des Amatuers. Flashes of organ providing the focal melody. Urged on by chants and shouts, the closing Calling Spirit takes the tempo back up again. The tune’s arrangement betraying Kaoru’s techno roots. Coming on like an electro-acoustic amazonian rainforest reinterpretation of the classic Detroit of Transmat and Underground Resistance. At the same time, its fusion flourishes, a friendly reminder that jazz is, still, the teacher. 

The Chari Chari collection, Folk Remedy Anthems 1 & 2, is out now on Mysticisms.