James Shinra stands with one foot deep in electro’s 45-year lineage and the other stepping boldly forward, delivering a fiercely physical yet future-facing EP that treats tradition as fuel, not refuge.
Electro tradition, weaponized for the future
James Shinra’s ever-deepening command of contemporary electro finds him fully at home in a pioneering electro lineage spanning some 45 years. Yet this is not a comfort zone. Rather than succumbing to the familiar addictions that too often calcify electronic music, Shinra continues to look forward. In music production, running with the pack or facing forward both matter—but true value lies in holding a presence in both. We still need music that reconnects us with what we already know and love, especially in an era where locating safety within our contemporary diaspora has become increasingly complex. Music has always been sanctuary. But sanctuary alone risks retrogression. What we need—not want, but need—are innovation, risk, abstraction, outliers and the unorthodox. Under the colloquial banner of forward-facing music, James has produced some magical works. Yet his command of the typicalities of electro is on point and locked in hard.
With boots firmly planted in both camps, Shinra stretches electro’s forms while utilising both its lineage and the unfurling advancement of new terrain.
Opener “Acid Everyday” is a raw cry and defiant paean to the rebirth of mid-90s dance-floor electro. Its inevitable acid pulse grinds across tensile highs and lows as the 808 pings, sweeps and kicks through massive soundsystem theatrics, relentlessly commanding all bodies to move, sweat, buckle and submit.
“Back” follows as an erstwhile lino-friendly rump-shaker built for peak-time pressure at the zenith of the gathering: delicious synth stabs, 140 momentum and pure floor-filling intent scatter across the room, igniting bodies and feet alike. Funk-heavy, DJ-ready and undeniably tight—extremely cool and firmly gripped. Delicate voices haunt the listener, weaving echoes of remembered electro-worlds.
Hard-wired heritage, forward momentum ::
“Blip” pivots darker: gut-punch drums, glassy searing percussion and tearing science bass collide amid dubbed-out sci-fi space waste. Peaked kick drums spring and belt across asteroid-strewn flight paths, ricocheting like celestial jazz through the stratosphere. Weight and ripping tension hang precariously in the stupefying, clandestine air of underground parties and tribal gatherings.
Closer “1310Clap” seals the release with taut funk breaks and a massive, impenetrable vortex sweep that collapses in on itself. An incessant, delightfully bubbling TB-driven bass moves the bowels in booty-moving bliss before resolving into a multifaceted, quietly perfected slab of proto-acid funk. Probably every day, right? And probably more Acid Every Day, right?
Shinra delivers a richly textured, mix-friendly electro EP that feels like a profoundly friendly hand grenade going off. Each track brims with tactile energy, deftly balancing the familiar with the unexpected, dancefloor-ready yet profoundly cerebral. These tracks are user-friendly yet relentlessly inventive, primed to manifest something otherworldly whenever threaded into the right sets, at just the right moments, leaving an enduring imprint on both DJs and listeners in shared encounters.
Shinra Electro Company Vol 2 is available on Bandcamp.
