Toyko’s Hoshina Anniversary has risen to particular prominence in recent years with his self-titled brand of ‘Wa- techno’. Stylistically fusing traditional Japanese instrumentation with Chicago and Detroit sensibilities, his works have found homes on ESP Institute, Young Marco’s Safe Trip and Amsterdam-based MUSAR Recordings. Landing on the latter, MUSAR, little over a year ago with ‘Zangai’ EP, Hoshina returns under a new cloak, Shifting Gears, to present ‘Evil’ EP. Named after the 1975 ‘Gears’ LP of jazz and hard bop organist, Johnny Hammond, the Shifting Gears moniker focuses heavily on principles of Jazz and raw musicianship, with a continued exploration of machine-reared club sounds. How the two can take shape as one.