NHK yx Koyxen

Japanese experimental electronic musician and illustrator Kohei Matsunaga has maintained an extraordinarily prolific output since the 1990s, encompassing noise, experimental ambient, abstract hip-hop, and glitch/IDM. In 2006 he launched the duo NHK—named for Japan’s public broadcasting corporation—alongside Toshio Munehiro, and thereafter issued numerous solo recordings under several aliases, most often variants of NHK and/or Koyxen. Releases credited to NHK or his own name generally feature his most abstract and noisy work, whereas Koyxen and NHKyx projects shift toward mutated hip-hop; combinations of the two monikers typically yield glitchy techno that stands among his most accessible statements.

His first recording to appear outside Japan, Upside Down, came out on Mille Plateaux in 1998. During the following years he collaborated with several prominent experimental figures, among them Merzbow, Rudolf Eb.er, and Anla Courtis. A 2006 partnership with experimental hip-hop artist Sensational was issued by WordSound, followed by a second on Skam in 2010. Important Records released Matsunaga’s CD Self VA together with splits or joint recordings involving Mika Vainio of Pan Sonic, Sean Booth of Autechre, and Asmus Tietchens. Beginning in 2012, Bill Kouligas’ Pan label put out three NHK'Koyxen LPs collectively titled Dance Classics that rank among Matsunaga’s most rhythm-driven efforts. In 2015, under the altered handle NHK yx Koyxen, he issued the EPs Hallucinogenic Doom Steppy Verbs on Diagonal and JP EP on Episode. After the 2016 L.I.E.S. release Sparrow’s Gardens, Diagonal followed with the full-length Doom Steppy Reverb. He subsequently moved to DFA for the 2017 album Exit Entrance.