Sound of ambient master Susumu Yokota still soars around 20th anniv. of classic release

It’s been five years since the passing of Japanese composer, producer and DJ Susumu Yokota but in the 20th year since the release of one of his classic ambient works “Sakura,” Yokota’s sound still soars above the din.

In the early days of life and work in Japan I used to tell new friends and colleagues that the reason I came to the country was because of Susumu Yokota. It was a lie. The real reason was because I’d gone weak at the knees for a Japanese crush but that didn’t seem like it would instill much confidence in my new employer. Citing Yokota, I felt, at least made me seem less of a flight risk.

Not that anyone appeared to know who I was talking about -- mention of Yokota’s name was invariably greeted with a blank look rather than any knowing reference to the impressive body of work from the Japanese ambient electronic master, house music producer and DJ.

I wasn’t entirely surprised. Amid the technicolor din of much of Japan’s popular music, the ambience of an artist like Yokota can easily be drowned out.  

News of Yokota's death on March 27, 2015, at the age of 54, appears to have been met with a similar sense of quiet, largely limited to music-magazine editorials and belated posts from niche bloggers. It wasn't until the following July that the music industry was even made aware of Yokota's passing, after a "long period of medical treatment," according to a statement released by his family.

Five years after his death though, those with a discerning ear will still hear Yokota's music soar, the perfect antidote to J-pop madness.

This expat began listening to Yokota in the late 90s at a time when back home in the U.K. many of my peers were split between Oasis and Blur, or Seattle grunge. Yokota’s name was added to a growing list of ambient electronic masters whose music swung dramatically between being hard to comprehend (Does this qualify as music?) to something so glorious it defied explanation.  

And at a time when U.K. bands struggling for success on home shores would sometimes be quick to boast of being "big in Japan," the music of Yokota along with the likes of the moody DJ Krush and the experimental Cornelius, actually formed the sounds of the country for these formative ears.

One of Yokota’s most celebrated works -- "Sakura" -- was just around the corner and this year marks the 20th anniversary of its 2000 release. 

"Sakura" was one of four albums, 2001's highly acclaimed "Grinning Cat" among them, from Yokota released over period of just six years on U.K.-based The Leaf Label, which gives some idea into the scale of Yokota's output -- including an album every year since 1998.  

"Sakura" (actually released in 1999 in Japan on Yokota's own Skintone label under which he released much of his ambient work) along with "Grinning Cat" went on to become an ambient-music classic, being named as the top electronic release of the year 2000 by The Wire.

“A portal to distant memories, ancient dreams, and peace,” commented one user of the album at online music site Bandcamp.

"Their word-of-mouth success was made all the more remarkable by the fact that Yokota barely promoted them," wrote Leaf Label founder and head Tony Morley of the albums in a post following news of Yokota's death.

Maybe Morley's statement is apt in more ways than one with any word-of-mouth success surrounding Yokota's Skintone releases perhaps made even more remarkable when we consider the challenge of putting the artist's output into words, an exercise that often saw reviewers grasping around for superlatives. And where words have continued to largely fail, posthumous rereleases and compilations of Yokota's recordings have taken their place -- shortly after his death The Leaf Label and Lo Recordings (the label which released many of Yokota’s later works) put out a special six-track EP featuring tracks from Yokota’s back catalogue with proceeds from the pay-as-you-want release going to Osaka-based NPO Animal Refuge Kansai at his family’s request, 

Maybe Wax magazine did the best that any of us can with their review of "Grinning Cat,"

"One of the most beautiful and beguiling albums you will ever have the pleasure of listening to."

"Beguiling" would appear also to be the best that any of us outside of Yokota's inner circle of friends and family can come to a description of the artist himself who during his career as a composer, producer and DJ went under any number of aliases. Recorded interviews with Yokota are also hard to pin down (at least those transcribed into English) and Leaf Label's Morley himself confesses to having met Yokota only three times. 

The combined effect of the beautiful and the beguiling in Yokota's musical output and public profile then leaves us in real danger, when it comes to any reflection of his music, of slipping into soppy navel-gazing or cod-philosophising about the greater scheme of things. Ultimately though, this is often all we can do.

Perhaps Yokota would be sympathetic to this plight, as an artist who when making and talking about his music appears to have existed on a different plane.

In an interview published on Cyclic Defrost in 2002 we learn that Yokota, after having returned to Japan from a stint living in Europe (Yokota maintained a respected presence in European house and techno music circles, even performing at the inaugural Interference Festival during the Berlin Love Parade in 1994 along with the likes of Richie Hawtin), would make several trips to the mountains from his base in Tokyo. 

"The smell of grass and trees, the air in the woods makes my mind clear," Yokota is quoted in the interview.

"It gives good effects for making music. Walking amongst the big trees, I can hear my heartbeat and the echoes of the earth."

Coming from anyone else we might be tempted to make our excuses and leave. Indeed this sounds exactly like the kind of navel-gazing fans might be guilty of when trying to capture how Yokota's music makes them feel.

Coming from the artist himself though, in his ambient electronic guise, the sentiment appears to fit and he has the musical output to give it meaning, perhaps none more so than in his 2005 release "Symbol." Considered by many to be Yokota's masterpiece, "Symbol" features track titles such as "Song of the Sleeping Forest" and "The Plateau Which the Zephyr of Flora Occupies." Listen to "The Dying Black Swan" though, and you'll know that this is serious, serious stuff.

"Symbol" actually saw Yokota ditch much of the electronica in favor of samples of classic orchestra including those of Tchaikovsky and Beethoven. The album is about as far as it gets from the house and techno scene in which Yokota started to carve out his reputation, but it's perhaps a testament to the man and his talent that not only was he able to pull it off, but he was able to bring fans along with him as well.

The only thing that can really be done though, to convince of Yokota's talents, is to urge people to give his music a listen. 

Doing so on these shores, like this fan, you may find Yokota’s music to encapsulate something of Japan and its finest appeals -- in those moments of still beauty waiting quietly in the chaos which, when found, have the power to stop you in your tracks in quiet awe. 

There's plenty of listening to be done in the case of Yokota, the artist having left behind a discography that covers over 30 albums. 20 years since its release, "Sakura" still shines and would be as good a place as any to get started. (Listen to "Tobiume” and I challenge you not to get dreamy about your place in the grand scheme of things.)

As for the man himself, five years since his passing coverage of Yokota, in the eyes of this fan on these shores at least, appears to be woefully lacking but if there is anything that can be speculated about him with any greater degree of certainty, it's that he wouldn't have cared for it much anyway.