Special Requests

Howie B & Hiraki Sawa - 3 Sticks

Originally conceived as an East-meets-West hybrid audiovisual project for Wonderfruit Festival (Pattaya, Thailand) in 2024, veteran producer and remixer Howie B and Japanese born, London based visual artist Hiraki Sawa see the resultant music cut to vinyl and digitally released by Dogtooth Records for 2026. Two long-form, constantly evolving pieces as indebted to early 70s glassy minimalism and film OST’s as they are 90s breakbeat are bookended by a much shorter but no less evocative composition pairing emotive bursts of brass which coalesce around repetitive synth stabs that pulse around the stereo field.

If ‘Stick 2’ acts as the breathing point between the duos much longer A/V forays for the live performance, ‘Stick 1’ is the cinematic glue that begins by conjuring images of Thailand's rice fields, bringing an almost metronome-like consistency upon which Howie adds and subtracts synth layers and FX, eventually shifting into gear with a downtempo beat and treated breaks around a third of the way in. The final piece of the puzzle, ‘Stick 3’, kicks off with echoes of golden era Robert Leiner or Spacetime Continuum, back-room ambient techno propulsions building up tension before a similar downtempo beat drops in and gets us swaying. There’s also a bit of a horror synth / soundtrack atmosphere at play, crawling at a steady sub-100 bpm as the pressure builds with subtle modulations and synth tweaks before everything winds down a bit to an icy, subtractive wet descent as we approach the 20 min mark.

The concept of 'Zero / Infinite' works as both a homage to the teachings of the Zen Buddhist philosopher D.T. Suzuki and a welcome update on classic dance music adjacent motifs from the heyday of the 1990s.

Howie B & Hiraki Sawa - '3 Sticks' is released on the 11th of September via Dogtooth Records.

Release Date	September 11th, 2026
Catalog No	DT004
Label	Dogtooth Records

track	artist
Stick 1	Howie B & Hiraki Sawa	17:31
Stick 2	Howie B & Hiraki Sawa	5:30
Stick 3	Howie B & Hiraki Sawa	23:14

Support

Severino Panzetta

WOW /

Damian Lazarus

Thanks for sending. Xx

Brian d'Souza / Auntie Flo

Great release!

Erol Alkan

Downloading Thanks!

Heidi Lawden

love it

Jim Baron

love thie, extended!

Justin Strauss

very cool ep

Craig Morrison (Silicone Soul)

Serious jammz!

Dave Harvey

these sound ace, nice one!

Pete Herbert

Yep, love this, great to hear some new biz from Howie, who is a ledge. Stick 3 especially is epic!

Sasha (via Steve Parry)

quality vibes

Sean Johnston

Stick 1 is magnificent

Radio Slave

Lovely stuff !!!

Nico Stojan (Acid Pauli)

:-):-)

Chloé

nice , thanks

Sally Rodgers

Liking the really ambient track here

Support from Benoit C, Alexis Le-Tan, Slo Hans, Oliver Humpidge, Zillas on Acid, DJ Rocca (Ajello, Supersonic Lovers, Erodiscotique), Stefan Wagner, Snooba, Stylax, Dj Alex from Tokyo, Dapper Dunc / Ambideckstrous, David Miller, Si Kurrage, Chad Jackson, Makossa, Laurent Garnier, Jerry Bouthier / JBAG, raik// Hey Today!, Dominik Zapadka, Beane Noodler, Kito Jempere, DJ Morpheus, Alex Ruder, Don Andrew, J H Pigeonhole, Norbert Borzym, Mike Greenwell / Mike BC, Steve KIW, Andre Langenfeld, John Gosling (Mekon), Simon Morell, Christian Zingales, Keith Matthews, Mark Ratcliff, Tony Pontius (Spatial Awareness), Andy Baxter, Chris Massey, Neil Scott, Tim Faberge, Mark Ruston, Scott Hutchinson, Trevor Fung, Dingo Balearico, Nathan Detroit, Rob Zile, Lost Heroes, DJ Gripper, Matt Hassall, Andrew Medlock, Raffaele Costantino, Apiento, Christian Larsson, Jagz Kooner, Karim / DJ Rim-K, Iain Mac, sandrobianchi, Karl Phillips, Aleksi Myllykoski, Miqui Puig, Chris Sweet, Reenie, Mandrax (Shakedown), Blair French, Logan Fisher, airsine, Bill Brewster, Alec Tron, Rich Thair, Jonny Mac / Warriors of the Dystotheque, Phil Boyle, Local Suicide, Werner Niedermeier, Christian Homan, Mark Cooper, Bonsai Hi Fi Sound System, Trepanado, Achilleas aka Cheap Edits, Kerem Gokmen, Alex Black, Dj Maadraassoo, Red Tin Dave, Jaffo, Andy Pye, Local Zeros, Chalice, Andy Hickford, Stu aka Silvertooth, Al Mackenzie, Mark Broadbent, Hugo Tasis, Terry Childs, Gordon Kaye, Richard, Lava Lava, For Mankind, Stinky Jim, Stuart Robinson / Wrekin Havoc, Arveene, Oisin Lunny, Alex Hammond, Chris Brennan, Michael Donaldson, Nico De Ceglia, Tronik Youth, Cyril Briscoe, Ben & Enzo (Balearic Jukebox), Jaye Ward, Bernie Connor, Andy Wilson, Ken Fan, Corin Arnold / ed2000, Timmy Stewart (T-Bone & Black Bones), Gavin Lucas, Mike Tate, Felix Dickinson, David Phillips, Elena Colombi, Kristijan Molnar, Craig Bratley, Ben Osborne, Dee Macpherson, Haus Of Beats Radio Show, Ilya Rasskazov, Pete Bones, Scott Ferguson, Speaking Minds, Solid State aka Richard Hardcastle, Andy Taylor, Howler, Stevie Kotey, Mike Bradbury | Balearic Ultras | Higher Love Recordings, Tommy Castro (T. Locrasto), DJ Massari, Rev Milo, John Loveless | John Thorp, Murray Scott, Nevena Stankovic, David Lopez, Colin Spencer, Greg Evans, Lloyd, Katy Jay, and Dave Howell

Currently promoting releases for A Man Called Adam // Cabaret Voltaire // CC:DISCO! // Factory Floor // Falle Nioke // Fundido & Nieri // Galaxians // Greg Paulus // Heavenly Recordings // Hologram Teen // Howie B & Hiraki Sawa // Jaime Rosso // JIM // Man Power & Emily Emily // Metronomy // MG x CD + JL = // Neu-Romancer // Quantic // Richard Sen // Shrinkwrap

Established by Alvin Collis to promote cutting-edge electronic music to DJs worldwide, Special Requests aims to bring a personal approach to all campaigns and get your music heard, played and supported by the world’s leading DJs and tastemakers. We like to work with independent labels & artists on music that we love, across a broad range of musical styles, including ambient, balearic, disco, dub, electro, hip hop, house, jazz, soul and techno etc.. Quality over quantity.