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Magic Thread is Susumu Yokota’s deeply soothing and delicate debut release on the Skintone label. With a spartan palette of sounds and textures, Yokota taps into a fundamentally human need to fuse and connect disparate fibres, magically forming work which glistens and pulsates with life.

Magic Thread originally came out in 1998 as a limited-edition CD release of 500 copies. Initially intended for the Japanese market, it came without any artwork in a standard transparent CD case adorned only by a sticker containing essential album information and a quote:

‘Somewhere in the process of evolution, the spinning and weaving of thread became possible for humankind. How did this come to pass? It can only be that the thread is possessed of magical properties.’ – Yokota, 1998.

TRACK LISTING

a1. Weave
a2. Reflux
a3. Unravel
b1. Circular
b2. Spool
b3. Potential
c1. Fiber
c2. Metabolic
c3. Stitch
d1. Blend
d2. Melt

Susumu Yokota

Sakura (Skintone Edition)

Sakura is without doubt the most loved and lauded entry in Susumu Yokota’s catalogue.

The music unravels like cascades of petals falling from the eponymous cherry blossom trees. Yokota intended to ‘express ki-do-ai-raku (the four emotions; joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness) through music’, and throughout Sakura, the effect fluctuates between profound tranquillity, hesitation, melancholy and joy with ease, addressing the fickle nature of human emotion, while transcending the inclination to label moods entirely.

Sakura became Yokota’s best selling album. It was greeted with universal acclaim, lauded by Philip Glass and Brian Eno and launched Yokota internationally.

‘A bittersweet beauty, heightened by the sadness that all things must one day end.’ - Martyn Pepperell

TRACK LISTING

a1. Saku
a2. Uchu Tanjyo
a3. Hagoromo
b1. Genshi
b2. Gekkoh
b3. Kirakiraboshi
c1. Kodomotachi
c2. Hisen
c3. Tobiume
d1. Naminote
d2. Shinsen
d3. Azukiiro No Kaori

Private Agenda

A Mannequin

A Mannequin: Twelve tracks corresponding to twelve character traits, imagined as personalities in musical form. What are the dichotomies that define us? Our seen and unseen selves, the façade and the fundamental, the real and the imaginary. The result is musical hyper-realism.

Through these contradictions, Private Agenda craft a musical world of effortless eclecticism. Classic pop songwriting is complemented with expansive production; the forward-thinking electronica of Jessy Lanza and Yves Tumor co-exists with the soft, soulful pop of Babeheaven and Erika de Casier. As a whole, it’s a record which rewrites the case for the concept album, where coherence needn’t be cringe.

Album opener Irresistible is a decadent dream pop opener in the vein of Japanese Breakfast; its lyrics assertive yet amorous. Channelling the sentimentality of previous releases such as Aura from the pair’s debut album, Île de Rêve (2019), Neo-Nostalgia is a throwback to the future, a warm electronic pop exposition in the vein of Toro y Moi and Bullion. Touching has the intimate balladry and melancholy romance of Perfume Genius, while Splendour has the effortless groove of Sinkane or Jaako Eino Kalevi.

Flipping over, the album’s two instrumental pieces link Private Agenda’s past and present. Purity is an extension of the minimalism of Primary Colours EP (2017), with a shuffle of feet and the dull thuds of keys accompanying the delicate composition. Alterations puts the late 90s trip hop and downtempo of Air and Portishead through a 2020s filter. Dressed in Velvet and Automation are explorations in eccentric yet polished alt-pop. The record’s penultimate track The Current, is striking in its synth-pop surrealism. Industrial textures composed by the avant-garde electronic musician Nicolas Bougaïeff cut across ethereal vocalism, a delightfully disconcerting collaboration. Completing the record, Substance trips out on psychedelic synth swells before a motorik beat kicks in, completing the collection in a cavernous crescendo.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Irresistible
A2. Neo-Nostalgia
A3. Gemini
A4. Touching
A5. Splendour
B1. Dressed In Velvet
B2. Purity
B3. Automation
B4. Alterations
B5. Narcotica
B6. The Current
B7. Substance

Various Artists

Milky Disco

As it says on the wrapper to this CD 'A quintessential compendium of cosmic disco' not my words but ones I will echo throughout this review, because here we have pretty much everyone who counts on that scene from the magnificent Danny Wang, through Quiet Village Feat. Godsy (exclusive track) on to Studio and winding up with Six Cups Of Rebel (exclusive track). Basically it's all you need to get your swirling disco dancing friends heated up into a frenzy without having to get behind the one's and two's, and that's always a blessing when you're feeling a bit ropey after the club's ended.

Susumu Yakota

Mother

Susumu Yokota returns with one of his most engaging albums to date, with every track a gently glowing gem. The set features the vocal talents of Casper Clausen (Efterklang), Anna Bronsted (Our Broken Garden), Claire Hope (The Chap), Panos Ghikas (The Chap), Nancy Elizabeth, Caroline Ross and Kaori. Yokota creates an album full of great songs within a mesmerising web of sound made of subtle rhythms and deep tones. From the almost soft bossa vibes of "Love Tendrilises" to the fractured folk of "A Flower White", the electronic jazz of "A Ray Of Light" and the Twin Peaks beauty of "Meltwater", this as an album that repays deep and repeated listening.

Tracklisting
1. Love Tendrilises - vocals by Casper Clausen (Efterklang) & Anna Bronsted (Our Broken Garden)
2. Breeze - vocals by Nancy Elizabeth
3. A Ray Of Light - vocals by Nancy Elizabeth
4. A Flower White - vocals by Nancy Elizabeth
5. The Natural Process - vocals by Caroline Ross
6. Reflect Mind - vocals by Nancy Elizabeth and Kaori
7. Inside Foresighted - vocals by Kaori
8. Meltwater - vocals by Caroline Ross and Kaori
9. Tree Surgeon - vocals by Kaori, ClaireHope (The Chap) & Panos Ghikas (The Chap)
10. Suture - vocals by Casper Clausen (Efterklang) & Anna Bronsted (Our Broken Garden)
11. Bonda - vocals by Kaori
12. 12 Days 12 Nights - vocals by Nancy Elizabeth
13. Warmth


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