Foodman: short forms, sharp cuts

Hikarigasashikomu is a record that trusts its own compression. Released July 24, 2026 on Hyperdub, Foodman's 14 track album runs 37:19. The titles are clipped and mostly romanized Japanese: 'Nakamamo,' 'Omoi,' 'Kabe,' 'Nukumori.' The English titles, 'Hard Reclining,' 'Crystal Style,' and 'Face to Voice,' sit at different lengths and break up the pattern. The shortest track, 'Hoso Michi,' lasts 1:24; the longest, 'Kokizami,' runs 4:42 and appears late, near the end. This is an album built from small blocks, not long arcs.

What works is the pacing. Foodman lets almost every track sit in a narrow two to three minute lane, then drops 'Hoso Michi' as a quick cut, then saves the longest track for the final stretch. 'Kokizami' takes up real space at track 13, and 'Totemo' closes things at 2:33. That ordering gives the record a shape: many small gestures, one extended moment, then a short closer. It is a hard structure to make feel deliberate, and here it holds. The compression is the argument, and the tracklist makes that argument without wasting time.

The cost of that discipline is density. Fourteen tracks in 37 minutes means most ideas get one shot. 'Hoso Michi' is done before it can become more than a fragment, and several cuts near the front, 'Kabe' at 2:06 and 'Horomiro' at 2:05, feel like sketchbook entries rather than complete destinations. There is no room for a dull stretch; there is also no room for a second thought. The record wants to be fast and clean, and it is, but sometimes the speed reads as impatience.

None of this makes Hikarigasashikomu a failure. It is a good record with a clear purpose, and the clear purpose is what makes it feel earned. Anyone who wants more space from electronic records will hear the limits; anyone who likes the cut-up approach will hear the discipline. It leaves a mark not because it tries to be huge, but because it knows when to stop.

The tracklist

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