Susumu Yokota

Sound of Sky is filled with deep and jazzy house music. Japanese producer Yokota's album takes breakbeats and regular house beats and combines them with trumpet, vibes, bells and a few subtle vocals to create a very relaxing album. The opening track, "Nothing Time," is a great fusion of trumpet and breakbeats that proceeds at a mid-paced tempo. "Sky Blue" takes the voices of children and meshes them with crisp house beats, while "Crash Marble" bears an odd rhythmic resemblance to the Clash's "Rock the Casbah." Yokota has been producing music for many years, from techno to house to more experimental sounds, which can easily be heard in the piano work on "King of Darkness," and in the occasionally eerie synth sounds of the other tracks. As deep house goes, this is good material; he varies the tempo and the sounds he uses but still holds it together as a coherent album. It's also a very relaxing release that's easy to listen to at home.