NIIKKOLAHS - True Science (Diskotopia) [Fourth World]
- The Slow Music Movement
- 20 hours ago
- 2 min read
*** This blog post first appeared in TSMM's January 1st Newsletter, where you can get all the tips (and more) first ***
I can’t remember how I stumbled on this release, I sometimes have a feeling that higher forces usher some of them to me, or perhaps I’m making my own luck by searching for music rather than sitting in a pub? Either way I give praise.
I have no idea who NIIKKOLAHS is apart from the fact that they appear to be based in Tokyo and this is their sophomore release, hot on the heels of their debut EP from March of last year (don’t forget it’s 2026 now). The liner notes don’t give much away either, but words like “polyrhythmic percussion, dub-indebted basslines, outer-dimension sonics, naturalist funk, tangible and etheric sound creation, missives into consciousness, altered states and latent Earth energies” crop up all over the release notes, just in case I needed any further persuasion, which I didn’t.
The album is all those things and more. Ritualistic percussion for all your "little space" ceremonial needs is at its core, wrapped up in all sorts of machine made atmospherics that strive to bridge the gaps between corporeal, intangible, surreal and parallel dimensional, and it’s working. At the moment only a lone spirit voice (and three monthly listeners on Spotify) has found the portal and crossed between worlds, floating spectrally through the rhythmic soundscapes, surveying the mess just over the sonic horizon and wondering where to start. But for now they’re just enjoying the music; another little seed has been sown and the Fourth World’s disenfranchised now have another soundtrack.
Playlist Companion
Find NIIKKOLAHS in the Slow Oddities Playlist.