{"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","url":"https:\/\/seasonalworkrecords.com\/products\/susumu-yokota-image-1983-1998","provider":"Seasonal Work","version":"1.0","type":"link"}