| Susumu Yokota |
Techno
Susumu Yokota emerged in the '90s as one of the most versatile electronic producers going. In his native Japan, he's been known for many years as a top-tier dance music talent, specializing in all varieties of house while dabbling in techno, electro and trance. Albums like those in the "year series" (1998, 1999, and Zero) are as much DJ tools as proper albums, filled with long tracks consisting of endless grooves and loops. Aliases for his dance releases include Ringo, Prism and Sonicstuff.
Yokota gained international stature with home listeners and critics with the release of a series of well-received ambient albums on the UK label Leaf, beginning in 1998 with Magic Thread, and following with Image 1983-1998, Sakura, and 2001's Grinning Cat. While his dancefloor tracks are funky and playful with a heavy debt to epic disco, Yokota's ambient work unfolds with the patience of a butoh dance, all small gestures and gradually shifting layers of quiet sound. Yokota is also an accomplished DJ, lending his mixing skills to the 2001 label retrospective Leaf Compilation. Mark Richardson
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