About

Yokota's most upbeat and playful release on the Skintone label. A wild melange of bumping beats, freestyle samples and esoteric goodness.

—

Initially only appearing as a limited, vinyl-only release, it is clear that Will was intended as a low-key and cathartic return to Yokota’s bread and butter- house music.

If Grinning Cat was a playful exploration of memory and hazy jubilation, Will is a cathartic surrender to the groove, intended for the feet as much as the mind. 

Will is in many senses, an anomaly in the Skintone catalogue. On inspection, the artwork echoes the monochromatic minimalism of his previous effort of the same year, Grinning Cat, with its trompe l’oeil horizontal bars revealing a hazy italic rendering of the word Will in the bottom right-hand corner. This canny visual trickery also characterises the sonic imprint of the record, which shares the playfulness and jubilation of Grinning Cat, but looks more to the soulful, sashaying instrumentation on its spiritual predecessors 1998 and 1999 on Tokyo’s Sublime Records. It is, in a way, strange that it didn’t drop on Sublime, but given Yokota’s withdrawal from the proscriptive and commercialised Tokyo techno scene in 1998, it makes sense that he would unleash any future dance music efforts on his own label; an ode to his legendary Skintone party, where friends would play a wide and loose range of deep, filter, french and oddball house sounds of the time. It is into this world which Will is launched, with its structures and sample choices slotting it in with the early 00s house and broken beat zeitgeist. What sets it apart however, is Yokota’s mastery of timbre and juxtaposition, with crystal cascades of acoustic trickery riding organic, rolling drum programming and bold rearrangements of the conventional mixer levels on many house records of the time. — (via Label)

Including an essay by Ben Eshmade in the liner notes: “This album is still a strong statement of absurdity, perversity and humour from a composer who was by his mid-career. crackling and buzzing with electricity of infinite ideas. Here are stories he told in sound, inspired by energy, sweat, smell and recollected glamour of a hazy, lost dance floor”

—

Recorded around the same time as Grinning Cat, Will is one of Susumu Yokota's most playful club records, a set of jazzy deep house, speed garage and broken beat grooves spiked with his unmistakable palette of samples.

Will might have been released in 2001, but it's not anywhere near as well known as Grinning Cat. That might simply be because up until that point, Yokota's dancefloor material had been supplied via Tokyo's Sublime imprint, who released the epochal 1998' and '1999. Having become disillusioned with Japan's club scene, Yokota handled 'Will' himself, putting on Skintone and although it made sense sonically - the release is considered an ode to his loose-limbed Skintone nights in Tokyo - it's one of his more obscure collections. Listening now, it sounds at times like a speeded up, fattened version of Grinning Cat, all rickety drum breaks and piano loops. It's almost like Yokota is challenging himself - proving that, with a full sampler of material, he can write anything. Just check 'Rabbit Earring' with its awkwardly cycling piano and orchestral phrases that Yokota contrasts with more traditionally house-y vocals, sleigh bells and hard-swung congas. 

In the wrong hands, this kind of blend would be chaotic, but Yokota is a listener, first and foremost - he produced music that he liked to listen to. On 'Alpine Nation', he makes the link between speed garage and Swiss classical music, slicing single piano notes, echoing vocal shouts and distant woodwind alongside filtered basslines and a classic 4x4, and 'Red Door' makes an even wilder juxtaposition, coming off like a St Germain remix of 'Music For 18 Musicians'. — (via Boomkat)

—

Part of the Skintone Edition series of re-issues.

Limited Edition grey marbled vinyl 2x12” vinyl LP housed in 2 x PMS printed inner sleeves featuring custom fonts by Non Format and spot gloss abstraction of the original album artwork.

Accompanied with a double sided 2-panel insert and double sided 4 panel poster.

All sleeved in a custom PMS 7mm wide spine reverse board outer sleeve with die cut square centre panel and belly band.

In memory of Susumu Yokota. These reissues are brought to you in association with the Yokota family, in celebration of the extraordinary legacy of his music. Made with love and respect.

Under exclusive license to Lo Recordings from Skintone Records.

Vinyl Tracklist
A1 Level 21
A2 Alpine Nation
B1 Red Door
B2 Illusion River
C1 Pegasus Man
C2 Black Sea
D1 Pony Tail
D2 Rabbit Earring

↓
Label: Lo Recordings
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, Grey Marbled
Reissued: 2025 / Originally Released: 2001
Genre: Electronic
Style: House, Deep House

File under: Japanese Electonic
⦿