The longtime Perlon affiliate goes for big basslines and big grooves.

It's 1996, and a young Fumiya Tanaka is shelling out hefty yet minimal percussive techno at Club Rockets in Osaka to an audience enraptured. Released as Mix-Up, the 90-minute recording captures Tanaka sounding rather like Jeff Mills or Surgeon. It's far cry from the sound he's known for today.

Fumiya Tanaka's creative arc has seen him move away from these thunderous sounds to warmer shades of house and minimal. Since 2016, he's found a home on the inimitable German minimal label, crafting out a distinctive sound within the labels roster with an affection for tumbling basslines and spooky atmospheres.

From 1996 to 2023, Tanaka ran a party series in Tokyo, Osaka and Berlin called "Chaos," which encapsulates the ethos of freedom Tanaka brings to a party. "When you hear music you've never heard before and encounter unknown territory, you will be so happy and totally absorbed," he told us back in 2019. "I want to keep that feeling."

RA.964 achieves exactly that. Nearly three decades removed from his burst onto the scene, and after a good few years of asking, Tanaka's RA Podcast captures him in full house mode. Recorded at a Slapfunk party in Manchester, the Perlon maestro keeps the vibe funked-up, chunky and warm, punctuated by the occasional big breakdown and the odd lick of garage rudeness. No tracklist for now—but as Tanaka knows well, half the fun lies in the mystery.

@fumiyatanaka_official

Read more at ra.co/podcast/964