Hot Version Int'l Vol. 6: Rocket Rotary
Hot Version Int'l
Like the title suggests, HVI Volume 6 focuses on Mazda's racing success with the rotary engine (LeMans, Super GT), as well as the tuning potential. For fans of this innovative powerplant, it's good viewing. For rotary tuners, this edition of HVI proves once again that RE Amemiya was, is, and may forever be your benchmark. The FD that Amemiya provides for the Touge challenge segment is incredible. For Honda fans, it makes you wonder what the company could do if they set their mind to making a rotary.
Mazda leaning aside, there are memorable Honda moments on Vol. 6, as there are on nearly every BMI/HVI release. Included in the Touge challenge segment is an offering from new-ish Japanese NSX tuner KSP Engineering. KSP makes headers, exhaust and coilovers for the NA1, so equipped on the 320hp (N/A) model they brought for drivers Orido and Tsuchiya to spank on.
In the opening segment, you'll also find the Bros S2000 (Bros is another recent Honda tuner making noise on The Tokyo scene) in a battle with an Impreza STi and several RX-8's. We won't spoil the ending, but let's just say that but not for the respect that some of the younger drivers have for Tsuchiya, in addition to his own plentiful driving abilities, the Bros S2000 likely would have owned the field.
As a bonus piece, the HVI guys did a little DC5 exhaust guide to give viewers an idea of how different exhaust systems, such as those from Mugen, Fujitsubo, 5Zigen, HKS and Spoon, sound on a DC5 at standstill idle, with revs and passing by.
J Dilla Donuts
Stones Throw
About a week before we went to press, we learned of James Yancey's passing from an incurable blood disease. Yancey, aka J Dilla, aka Jay Dee, aka the bad mofo who's done beats for everyone from Common and the Roots to Janet Jackson, lived long enough to see Donuts released about one week before his death. We've read that he actually recorded and/or finished another two albums after this one (Jay Love Japan is due sometime on BBE). Lucky for us, the man's work lives on. Donuts is a mood record and feels like a steaming, hot dozen. It's a 43-minute cut-&-paste stream of sampled soul consciousness, a clip of some old Philly soul vocals here, some twangy surf guitar there, a King Ad Rock sample over there in the corner. Dilla's impeccable timing and skill with the drum machine stitches together the abrupt transitions between tracks, making a whole that sounds like flipping through radio stations playing nothing but Motown and old, obscure vinyl soul records. Great for sticking in the iTunes and letting loop at work. If you're the beat diggin' type, let the man's vision inspire you; you'll find material to mine for days here. Thanks for the music, Dilla. Hopefully you're working with Marvin Gaye up there.