Yokota, Susumu: Unreleased Works '94 - '97 LP

Lovers of Susumu Yokota’s mid-‘90s ‘Acid Mt. Fuji’ era will be licking their lips for this previously unheard ruck of slow-to-quicksilver acid and psychedelic techno trips par excellence, on David Fogarty’s retronaut label Transmigration.

Salvaged from a set of DATs given the label by Ray Castle, who received them from the Japanese acid maestro circa 1994’s ‘AcidMt. Fuji’ and ‘Zen’ as Ebi, these eight gems have evidently lost none of their lustre over the last 30 years. They plug heads directly into a classic phase of acid, techno, and ambient experimentation whose durable results prevail to resonate contemporary ‘floors, and should be filed up there with sterling examples from Plastikman to Ø, AFX and Tin Man.

For our ¥ the most choice cuts are the opening, slow storms of acid harnessing his Roland boxes to dreamiest traction, as with the 9 min meld of shoreside sounds, whining sine waves and chime trees that precipitate the creamiest slow acid in ‘Dust’, and again with the sexiest writhe in ‘Wave’, both acutely recalling Vladimir Ivkovic’s sets of decelerated Goa trance or the type of throwbacks conjured by Full Circle.

But that’s not to discount the rest, which also impresses at higher velocities ready for full club flight. His ‘Obsession’ and ‘Thirteen’ surely hark to peak Analogue Bubblebath, and the clinically clean and spacious floatation device ‘Dove’ is a sure prototype for Tin Man decades down the line. Farther up the BPMs ‘No Way Back’ rides jabbing 303 and singing hi-hats at 135BPM, and ‘Fortune’ keeps the ticker up with urgent groove and chattering choral motif bound to get the yoghurt weavers going at 5am.