Track Feature and Interview: Monster Taxi-Japanese Onsen - Chill-New Age-Ambient Instrumental

“Japanese Onsen” is a track by Monster Taxi, the innovative creativity of Miami composer, producer, and musician Jason Klein. It was inspired by a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Japan with his son.

The video presented here is a unique blend of music and visuals that recreates a special time together. It also reminded me of watching the animated series Samurai Jack as my son was growing up, which touched a special place in my heart.

First, gaze at the cover art. It begins to form that journey in your mind’s eye and flips that internal switch to enter a different, engaging reality.

The music is not just beautiful; it’s a personal journey. The strings induce a walk through a Japanese garden of tranquility and beauty. The underlying layer of synths, where the strings float, is like a vision of yourself walking across the clouds —a dreamlike experience. The melody traces each step forward, mirroring the journey of life.

Monster Taxi has created a visual and audio diary of his trip to the Far East, giving his son and listeners a treasure to hold for eternity.

Take a few moments to immerse yourself in this multimedia short story. Watch and listen as it transports you to where it all happened —the beauty of Japan.

Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck-NAMR Review Founder

October 21, 2025

https://www.monstertaxi.com/

In addition to electronic dance music, Jason (Monster Taxi) is heavily inspired by artists such as Vangelis, Air, Massive Attack, Khruangbin, Radiohead, and Lana Del Rey.  He is currently composing several Trip Hop, New Age, Downtempo, and Cinematic songs, of which two, Reflect and Field of Dreams, are in heavy rotation on Sirius XM’s SPA Channel and other radio and streaming programming.  He has over 1.8 million streams on Spotify and over 115 playlists in the chill, new age, trip hop, and deep house genres.

Featured Artist Track: Monster Taxi-Reflect

 Genre: Chill-Ambient

Release Date: August 4, 2023

Label: ‎ Independent

Website

Some artists enjoy creating alter egos or clandestine bands to pursue something different. Jason Klein is one of those people, but I don’t think he will be undercover for too long with his latest track, “Reflect” as Monster Taxi. You may think with a name like that, it would be something that rocks, right? Well, think again and have a listen.

 

When I loaded the MP3 in iTunes, it came up as trip-hop. As we all know, that program can be way off at times. In this case, some of those elements are on the track and, more importantly, the essential rhythm and movement that drives everything along nicely.

 

“Reflect” has an exciting melody with a terrific bass line. The keyboards/electronics are as ambient and chill as it gets. The sounds did make my ears very happy, and there was a good feeling inside, like when your heart and soul smile. I listened a few times and wondered why it had to end. Is this a precursor to more of the same at some point? I sure hope so because this is fantastic music with a nice groove.

 

The track already has over 7k monthly listeners on Spotify, with an upward trajectory that must be very pleasing to Mr. Klein.

You can read more about Monster Taxi here https://www.monstertaxi.com 

and learn where this man is coming from and where he is going. From what I can see, it looks like the right direction!

Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck-NAMR Founder

August 30, 2023