Skintone Edition Press
Marking a dramatic shift from his earlier techno output, these releases highlight Yokota’s turn towards delicate, meditative compositions blending ambient, neo-classical and experimental elements. The collection includes the shimmering beauty of Magic Thread, the dreamlike nostalgia of Image 1983–1998, and the genre-defining Sakura—a record hailed by peers such as Aphex Twin and Brian Eno. Also featured are Grinning Cat, Will, The Boy and the Tree, and Laputa. Arriving in the year of Yokota’s 10th memorial and Lo Recordings’ 30th anniversary, Skintone Edition Volume One is a vital document of an artist whose influence still echoes across the ambient landscape...
July 2025
These seven albums make clear how profoundly Yokota was able to translate his quotidian reality to tape, resulting in some of the most original and idiosyncratic ambient music of its era. Skintone Edition Volume 1 is a moving portrait of a life lived in sound. To immerse yourself in his work is to be reminded of its uncommon depth, and to realize how intricately it’s all connected.
July 2025
“If you're interested in ambient music, if you're interested in house music, electronic music and the history of how it's evolved over the course of decades, don't sleep on Susumu Yokota.”
Stephen Thompson
July 2025
“There are few words to express the joy of the music contained in this exuberant box set.”
July 2025
“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).”
July 2025
“Skintone Edition Volume One is a vital document of an artist whose influence still echoes across the ambient landscape. “
July 2025
“Skintone served as a sonic sketch book, a diary. Somewhere he could quietly, gently, experiment. To my mind, his most interesting music is here; his thoughts, observations and feelings locked in a complex counterpoint, in layers of the tiniest loops.”
2025
“The packaging makes reference to Yokota’s own visual style, but gives it a contemporary touch, and elevates the overall physical offering to become something luxurious and covetable.”
2025
“His work continues to ripple through the worlds of ambient, experimental and electronic music, forming an ever-expanding legacy that’s impossible to overstate.”
2025
Lo Recordings is releasing a 7-LP box set featuring seven albums by the late ambient techno producer Susumu Yokota. The compilation, Skintone Edition Volume 1, will be released on August 1st and includes newly remastered versions of the albums Thread (1998), Image 1983–1998 (1998), Sakura (1999), Grinning Cat (2001), Will (2001), The Boy And The Tree (2002), and Laputa (2003).
The albums will also be available individually later next year. Label founder Gavin O’Shea has also announced a second edition, featuring seven more of Yokota’s albums, for 2026.
Susumu Yokota was a Japanese techno and electronica producer. He first gained recognition with his debut album, The Frankfurt-Tokyo Connection, released in 1993 on Sven Väth’s Harthouse label. In the 1990s and 2000s, he released numerous albums that oscillated between techno and ambient music. Sakura and Grinning Cat, in particular, are considered milestones of ambient electronica. Yokota passed away in 2015 at the age of 54 after a long illness.
Skintone Edition Volume 1 is available for pre-order now. The vinyl box set costs €319.99, and the CD edition is priced at €86.99.
July 2025