DREAMER
“A confounding composer, impossible to second guess, these beautifully curated collections are testament to a restless imagination bound to a minimalist palette, capturing his long-held ambition to create kidoairaku . All human emotions.”
Mojo
Mojo
Maverick, veteran Japanese electronic musician presents his umpteenth album, but shows absolutely no signs of slowing down or holding back. Taking Jon Hassell's concept of a "Fourth World Music" as a starting point, 'Dreamer' imagines a lush alternate world where musics from myriad sources criss-cross the ether like electromagnetic signals, creating a miscegenation of harmonic dissonance, outernational rhythm patterns and cyberreal sonics with a slight Eastern accent. This couldn't be any more apparent than the opening 'Human Memory', tapping into a collective rave unconsciousness with '91 style 'ardcore breakbeats alloyed to non-native horns and layered drones, before 'Flitting Ray' swerves into subcontinental raga and 'Subconscious Globe' makes telepathic connections with windswept northern moorland. He continues to trek between deepest Berlin Techno on 'Inception', via religious vocal music on 'Double Spot Image' and wilder, futher flung strains of hybrid Techno on 'Animiam Of The Airy', taking us to Demdike-ish sound design on Brainwashing And Senses' cryptic Middle eastern mimetics on 'A Day At The Planet'.
2012
The last one. In some places this is more muscular and darker than the gentle sound of your regular Yokota album (if there is such a thing). In other places, it retains that delicate mix of voices, samples and beats we know so well. Choral chants and church bells follow a strong techno groove. Sitars melt into yelps and giggles. More techno and horns of unknown origin. A Japanese water garden. Perhaps Yokota’s most diverse album, it would unfortunately be his last.
MFL Steve
19th March 2020
Original Review in Japanese:
恐らく通算33枚目となるアルバムをリリースした横田進。彼が最初に公式に音源をリリースしたのが92年なので、今年でリリース上だけでの音楽活動は20周年目に当たる訳ですが、本当に多岐なジャンルに渡って膨大な作品を形として残していく創作意欲には目を見張るものがあります。そんな彼を一括りのジャンルに纏め上げるのは到底不可能なのですが、新作は久しぶりにダンスオリエンテッドな面の強いトリップミュージックを聞かせております。中近東からアジアまでの宗教的な怪しいメロディー、鐘やシタールや尺八？と言ったエスニックな楽器と共に不思議な電子音の鳴り、呪詛的な怪奇を伴う呟きや念仏に、西洋の優雅なブロークンビーツやハウスを組み合わせた国境も時代も超越する霊験あらたかな音楽は、何処でもない現実離れした虚構の世界から鳴っている様に聞こえます。お香でも焚きながら落ち着いた瞑想状態で聴くのが適すのかと思いきや、単なるニューエイジには落ち着かない意識や感覚を刺激する覚醒感は、彼が元々トランスミュージックを手掛けていた事と全く関係が無い訳ではないはずです。単に音色やビートなどの表層が変化しただけであり、トランスの作用としては同義でありましょう。ただ個性は強く感じられるものの、少々宗教的過ぎでスピリチュアルに行き過ぎた感が否めないのも事実。たまにはフラットなアンビエントも期待したくなります。
English Translation (via Google Translate):
Susumu Yokota has released what is likely his 33rd album overall. Since his first official release was in 1992, this year marks his 20th anniversary of music activities solely through releases, but his creative drive to leave behind an enormous number of works across such a wide range of genres is truly remarkable. It's impossible to lump him into a single genre, but with the new release, we're delivering trip-style music with a strong dance-oriented feel for the first time in a while. Religious and mysterious melodies from the Middle East to Asia, including bells, sitars, and shakuhachi? Along with these ethnic instruments, mysterious electronic sounds, cursed murmurs and chanting Buddhist prayers, combined with elegant Western broken beats and houses, this transcending borders and eras, a magical, new music that transcends borders and eras, sounds as if it is coming from a fictional world that is unreal. One might think it would be appropriate to listen in a calm, meditative state while burning incense, but the awakening that stimulates consciousness and senses that are not yet settled in the New Age is likely not entirely unrelated to his original work in trance music. It is simply a change in the surface layers such as tone and beat, and it is essentially the same as the function of a trance. However, while the individuality feels strong, it's also true that it feels a bit too religious and overly spiritual. Sometimes, you might even want to expect a flat ambient style.
2nd May 2012