played when the kick drum is supposed to perform and a conga sample is triggered in the places where snares and hi-hats are supposed to play. Sounds on the album include treble horns, woodwinds, flutes, human screams and groans, electric guitar riffs, whistles, "and treacly synth lines that sound kind of like Dntel's cotton candy programming for the Postal Service," stated Thump. Ryce wrote that Ez Minzoku combines together "cutesy" tones with "abrasive" ones, which gives it a "deranged edge." Examples include "regal horns" performing with screaming on "Jazz," a distorted guitar playing a bright riff on "Rock," and noise and "unstable" vocals playing over a jazz instrumental on "Beybey." Ryce noted the LP's horn sounds to stand out the most due to their "queasy" and high-pitched nature. Reception Ryce, reviewing for Resident Advisor, called Ez Minzoku "exciting" for how it "keeps [the listener] on [their] toes" and "never settles into a comfort zone" but also criticized it as "annoying" and "totally devoid of structure" in some places. As Exclaim! described the charm of the LP, "It's as if the producer has built an impossibly ornate and tiny world, with rules that he alone has defined, a space that when taken in from afar appears completely out of place, yet up close feels like home." Tiny Mix Tapes reviewer Sam Goldner wrote the album will "hijack [the listener's] spine and leave [him] wriggling on the floor, begging for more of that sweet, dangerous squeak." He described it as "a how-to manual for finally fitting that square peg in the round hole, 13 choreographed exercises that wobble not just because of the kooky soundbites stringing them from head to toe, but because of Foodman's singular taste for maddening rhythmic genesis." Tiny Mix Tapes placed the album at number 16 on its list of the best releases of 2016, claiming, "Foodman rigidly disavowed the entire jazz-blues-rock tradition, inventing and exploring a totally unique, jagged para-pop candyland." Ian Martin, writing for The Japan Times, called it one of Japan's best indie records released in 2016, describing it as a "joyously eclectic assault of cut-up rhythms, toy instrument sounds and synth farts that combined a child-like sense of exploration with a great deal of sonic sophistication." The album landed at number 27 on Thump's year-end list, where Joyce called it Higuchi's "most hilarious effort yet" and "a joyous cacophony of sounds that shouldn't be