Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely stunning., 5 Oct 2004
I have to admit, I bought this on a whim with a view to padding out my CD collection with some ambient recordings. Prior to this, I'd not heard of Susumu Yokota but although 'Sakura' is the first of his albums I've listened to, it won't be the last.To describe the tracks as chillout music would be crass in the extreme, as there's a mixture of styles here ranging from dreamy synth-driven works ('Saku'), through mellow techno (the awesome 'Genshi') right up to the full-on jazz-style noodling of 'Naminote'. Even so, the end results are blissful, almost organic sounding and in some cases deeply moving. Apparently Yokota has a fairly strong reputation as a producer, and on the strength of this work it's not difficult to understand why. Comparisons between 'Sakura' and the early work of Brian Eno are justified too. Like some of Eno's earlier albums, 'Sakura' can be a bit hard to swallow in one go, at least initially. However perseverance pays off and, to be perfectly honest, I can't think of a better album to listen to with the lights turned low - not a mood-lifting album by any means, but certainly mood provoking, and that can't be bad. To consider Susumu Yokota as an underrated genius isn't wide of the mark.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than a nightcap..., 8 May 2005
Whenever my brain feels sore, beaten and withered up like a dried plum, I tend to have a bath, or a beer, or even both. But then I bought 'Sakura' with an interested curiousity that it would shine as much a Susumu's other work. After just one play, I rapidly realised that I would need neither a beer nor a bath to feel soothed and rejuvenated. This album contains some of the most inspiring and beautifully rendered sounds I have come across.
Expect cinematic collages of sound and masterfully layered styles that melt into a recording that Brian Eno, Phillip Glass and Aphex Twin probably all wish they had made themselves.
It is a veritable mind tonic.
Fantabulous
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mesmeric, 17 Mar 2006
There is a tranquillity in Yokota's 'Sakura' that in the hands of others would become sterility. With each track, Yokota seamlessly transports the listener through his idyllic paradise, presumably the isle much of this work is inspired by. From the opening, unadorned bass pulse of 'Saku', string-like synths arrive from what seems like miles away, wrapping themselves into a cocoon of dreamy, otherworldy music. The method will not blow you away, as there are barely any dramatic shifts in Yokota's armoury here, but like with the curtain of distant rainfall ever-present through 'Taku', this artist works through steady accumulation that is mostly just as satisfying and effective: you sense the artist revels in crystallizing a momentary wonder into a flowing, unravelling experience.
Unlike Aphex Twin's Ambient Works, there is little disparity of mood in this album. Whereas Aphex's work can shift from mesmeric beauty to the paranoid and nightmarish, Yokota's work presents a smoother listening experience, taking some of the aforementioned artist's stellar beauty and mixing it with the synth-rich warmth and playfulness of Air. Indeed, where Aphex's melodies would drift for the best part of ten minutes, Yokota involves livelier and more vivified arrangements that are in a constant process of evolution, gradually filtering in and out beautiful sounds, continuing others; for instance, the end of 'Tobiume' sees a mellifluous, reverbed guitar cleanly picking in the background: the effect is similar to Air's 'Walkie Talkie' album, yet in the hands of a master like Yokota, you are barely aware of the addition. As a result, 'Sakura' consistently represents an organic, natural experience, pleasingly removed from the austere, esoteric atmosphere of Ambient Works Volume II.
Other songs try and test the parameters of ambient to its limits. 'Uchu Tanjyo' brings some clattering, tribal beats to the sonic table, hatching a bubbling, tremeloed bass to their rhythm as a voice rambles over it all: the effect is interesting, but it is one of the lesser lights on this bright album, although in the context of the sonic landscape, you do feel as though this is just another of the surprises on Yokota's island - signs of life perhaps.
'Genshi' begins with a sinuous, burbling bass that threatens to at any point lift of into the realms of one of Yokota's house excursions; however, despite the insistent pace, a slow organ melody and backing strings are imposed on the rhythm, engendering the sense of watching the world go by from the train, that feeling of stasis and movement combined. It demonstrates the feeling of adventure in this work, even more so Yokota's dexterity in marrying disparate tempos to form a cohesive texture.
The end to this album is slightly disappointing, however. ‘Kirakiraboshi’ features some lovely twinkling melodies but ultimately lacks the strength of composition that is found in earlier tracks such as ‘Hisen’, as after a couple of minutes it fizzles out. Yokota could also involve more chord progression switches in his music a little more often, as it is the shift from the choral, classical instrumentation in ’Hisen’ to the soothing organ coda on ’Hysen’ that is the albums highlight. Although the steady process of weaving sounds in and out of set basslines does work on songs such as ‘Saku’, on others such as ‘Hagoromo’ the effect feels tedious and underwhelming.
Overall, however, a magnificent ambient album, and one that promises much for the future.
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