What people are saying about us…

“Hayashi - badmachine
As the opening chord of opening track ‘Nuevo’ hangs in the air for a few moments, the space is punctured by a chuckle of giddy, expectant delight. By the end of this CD, you’ll understand why that unidentified member of Hayashi just had to laugh, given the rush of hot, smoking, moody, swinging, sensuous music that oozes, jumps, punches, judders and jerks out. If you thought Hayashi’s debut was good, ‘badmachine’ takes the band to another level. Take the already mentioned ‘Nuevo’, all skittering drums and popping bass and three confident women telling you how it will be (“This time/Love won’t tear us apart”) and a chorus that seems to stand up and strut; or the epic sprawl of ‘Drumble in the Jungle’, a song that moves through exhausting degrees of intensity; or ‘Shop Floor Tiger Trap’ with its careening super-funked rhythms underpinning a weird, claustrophobic tale of social mores. So why the exponential step up? Eighteen months ago, Hayashi were bereft after losing their singer. Rather than throw in the towel, drummer Gideon woods and bass player Ben Coleman set about rebuilding the band around their own self belief and the talents of not one but three new female singers. As a rhythm section, Woods and Coleman are now diamond hard, with Woods often stepping up to play the drums as the lead instrument and Coleman fluid and hard by turns. Although keyboard player and occasional guitarist Darren Ibbetson’s contributions are unobtrusive and low key, they open out the band’s sound enormously. But the key to the revitalised band is the way they’ve learned to deploy the vocal talents of singers Mwen, Ana and D. Also crucial is that although around half the music here is based on material from the first album, in every case the playing is better, the arrangements are richer and the scope is more imaginative. The band just ooze confidence. Fantastic, on every level.”
Sandman Magazine

Leeds Carling Festival Reviews

“Beautiful people making beautiful noises. This Live D’n’B with an electro edge saw everyone moving, voluntarily or otherwise.”
The Fly
“Leeds drum-and-bass outfit Hayashi are Boss Happy to be here. Ana, D and Mwen command the stage assuredly, while the not so glamorous ones (Darren, Ben and Gid) lay down the groove with aplomb. The performance is spot on.”
Sandman Magazine

“Hayashi put out serious groves with vocal complexity and supremacy to die for and beat continuity that will keep you moving from start to finish. See them anywhere you’ve got room to move.”
Rob Wright, BBC Leeds Website

“Then came Hayashi, and if the audience had been a little tame up until this point, the roars of adulation that sprung forth from the crowd put paid to that. Hayashi are clearly a very popular band, and especially good as a live act, combining drum & bass, funk, trip-hop and using a variety of instruments, from djembe, to electric dbl bass and an electronic didgeridoo. Hayashi have 3 female vocalists who front the band who combined to form some interesting harmonies, washing over the predominantly dark low bass sounds produced by the keyboard, and shaking our rib cages whilst the drummer pulled off some amazingly precise d ‘n’ b grooves. More and more people took to the floor and by Hayashi’s final song, the atmosphere was electric. From start to finish, Hayashi took us on a musical journey that was a fitting response to Nshwa’s earlier set, and both bands are an example of quality rehearsed outfits that y’all should check out. “
James Myhill

“Hayashi - Rosebud
The great thing about doing this job, in Leeds, is that there is so much amazing music being made right here, right now. Forget about the bands that are tearing up the charts and popping up on TV all over the place, they can take care of themselves. They don’t really matter because inside every other plastic sleeve, jewel case and attention grabbing, elaborately folded paper contraption there’s somebody with something different to say.

Take Hayashi, for instance. As Moonrock, they caused a bit of a stir last year at Sandman Towers (alright, it was more in the vicinity of Ersatz-Culture Acres, but what the heck) with a speculative three track demo that promised a great deal. Fortunately, this CD delivers on that promise, and then some.

Superficially, the Hayashi modus operandi is just too simple. Drums and bass weave a sinuous dialogue that either massages or spits furiously. Everything else, guitars, piano, cello and found sound, are used as embellishment, to varying degrees of prominence. The results are a quite remarkable sound that is both spacious and claustrophobic, sensuous and hard, caressing and brutal and weaves in and out of jazz, rock and funk. If I were to mention Portishead, Massive Attack and Tricky it’s not to suggest that Hayashi sounds like them as such. It’s more that elements of those artists approach to music making have been taken and welded together to produce something that sounds like, well, Hayashi.

All the songs here are elegantly crafted slices of sonic sculpture that sound far too mature and assured for a debut. Of particular note is “Hiphopon”, a dreamy song that makes majestic progress to a sublime coda made up of a swooping bass and Evan’s soaring multi tracked voice; “Rosebud”’s fuzz-bass driven story of desire and expectation; and penultimate track “Dyno”, the stand out track from last years demo, but here tightened up and pared down into an even more sinister and shattering experience.

Make no mistake, this is a remarkable recording.”
Johnny Ersatz-Culture