Lo Recordings
2006
Wonder Waltz
About This Album
As the title suggests, each of the selections on Wonder Waltz is in triple meter, which is fairly unusual for electronica, if nothing necessarily remarkable in itself. (It would be a stretch to call most of them "waltzes," since some are clearly felt in six and others are either extremely loose or convoluted, rhythmically speaking -- the obvious exception being "Merrygoround," a circus-like early Yokota composition that's reprised here from Image: 1983-1998.) But it will have to suffice as a unifying concept, since apart from the presence of (mostly female) vocals on all but a couple of them, it's just about the only thing these 14 tracks have in common. This is almost certainly Yokota's most varied album to date, gesturing at a dozen or more styles (trip-hop, electro, tango, gamelan, Indian classical music, breakbeat IDM, folk, and beyond) while remaining essentially undefined and abstract. In that sense it both reflects and transcends most of what the hyperprolific Japanese producer has accomplished to date, recalling everything from his straight-ahead house and techno material (the three-on-the-floor thud of "Siva Dance") to his majestic ambient work (the voiceless closer "Holy Ground," a minimal meditation on Yokota's beloved bell sounds.
Track List (try tracks 2,5 and 10)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.