When someone drops music that’s far and away his or her best work to date, it makes it much easier to write about. That’s why we thank Kazumi Kaneda for taking his jazz hip-hop to the next level on Morpheme Tone. It’s the fourth full-length release from the Tokyo-based pianist and producer and his third on Inner Ocean Records. Kazumi is one of a handful of artists from the beatmaker milieux who are pushing all the right buttons at the intersection of jazz and hip-hop. He outdoes himself on this brilliant new LP.

Kazumi’s come-up has been almost entirely sponsored by our friends from Calgary, Inner Ocean. They’ve tapped him for tracks on the compilations Homegrown, BLESS Vol. 2, and Futures 6 and released Beats Note and Hard Light in 2016 and 2017, respectively. On the first, the producer finds his groove by laying smooth jazz chords over hip-hop drums. On the second, he experiments and gets to know himself more, but loses a bit of slap value in the process. On Morpheme Tone, he perfectly marries experimentation with slapping groove. He’s writing and playing from a new space where his emotion and feeling seems to flow directly into the notes without obstruction.

Morpheme Tone is hot from the jump, beginning with the most amped and immersive song on the album, “Magnetite”. This one immediately turned up in the A Road Trip to Tokyo Spotify playlist and our Eastern Beats selections. It’s a soaking jazz number with a thwapping drum pocket and running hi-hats. Across 11 more tracks, Kazumi plays in several different styles while maintaining one irresistible swing. There’s disjointed lo-fi on “Red Ant”, thumping boom-bap on “3dimentionz” featuring FLOAT JAM vocalizing in Japanese, and jazz in odd time signatures on “Side Recess” and “Little Wide”. The stand-up bass solo on this last one really takes you down.

There’s too much heat to single out a favorite tune. The question is rather what are you in the mood for? “Sandstone” pulls the heartstrings with greatest force. Measured in swing-per-second “Zugzwang” has the most groove. A smart mix-down enables the piano and bass to reinforce one other and give weight to the whole movement of the song. It’s kooky and wavy, free and psychedelic. A trumpet enters the mix like a swaggering, joke-cracking detective to investigate what’s going on. As the album winds to a close, “Optimistic Life” hits the highest emotional note.

Optimistic life: That’s what I like to hear. That’s what we all need to be on. I’m on it. Kazumi’s on it. With this tune (or all on your own without it) you can be on it, too. Morpheme Tone makes you feel good, and it’s got real relistening value. If there’s someone in your life for whom beats are just background music, make sure they get hold of this album and hear all the emotion and feeling that Kazumi Kaneda can generate by speaking through his keys and drums.

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