{"title":"Susumu Yokota: Skintone Editions","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"susumu-yokota-skintone-edition-vol-1-box-set","title":"Susumu Yokota - Skintone Edition - Vol. 1 (Box Set)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSusumu Yokota\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSkintone Edition - Vol. 1 - Albums 1-7 (Box Set)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLo Recordings\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJapan\/UK, 2025\u003cbr\u003eBoxset\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA totemic celebration of one of the most singular artists of the turn of the millennium. See the individual album listings for my  thoughts on each of these seven magical records.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2935787310\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/track=347745411\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/susumuyokota.bandcamp.com\/album\/skintone-edition-volume-1\"\u003eSkintone Edition Volume 1 by Susumu Yokota\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e--\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFROM THE LABEL:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eSkintone Edition Volume 1 (Limited edition 7 album box set)\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMagic Thread\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eImage 1983-1998\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSakura\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGrinning Cat\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWill\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Boy and the Tree\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLaputa\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eSusumu Yokota redefined ambient music with a series of 14 extraordinary albums, released from 1998 through to 2012.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSkintone Edition commemorates the singular talent of this music pioneer with the re-release of all 14 of his Skintone albums.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLo Recordings are reissuing these 14 extraordinary albums on Vinyl, CD \u0026amp; Digital formats both as individual albums and packaged in two exquisite limited edition box sets. The Skintone Edition hopes to highlight the extraordinary work and legacy of Susumu Yokota.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e13 Disc Vinyl Box Set includes:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e - Custom Limited Edition Outer Box: Block printed, foiled silver linen wrapped with deep nightsky finish.\u003cbr\u003e - 13 Vinyl Discs (6 double LP albums. 1 single LP album)\u003cbr\u003e - Coloured vinyl (7 colours)\u003cbr\u003e - Printed inner sleeve for each disc, featuring custom fonts, spot gloss and colour matched pantone \u003cbr\u003e - Extensive Sleeve notes for each album \u003cbr\u003e - 4 page insert + 4 panel poster \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e7 Disc CD box set:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e - Custom Limited Edition CD box: Wrapped in uncoated black paper finished with a High Gloss Black on Black block foil print\u003cbr\u003e - 7 x CD album. Each in 6 Panel DigiSleeve printed and formed on 300gsm uncoated board \u003cbr\u003e - Included printed sleeve notes\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Seasonal Work","offers":[{"title":"CD Box Set","offer_id":44122303201414,"sku":null,"price":98.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Vinyl Box Set","offer_id":44122306576518,"sku":null,"price":365.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/3874\/2150\/files\/5057998094899.jpg?v=1782753755"},{"product_id":"susumu-yokota-magic-thread","title":"Susumu Yokota - Magic Thread","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSusumu Yokota\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMagic Thread (Skintone Edition)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLo Recordings\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJapan\/UK, 1998\/2025\u003cbr\u003e2LP\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe first release on Susumu Yokota’s Skintone imprint, \u003ci\u003eMagic Thread \u003c\/i\u003eweaves together the technological and the organic, initiating a dialectic between mechanized urbanity and the mysteries of the natural world that would play out across an astonishing 14-album run. On this outing, that tapestry is spun on an industrial power loom: \u003ci\u003eMagic Thread\u003c\/i\u003e finds Yokota still steeped in the techno and deep house of his early work, though turning those forms and textures inward, integrating field recordings and acoustic-sounding instrumentation into a set of dubby ambient techno. A deep and immersive late-night grower.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=280623420\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/susumuyokota.bandcamp.com\/album\/magic-thread-skintone-edition\"\u003eMagic Thread (Skintone Edition) by Susumu Yokota\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFROM THE LABEL:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan name=\"0\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eMagic Thread \u003c\/i\u003eis Susumu Yokota's deeply soothing and delicate debut release on the Skintone label, written during one of the happiest and most productive periods of his career. The sprawling LP incorporates the dubby, washy 00s leftfield house and techno soundscapes he’d been soaking in at his low-key ‘Skintone’ residents’ party at club LUST in Tokyo’s Ebisu district, as well as a vast array of psychedelic field recordings and organic sonic abstractions. It is perhaps the quiet feeling of connection and community which Yokota was feeling at the time which gives Magic Thread its air of warmth and playfulness; even the title is a utopian idiom of togetherness. It also, however, retains a distinct aura of creeping mystery and windswept isolationism, hinting at his output to come.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIntended initially for a Japanese market, Magic Thread came out on a limited-edition CD release of 500 copies, heralding the birth of Yokota’s imprint for his more experimental, introspective, and wide reaching productions. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan name=\"1\"\u003eUnlike his later, more cinematic efforts, however, it retains a strong foot in the techno sphere, with tracks like ‘Reflux’ and ‘Potential’ flying close to the shuffling, pared-back proto-minimal reconstitutions of the Mille Plateaux camp and Voigt brothers. What sets it apart is its slick, centrifugal employment of ostensibly acoustic timbres, from the prepared piano rumble underpinning the factory-belt beat of ‘Reflux’ to the almost Hassell-esque water drum intonations keeping ‘Spool’ bobbing along, and the spatial, metronomic guiro squelch on ‘Blend’.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOver the album’s 11 tracks, Yokota conveys an overarching sense of urban vastness, peace, and ominous anticipation, with ambient reveries like ‘Fiber’ playing like susurrating signals in quiet and dense urban spaces; humming telegraph lines over empty Naka-meguro parking lots and the distant sound of surging superhighways. ‘Stitch’ begins with a vacant, questing pad, transfixed as if by the hypnotic twitching of the Tokyo horizon seen from a high and distant point, before descending into a subterranean network of synapse-tickling digital interference.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan name=\"2\"\u003e The disarmingly groovy shuffler ‘Circular’ looms like a spectral figure between seas of heads on the metro or violet dusk over a glittering skyline, while the persistent mechanoid clank of ‘Metabolic’ summons entropic scenes: hoards of skittish commuters, the constant drone of office telephones and pings of overworked appliances.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the otherwise-threadbare jacket of the original CD, Yokota included the following unattributed quote - “Somewhere in the process of evolution, the spinning and weaving of thread became possible for humankind. How did this come to pass? It can only be that the thread is possessed of magical properties”. The loom is one of the earliest pieces of functioning machinery in existence, and on this album, Yokota employs thread as a pertinent analogy for his musical process, weaving strands of musical influence and scraps of sonic fabric into a tapestry that is far more than the sum of its constituent parts. With a spartan palette of sounds and textures, he taps into a fundamentally human need to fuse and connect disparate fibres, magically forming work which glistens and pulsates with life.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Seasonal Work","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44154489634950,"sku":null,"price":48.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/3874\/2150\/files\/Susumu_Yokota_-_Magic_Thread.jpg?v=1782593213"},{"product_id":"susumu-yokota-image-1983-1998","title":"Susumu Yokota - Image 1983-1998","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSusumu Yokota\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eImage 1983-1998 (Skintone Edition)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLo Recordings\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJapan\/UK, 1998\/2025\u003cbr\u003eLP\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThe second release on Yokota’s Skintone label reached back the farthest, dusting off five organ and guitar pieces from his archives and rounding them out with more contemporary experiments using similar materials. I’m reminded of those gorgeous sets of juvenilia by His Name Is Alive, lo-fi home-recorded ambient invested as much in timbral exploration and production experiments as they are in delicate, melancholy excavations of stay-home moods. \u003ci\u003eImage \u003c\/i\u003eis both a beguiling outlier and a bit of a skeleton key for understanding the trajectory of the Skintone albums.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFROM THE LABEL:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=699689970\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/susumuyokota.bandcamp.com\/album\/image-1983-1998-skintone-edition\"\u003eImage 1983-1998 (Skintone Edition) by Susumu Yokota\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan name=\"0\"\u003eImage (1993-1998) is the second release on Susumu Yokota’s Skintone label, and is a deeply personal, pensive and autobiographical sequence of organ, guitar and tape studies, released at a time when the majority of his output landed squarely in the house and techno spheres. It represents an unearthing of, and desire to return to his early experiments in ghostly pop formations, post-punk timbres and melody-led abstraction. The opening five tracks were recorded in 1983-4, and the remainder were devised as a continuation of those tracks between 1997 and 1998, when the Skintone label was launched and Yokota was taking tentative steps towards a more pared-back, tranquil and nostalgic soundworld. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe tracks recorded in 1983-4, around the time Yokota was recording his debut techno offering for Sven Väths Harthouse label, have a spectral and fragmentary air. ‘Kaiten Mokuba’ opens with the wheezing pall of a tipsy pipe organ, rocking to and fro in a tender and pensive opening fanfare, before the disarmingly pretty, folksy guitar ambedo of ‘Tayutafu’ unexpectedly grounds the listener in the same warm and oneiric terrain as some of Bert Jansch’s solo acoustic works. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan name=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan name=\"1\"\u003e‘Fukuro No Yume’ follows, a return to the dusty fairground organ nostalgia of the opener, before the jangly guitar pointillism of ‘Wani Natte’ immediately lays bare his Durutti Column influence, also calling to mind the later work of ambient songstress Colleen. ‘Sakashima’ brings the first chapter to a close with its purring static washes and tentative organ pulses, distorted and gated to the brink of recognition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe latter two-thirds of the album, conceived as an escape route when the weight of expectation to produce functional house and techno records was mounting, is an audibly more accomplished but similarly frugal and meditative throwback to his earlier experiments with timbre and emotive minimalism. The arcing e-piano motifs and staccato strings of ‘Morino Gakudan’ lay the foundations for much of his later work on the Skintone label, and the cooing vocal intermissions over a bed of churning rhodes motifs on ‘Kawano Hotorino Kinoshitade’ sound uncannily like an offcut of 1999’s pivotal Sakura album.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan name=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan name=\"2\"\u003e‘Amai Niyoi’ answers ‘Wani Natte’ in its sparkling, 80s inflected guitar ostinati, adding charming melodica and droplets of bell-like synthwork, and the soothing closer ‘Amanogawa’ flies the closest to Yokota’s dance oeuvre, with wavering voices and supple melodies flitting around soft sine syncopations, prefacing the dissected trance sketches of producers like Lorenzo Senni by a decade.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe cover of the album shows a twig-like structure, branching off into curlicues and framed by Yokota to preserve a degree of ambiguity and strangeness. Presumably a close up of one of Yokota’s Marcel Duchamp-inspired assemblages, it is perfectly analogous to the music, which zooms in on sonic artefacts, acousmatically prising them from their sources and revelling in their stark, fundamental beauty. The voice of an organ is mangled through chains of effects, amplifying its oddly human wheeze and flutter, and delicately spliced vocal apparitions materialise at the back of the soundstage. With these early sketches, Yokota demonstrates his unparalleled command of timbre and pacing; every loop is given breathing space, and the music brims with humanity. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Seasonal Work","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44154514964614,"sku":null,"price":38.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/3874\/2150\/files\/Susumu_Yokota_-_Image_1983-1998.jpg?v=1782594063"},{"product_id":"susumu-yokota-sakura","title":"Susumu Yokota - Sakura","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSusumu Yokota\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSakura (Skintone Edition)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLo Recordings\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJapan\/UK, 1999\/2025\u003cbr\u003e2LP\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThe best-loved record of Susumu Yokota’s \u003ci\u003eSkintone \u003c\/i\u003erun is also one of his subtlest. \u003ci\u003eSakura \u003c\/i\u003eunfolds patiently, as ephemeral and lovely as the cherry blossoms from which it takes its name. Building from gradual ambient unfurlings to varied downtempo, it hints at Yokota’s alter ego as a skilled dance producer without ever playing his full hand. From weightless abstractions to jazzy house, each track is its own delicate construction, catching the light in its own way. Harp loops, organs, electric piano, voices, strings, bells, samples, hand percussion, and occasional beats float and recombine across the record—they drift, swirl, thrum, and sway. An elusive masterpiece that seems always on the point of fluttering away.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2078826005\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/susumuyokota.bandcamp.com\/album\/sakura-skintone-edition\"\u003eSakura (Skintone Edition) by Susumu Yokota\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFROM THE LABEL:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan name=\"0\"\u003eWithout doubt the most loved and lauded entry in Susumu Yokota’s catalogue, Sakura dropped on the Skintone label in 1999, before it debuted on the UK’s Leaf Label for European distribution in 2000, by which time it was already a huge success, going on to sell tens of thousands of copies through word of mouth alone. Sakura was the first fully realised statement of intent for Yokota’s recently christened Skintone label, a forum for sounds inspired by the loose, improvisatory atmosphere at his club nights of the same name in Tokyo’s Club LUST. Sandwiched between two propulsive techno and house outings on Sublime Records, Sakura follows on from Image 1983-1998 and Magic Thread, carving out a crystalline channel of blissful ambience flowing alongside Yokota’s more club-centric output. In a 2002 interview with Bim Ricketson, Yokota said that “It feels natural for me to do both dance and ambient, it’s a balance that exists within me.” and it is this flexibility and functional non-duality which gives Sakura much of its ephemeral intrigue and beauty. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOver the course of its 12 tracks, Sakura unravels like cascades of petals falling from the eponymous cherry blossom trees. In the opener ‘Saku’, a blinkered guitar and e-piano motif stutters in endless cycles, fading in and out either end of the track as if mimicking the relentless reset of the seasons. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan name=\"1\"\u003e‘Tobiume’ revolves around surging currents of warm clav and glacial house pianos, ricocheting out over the rolling loop beds. ‘Uchu Tanjyo’ steps out into more humid, crepuscular terrain with its clattering hand percussion, snatches of ebullient spoken phrases and distant, breathy flutes landing us firmly in a similar microclimate to Jon Hassell’s fourth world heat-haze. ‘Hagoromo’ brings us back to the swaying reveries of the first two tracks, with undulating, contrapuntal harp figures eventually elapsing into Riley-esque rhodes canons, before standout track ‘Genshi’ juxtaposes Yokota’s familiar humming e-piano coils with a plosive 909 kick and oneiric bells, channelling his washier, more dub techno-adjacent efforts, as well as Tangerine Dream’s pointillist synth meditations and Steve Reich’s proto-rik minimalism.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Hisen’ is another curveball, built on the foundation of an intensely phased trip hop groove, with saccharine violin arpeggios and plaintive rhodes harmonisations, while ‘Azukiiro No Kaori’, perhaps the most arrestingly beautiful track on the album, revolves around an axis of cavernous, resonant - you guessed it - e-piano, with snatches of mellifluous vocal riding the thermals. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan name=\"2\"\u003eThe desolate, far-off city sparkle of ‘Kodomotachi’ sounds eerily like a prequel to Burial’s classic ‘In McDonalds’, while ‘Naminote’ revolves around a splashy, driving Chick Corea sample, evoking the entropic scrambles of Shibuya’s namesake crossing, before the soporific ‘Shinsen’ and glistening melodic arcs of ‘Kirakiraboshi’ evoke the last of the falling Sakura blossoms.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 2006, Alejandro González Iñárritu of The Revenant fame approached Yokota to produce the soundtrack for his 2006 psychological drama Babel. Although Yokota could not accept this commission because of his deteriorating health, the centrepiece from Sakura, ‘Gekkoh’ was included in the soundtrack. Yokota had long harboured ambitions to compose for film, telling Ricketson that he would “like to work with Jean Pierre Jeunet and Vinsent Giaro and if it’s possible, to work with an old director, Parajanov”. Perhaps it is the seething undercurrents of emotion in Yokota’s work which gives it its cinematic quality- he had expressed an intention to “express ki-do-ai-raku (the four emotions; joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness) through music”, and throughout Sakura, the affect fluctuates between profound tranquillity, hesitation, melancholy, and joy with ease, addressing the fickle nature of human emotion, while transcending the inclination to label moods entirely.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Seasonal Work","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44154524827782,"sku":null,"price":48.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/3874\/2150\/files\/Susumu_Yokota_-_Sakura.jpg?v=1782595387"},{"product_id":"susumu-yokota-grinning-cat","title":"Susumu Yokota - Grinning Cat","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSusumu Yokota\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGrinning Cat (Skintone Edition)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLo Recordings\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJapan\/UK, 2001\/2025\u003cbr\u003e2LP\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThis is precisely the sort of album that makes these Skintone reissues so rewarding. Arriving in the airy shadow of the acclaimed \u003ci\u003eSakura\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eGrinning Cat\u003c\/i\u003e is one of Yokota’s most playful and surprising releases, a hidden gem in plain sight. Made during a happy, magical period living with his girlfriend and their three cats, the record is suffused with a contentment and wonder that yields some of Yokota’s most satisfying work. The iridescent “King Dragonfly” is perhaps the single most indelible track I’ve heard from the multifaceted artist. It’s also a perfect précis for the record, with its throughlines of downtempo beatmaking, daydream atmospheres, and twinkling piano keys shuffling like Cheshire teeth. A sleeper pick for low-key fave.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2721473295\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/susumuyokota.bandcamp.com\/album\/grinning-cat-skintone-edition\"\u003eGrinning Cat (Skintone Edition) by Susumu Yokota\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFROM THE LABEL:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan name=\"0\"\u003eAlthough one of Susumu Yokota’s most stylistically varied works in the Skintone catalogue, Grinning Cat (2001) revolves largely around the piano- both sampled and seemingly played by Yokota himself. Across its thirteen deeply evocative tracks, he runs the gamut of emotions, stylistic hallmarks and timbres, albeit using a narrow palette of sound sources. A follow-up to the much loved Sakura, Grinning Cat represented an amoebic, energised and joyful chapter in Yokota’s career, where his recent successes and a move into a larger studio in Tokyo’s suburbs afforded him time to process his influences and refine his techniques across a multitude of styles, opening up countless potential directions for his work in the years to come.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile 1999’s Sakura seemed to draw heavily on the concept of ‘mono no aware’ or impermanence; a national melancholy associated with beauty and impermanence characterised by the meagre couple of weeks in which Japan’s cherry blossoms emerge, Grinning Cat latches on to the present moment with glee and inquisitiveness, fluctuating in tempo, rhythmic structure and arrangement in a way poignantly reminiscent of the chaos and delight of everyday life. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Last summer,” Yokota wrote, “I started to live with my girlfriend and also three cats: mother cat, Tabasa, her son cat, Bindi, and her daughter black cat, Noa. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan name=\"1\"\u003eWe all played together like having parties every day at home. The everyday life with cats is like a fairytale, and also it was like I met the Cheshire Cat in Alice In Wonderland. In my works, I always create philosophy and 'childlike' images. This album Grinning Cat came into existence because of having this wonderful life”. It is this preoccupation with everyday wonder and mystery, closer to the Buddhist concept of ‘yuugen’, which characterises Grinning Cat; a suggestion of profound beauty, mystery and joy in memory and imagination. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘I imagine’ sets the tone for an immensely warm and rewarding listen, with tessellating, prepared piano-like loops soon entangling themselves with his signature vocal glossolalia and gently warping, percussive interjections, before the razor-sharp break and plosive ASMR handclaps of ‘King Dragonfly’ drop the listener back down to earth in a flurry of organic colour and light.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ‘Card Nation’ follows on seamlessly, maintaining the pressure with cavernous Japanese percussion, breathy hisses and an airy, gothic atmosphere, evoking Future Sound of London’s mid-nineties soundscapes. The aptly named ‘Sleepy Eye’, a gentle tape loop lullaby, is swiftly chased by the humid cloud-forest resonance of ‘Lapis Lazuli’ and the jagged, Philip Glass-esque woodwind constructions of ‘Balloon In The Cage’. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan name=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan name=\"2\"\u003eStandout centrepiece ‘Cherry Blossom’ sees Yokota return to the hazy dub techno plateaus of Magic Thread, with submerged kickdrums and gauzy pads, before the omnipresent piano enters in naïve, plaintive cascades, and the stacked flurries of piano motif in ‘Love Bird’ evoke started flocks taking to the skies. he psychotropic 40s trouble-in-paradise film score moment ‘Fearful Dream’ leads us tumbling through spidering alleyways towards the stunning, smoky loucheness of the subterranean Gentle People-style exotica hybrid ‘Tears of a Poet’. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘So Red’ continues in a tropical-gothic vein, with ominous lap-steel and patient, seductive drum loops, and the shimmering strings, plinky tuned percussion and splashy kitwork of ‘Flying Cat’, one of the most unabashedly joyful and bubbly entries in Yokota’s discography, lead us into the tentative, glitchy closer ‘Lost Child’.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSentimental without being schmaltzy, joyful without being saccharine, Grinning Cat sees Yokota at his most playful and experimental, channelling moments of transitory wonder and jubilation, and opening up a sonic environment in which we can romp and play. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Seasonal Work","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44154553335942,"sku":null,"price":48.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/3874\/2150\/files\/Susumu_Yokota_-_Grinning_Cat.jpg?v=1782596135"},{"product_id":"susumu-yokota-will","title":"Susumu Yokota - Will","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSusumu Yokota\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWill (Skintone Edition)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLo Recordings\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJapan\/UK, 2001\/2025\u003cbr\u003e2LP\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eYokota’s most unabashed dance record in the Skintone series, and not one to skip. Leaning into classic house sounds, \u003ci\u003eWill\u003c\/i\u003e is an effortless and satisfying dance floor weapon that proves the producer still has bags of imagination even when coloring within the lines. Rolling bass grooves, chunky piano chords, and Latin-tinged percussion set the table for vibey flute hooks and reverbed samples, the essential details no less entrancing than the flourishes. If this were a one-off from an unknown producer, I expect it would be a sweatily sought-after cult classic. It’s only in the big pond of Yokota’s remarkable output that it could possibly be overlooked. Don’t.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3240985525\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/susumuyokota.bandcamp.com\/album\/will-skintone-edition\"\u003eWill (Skintone Edition) by Susumu Yokota\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFROM THE LABEL:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan name=\"0\"\u003eWill is in many senses, an anomaly in the Skintone catalogue. On inspection, the artwork echoes the monochromatic minimalism of his previous effort of the same year, Grinning Cat, with its trompe l'oeil horizontal bars revealing a hazy italic rendering of the word Will in the bottom right-hand corner. This canny visual trickery also characterises the sonic imprint of the record, which shares the playfulness and jubilation of Grinning Cat, but looks more to the soulful, sashaying instrumentation on its spiritual predecessors 1998 and 1999 on Tokyo’s Sublime Records. It is, in a way, strange that it didn’t drop on Sublime, but given Yokota’s withdrawal from the proscriptive and commercialised Tokyo techno scene in 1998, it makes sense that he would unleash any future dance music efforts on his own label; an ode to his legendary Skintone party, where friends would play a wide and loose range of deep, filter, french and oddball house sounds of the time. It is into this world which Will is launched, with its structures and sample choices slotting it in with the early 00s house and broken beat zeitgeist.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat sets it apart however, is Yokota’s mastery of timbre and juxtaposition, with crystal cascades of acoustic trickery riding organic, rolling drum programming and bold rearrangements of the conventional mixer levels on many house records of the time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan name=\"1\"\u003e The shortest of Yokota’s Skintone releases, Will loses no momentum and immediacy across its seven, six-minute tracks. ‘Level 21’ blends parallel rhodes action with dreamy, technicolour trails of square-wave synth and churning breaks, before the off-kilter chug of ‘Alpine Nation’ brings us into more intrinsically ‘skintone’ territory with its detuned guitar garbles and disembodied vocal fragments. ‘Red Door’ is a washy, broken bossa in the tradition of Alex Attias and the early Hospital records catalogue, replete with orchestra-hall one shots and coiling conga rolls, and ‘Illusion River’ is a mellow, Parrish-esque shuffler, juxtaposing blunted rhodes chords with warbling choirs in unmistakably Susumu style. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Pegasus Man’ continues on an intensely groovy broken beat tip, flying at times, dangerously close to buddha bar lounge sensibility, but steered away by Yokota’s intentionally fractious sampling style, before ‘Black Sea’ taps into an early 00s Photek-adjacent sound palette, with imperious organ pulses and distant washes of oneiric pad easing the listener back into the smoke. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan name=\"2\"\u003eThe unabashed disco house heater ‘Pony Tail’ - sampling Bohannon’s high voltage boogie classic ‘Let’s Start The Dance’ no less - ruthlessly surges into the more pensive, abstract closing ditty ‘Rabbit Earring’, fusing rambling piano figures with buoyant soul breaks and flirtatious vocal choppage.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInitially only appearing as a limited, vinyl-only release, it is clear that Will was intended as a low-key and cathartic return to Yokota’s bread and butter- house music. Perhaps a dubplate intended to soundtrack the small hours at Ebisu’s intimate LUST club, where his friends would gather and share recent musical discoveries.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Its eight tightly wound, cyclic grooves certainly conjure images of rambling, neon-lit Tokyo alleyways and late-night shenanigans, while also maintaining an air of cosiness and familiarity, as if they were composed with a certain room or soundsystem in mind. Piano is a recurring theme, entering the mix in a way more readily associable with Larry Heard or Kenny Larkin’s groove alchemy than the choppy impressionism of Reich and Glass referenced on Grinning Cat. If Grinning Cat was a playful exploration of memory and hazy jubilation, Will is a cathartic surrender to the groove, intended for the feet as much as the mind.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Seasonal Work","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44154555695238,"sku":null,"price":48.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/3874\/2150\/files\/a1894636662_10.jpg?v=1782596724"},{"product_id":"susumu-yokota-the-boy-and-the-tree","title":"Susumu Yokota - The Boy and the Tree","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSusumu Yokota\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Boy and the Tree (Skintone Edition)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLo Recordings\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJapan\/UK, 2002\/2026\u003cbr\u003e2LP\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith \u003ci\u003eThe Boy and The Tree\u003c\/i\u003e, Yokota returns to the Fourth World ambience of \u003ci\u003eSakura\u003c\/i\u003e, abstracting it into an airy whirl of verdant psychedelia. Inspired by a visit to the legendary Yakushima Island, the album has a mythic scale made all the more mysterious by the ample space in its arrangements. When beats emerge, they lean closer to tribal percussion than house or techno. If \u003ci\u003eSakura\u003c\/i\u003e is a tribute to the ephemerality of spring, \u003ci\u003eThe Boy and The Tree\u003c\/i\u003e suggests a reservoir of endless summer, an eternal now that feels both ancient and futuristic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2450089454\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/susumuyokota.bandcamp.com\/album\/the-boy-and-the-tree-skintone-edition\"\u003eThe Boy and the Tree (Skintone Edition) by Susumu Yokota\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFROM THE LABEL:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn the weeks leading up to the studio sessions which birthed Susumu Yokota’s 2002 album The Boy And The Tree, he visited Japan’s Yakushima Island, an outstandingly beautiful world heritage site off the southern tip of Japan, jutting out into the East China Sea. As well as a beach with protected status as a loggerhead turtle nesting site, the island is scored by a deep, lush and ancient ravine, The ‘Shiratani Unsuikyo’. Nestled in the gorge is a much mythologised ancient tree, the potentially 7000-year old ‘Jōmon Sugi’. It is these sloping, verdant forests where Hayao Miyazaki found inspiration for his 1997 epic Princess Mononoke, a groundbreaking anime addressing the conflict between the rampant greed and destructive force of humanity, and the stoic, mysterious fragility of nature. It is no secret that Yokota was a fan of this film, and it is clear from the work he created in the wake of his visit that he was hugely inspired by the breathtaking majesty of the island.\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThis fleeting immersion in nature lent the album a profound introspection and mystery, and the its twelve tracks unfold in dream sequence, each drifting seamlessly into the next while still managing to steer the listener in myriad directions, from eerie butoh atmospheres, to ebullient raga, to desolate, cavernous chanson.\n The Boy And The Tree is definitely one of, if not the most, visually evocative and cinematic Yokota releases, and where Grinning Cat or Will were visually and thematically shackled to the electric hustle of Tokyo, it looks instead to the revelatory quietness of the rolling hills and sweeping coastlines of Yakushima, a place of refuge which prompted Yokota to extract himself “a few times a week” from his suburban home to follow in the ancient, winding arteries of the forest. Yokota once told music journalist Bim Rickson “Walking amongst the big trees, I can hear my heartbeat and the echoes of the earth”, and on The Boy And The Tree, these forest resonances are audible, unfurling in a strikingly organic way as if Yokota is merely documenting the soundscape of one of his forest rambles. \n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nIt is ostensibly his most Japanese-sounding album, from the woven, resounding ronin warrior cries in ‘Live Echo’ to the blissful pentatonic washes over ‘Rose Necklace’ and the warbling noh chants and ceremonial bells on ‘Red Swan’.  This inkling of nostalgic pride in the ancient arts of Japan is offset, however, by a gentle new-age utopianism. Throughout the album, Yokota unselfconsciously incorporates samples from global musical traditions; see the pulsing earth raga of ‘Grass, Tree and Stone’, or the driving gamelan phrases of ‘Secret Garden’, for instance, which still manage to steer well clear of any patronising ‘10 hours of zen garden meditation sounds’ atmospheres.\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThe aspect of Yokota’s art which set him apart from many artists in his milieu wasn’t as much the raw and well trodden subject matter itself, but more the way it was treated, with a unique tastefulness and knack for unexpected juxtaposition.\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThe wafting strains of reed pipe and cricket-like ambience on ‘Beans’ could fly close to vapid lounge atmospheres in the wrong hands, but Yokota splices the samples in a way which preserves their essence while maintaining an acousmatic mystique; short phrases loop in increasingly mechanical cycles, making the listener question their provenance in the same way a word loses its meaning when repeatedly spoken.  \n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nJust like Miyazaki’s Mononoke Hime, The Boy And The Tree is at once a subtle and quietly stunning ode to the fragile majesty of nature, a reverent cry for humanity to rally and protect what is essential to our survival, and an intoxicating homage to the spirit in all earthly things.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Seasonal Work","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44154555793542,"sku":null,"price":48.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/3874\/2150\/files\/Susumu_Yokota_-_The_Boy_and_the_Tree.jpg?v=1782667004"},{"product_id":"susumu-yokota-laputa","title":"Susumu Yokota - Laputa","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSusumu Yokota\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLaputa (Skintone Edition)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLo Recordings\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJapan\/UK, 2003\/2026\u003cbr\u003e2LP\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThe most abstract and experimental record in Yokota’s legendary Skintone run, \u003ci\u003eLaputa \u003c\/i\u003eis enjoying late recognition as a deconstructed masterpiece. Too trippy to be “ambient,” Yokota nevertheless brings the incredible sense of dynamics, mood-building, and control that he developed as a dance producer to a set of melted-clock abstractions primed for late-night mind expansion. Yokota famously said that he would like his music to express the four emotions, ki-do-ai-raku: joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. While I struggle to find much anger in his work, \u003ci\u003eLaputa\u003c\/i\u003e is the closest he comes to alienation and confusion, with bursts of sun-shower beauty contributing to a total effect of immersive and captivating ambivalence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eIf Yokota’s Skintone discography were just these seven records, it would still be one of the most compelling runs in millennial electronic music. But hang tight: there are seven more reissues coming.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2432777051\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/susumuyokota.bandcamp.com\/album\/laputa-skintone-edition\"\u003eLaputa (Skintone Edition) by Susumu Yokota\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFROM THE LABEL:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan name=\"0\"\u003eSusumu Yokota’s Laputa (2003) is perhaps his most challenging, foreboding and perplexing body of work. Over fifteen undulating sonic fugue states, he guides listeners round a liminal world, made up of familiar materials but formed in a way defying all laws of perspective and physics. Like the impossible perspective of Giorgio de Chirico’s paintings, background murmurings give way to almost uncomfortably foregrounded chattering, and one perceived soundstage segues into another impossible tableau of sonic apparitions, some recognisable in form, but all boldly decontextualised and arranged in expertly cluttered amalgams. The twisting, ‘penguin pool at London Zoo’ form on the cover also alludes to this Escher-esque collision of sonic angles, its arcing petal-like plateau spiralling into oblivion and calling to mind Le Corbusier’s 1958 Philips Pavilion, housing Iannis Xenakis and Varèse’s similarly disembodied sequence of sonic artefacts, Poème Électronique. Although possibly Yokota’s first entirely beatless work, it does not share the capital A ambient nature of Eno’s forays into discreet music, or the soothing soundscapes more readily associable with The Boy and The Tree, his previous effort on the Skintone label. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan name=\"1\"\u003eInstead, it rewards deep and intentioned listening; watching sounds and textures pass by in a seductive dream sequence. Not one to stick on while entertaining friends or spring cleaning. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Rising Sun’ gently sets the tone for a vivid trip, with its deep, resonant monastic drones, band-passed signal interference and eerie operatic wails, before the antigravitational tone float of ‘Lost Ring’ leads the listener into the cosmic ping pong match of the onomatopoeic ‘gong gong gong’, a spiritual prequel to composers like Alexi Baris and Ulla Straus’ expansive audio patchworks. The mellower ‘Iconic Air’ fuses a plodding, space-lounge bassline with metallic dub techno sound FX and overtone atmospheres, and the nearly avant-pop abstraction on ‘Light of The Sun’ leads us into the plinky, isolationist centrepiece ‘Grey Piano’, channelling Arvo Pärt’s austere tintinnabulations. ‘7 Degrees Dream’ guides us back towards deep-space cocktail party ambience before the sinister, cinematic warning tones of ‘Hidden Love’ preempt the bitonal chaos of ‘Trip Eden’. The borderline cheesy, questing synths of ‘True Story’ are soon undermined by mischievous, formant-shifted vocalisations, and colossal synth stalactites glisten on the aptly named ‘Dragon Place’. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan name=\"2\"\u003eThe almost disconcertingly gentle ‘I am flying’ eases us into soporific bliss, before ‘Dizzy Echo’, ‘Heart By Heart’, and the percussive stride of ‘Hyper on Hyper’ end the album on a flustered, breathless note, dropping us back to reality with a thud and a cosmic pat on the back.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnother factor setting Laputa apart from the eternal chin-stroke of both ambient and avant garde camps is its use of unflinchingly synthetic sounds and textures, as well as pop detritus. Take ‘Lost Ring’ for instance, where soaring, Jimmy Smith-style rotary hammond licks circle overhead, crying out in a vacuum otherwise permeated by mostly uncanny, humanoid chattering, or ‘23 Degrees Dream’, where 80s city-pop synth lines, clumsy blues guitar twangs, and shoegazy vocal mantras bob in the void. This aspect of Yokota’s music speaks to his profound mastery and appreciation of the twin disciplines of popular and ‘art’ music, a dichotomy which a handful of critics dourly and categorically failed to understand on the release of his first non-dance efforts. Sucks to be them. Laputa is the sound of Yokota casually shrugging off all expectations and artistic inhibitions.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Seasonal Work","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44154555859078,"sku":null,"price":48.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/3874\/2150\/files\/a0341776941_10.jpg?v=1782667357"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/3874\/2150\/collections\/5057998094899.jpg?v=1783655376","url":"https:\/\/seasonalworkrecords.com\/collections\/susumu-yokota-skintone-editions.oembed","provider":"Seasonal Work","version":"1.0","type":"link"}