Tokyo's Ryota OPP, who some of you may know from his efforts as the buyer and curator of the deep secondhand record store Coconuts Disk Ekoda, is back at it on the production front with a forthcoming two-track 12" EP titled "Palace', due for release on the 6th of September 2024 through his new Encrypt Nude label.

A longstanding DJ, digger, producer and promoter, Ryota got his start in Tokushima prefecture before spending ten months as an exchange student in Brisbane, Australia, where he had his first experiences as an event organizer and resident DJ before returning to Japan with a fire in his belly. Over two and a half decades of production, DJing, promotion and digging, he's cultivated a sensibility where the influence of Latin rock and jazz fusion in the mode of Santana, Jaco Pastorius, and Herbie Hancock dovetails together with a love of ambient, experimental/minimal music, and psychedelia in productions and DJ sets that are often underscored by deep house.

For the A-side of the "Palace" EP, also titled 'Palace', Ryota dresses a straight-ahead house groove in evocative traditional percussion and lush, space-aged synths in the Detroit tradition. Floaty and buoyant, 'Palace' is one of those tracks that really drifts. Total vibe music. Over on the flip, 'African Singers', he continues to pay homage to the motor city's late 20th-century machine soul sensibilities while folding minimalist Terry Riley chord progressions around his sturdy programming. If the vibes started on 'Palace', they definitely don't stop on this introspective, reflective and inspiring sunset/sundown number.

Distributed through All Ears Distribution on 12" vinyl, "Palace" is up for pre-order at a bunch of the regular spots right now here, here, and here.