Japanese beat maker Yuki Kitano’s commitment to music began when he was thirteen, crediting skateboarding culture as his intro to the sound of hip hop. Better known as NICKELMAN, he started making beats with a MPC2000XL and later in 2008 established the independent record label deepconstructionrecords in his home city of Osaka. Along with his close crew of artists, the label released several NICKELMAN, Sugarau and Frogman records to name a few. Working collaboratively with fellow beat maker Frogman, the duo began putting out music under Freemanz Production.

NICKELMAN’s work is inspired by the likes of rare groove, jazz, soul, and beat culture. As a follow up to his 2019 release titled Elements, he is set to release Butterwax, a twelve track instrumental LP, in August 2020. Using an MPC2000XL, SP-303, and Tape Echo, the record was produced entirely in NICKLEMAN’s home studio. Each track was recorded on to cassette tapes and then compressed.

BUTTERWAX is full of fine beats and will certainly attract hip hop junkies and vinyl diggers around the world.