DJ Notoya is more than a playlist maker; he’s a chef, selecting the precise ingredients for your dish that evening. The first course strikes your taste buds quickly, causing a flash of excitement, followed by the later dishes, which are less flashy but more memorable as they slowly seep into your senses like umami. The flavor profile matters, but it’s more than that; it’s how those flavors are introduced. In what order? How does the mood shift during the course of the meal? You start with something light, introducing the flavors the customer will experience throughout the meal, then build on those flavors into a riveting climax. Like classic stories, you start with a great context-setter, then introduce the hook—for me, the second track, “Sabita Gambler” by Mami Ayukawa—then the rising action as a fish bites and you wrestle with your catch, producing the other oceanic flavors on this album. The songs build and progress through styles of boogie and funk, all with a jazzy rock flair that keeps things moving with the energy of Tokyo’s busy streets. Then, you finish with a climactic ‘hurrah’: the eel with matsutake mushrooms and sudachi, or “Day by Day” by Masatoshi Kanno. We leave the restaurant while listening to “Paper machine” by Fujimaru Band, allowing the meal to digest in the peaceful aftermath of this joyous experience. To DJ Notoya, I say, “おいしい!”