It was a mere few weeks ago when I contributed the article for a track from Tomita Lab's（冨田ラボ）most recent album "7+" which was released in late June. "Kemutagararete"（煙たがられて）has the songwriter and music producer recruiting a legendary veteran, Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, to sing a jazz-pop ditty about finding anyone who can stand to have a conversation with him while smoking away.
Well, this time I'm going back a few more years to another album that Tomita Lab released in October 2018, "M-P-C 'Mentality, Physicality, Computer'". From that release, I'd like to introduce his "Let It Ride", this time featuring a relative newcomer by the name of Tokyo-born Kento Nagatsuka（長塚健斗）who has been the vocalist for the experimental soul quartet WONK since its inception in 2013.
"Let It Ride" has a pleasantly galloping beat by Tomita Lab with lyrics by Nagatsuka, and this is just my take, but I think it not only possesses that wonderful groove that Keiichi Tomita（冨田恵一）has brought to his creations since taking on the Tomita Lab moniker but also a bit of his old KEDGE synth style from the 1980s. There are parts in "Let It Ride" that remind me of the stuff that 80s technopop band PSY-S used to perform.
Unfortunately, I have yet to know more about WONK although according to its J-Wiki profile, the group plays a number of genres: jazz, soul, hip-hop and beat music. I did find an English-language interview with Nagatsuka at the Fred Perry clothing website which digs into his own musical influences.
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