Japan is not known for its bass music. But Japanese youth has always produced a lot of subcultures, and there’s a market for 140 bpm bass heavy bangers there…
Goth-Trad is the OG Japanese dubstep don, involved with the scene in the hey-day of Mala’s Deep Medi imprint. His output at the time was heavy, dark, full of complex percussion. Basically, Goth-Trad gets dubstep!
“Sun Beam” starts off in a disjointed fashion, taking tentative steps like a baby deer. Soon, however, the tentative steps turn into the furious galloping of a stag, pulsing rhythmically and relentlessly.
The percussion intensifies, and before long the song drops again. This time around, it’s faster, more disconcerting, more alien.
The whole of the song features a creepy extraterrestrial sounding pad which gently swells and recedes, like waves lapping on a distant shore…
The song was released in 2010, backed with Two Faced. There was a VIP version too, which came out in 2015.