Yasutaka Sato aka Virgo seems to be the latest Japanese electronica artist to be rediscovered by the west. Since this belated celebration is accompanied by his music being pressed onto vinyl for the first time, you’ll get no complaints from me. 

A Virgo track, Prelude, featured on Music For Dreams’ brilliant, Eiji Taniguchi complied Virtual Dreams II, then Nik Weston’s Mukatsuku Records put System For Zodiac on a 12. The latter was lifted from Virgo’s 1998 debut, Landform Code, and now WRWTFWW have repressed the entire long-player. 

The album was clearly created on a limited amount of gear. While the tracks vary in tempo and melody, they’re all painted from an almost identical palette. Everything revolves around sighing, ethereal string synths, bubbling acidic b-lines and busy, intricate programmed beats. The mood, in the main, is also largely the same. The vibe really romantic, and, despite sometimes racing rhythms, always chilled. The building blocks might be similar, but this isn’t an issue. There are no standouts as such, because each piece is a standout. The quality is consistently that high. 

The set is a cohesive, seamless end-to-end listen, and, because of the way it’s been constructed, it’s super easy to submit to. It’s also one that happily tips its hat to previous techno pioneers and landmarks. The chiming counterpoint of Arcadia and System For Zodiac, for example, appear to reference John Beltran’s Ten Days Of Blue. The squelchy robotic funk and wilfully warped chords of both Proxima Scope and The Creation Of Typology nod toward Carl Craig’s More Songs About Food & Revolutionary Art. Diadem and Nostalgia echo Black Dog, Steve Pickton and Kirk Degiorgio’s early work. The urgent, emotive, furiously flickering Monochrome Sky recalls Rhythim Is Rhythim’s Icon. At the other end of the BPM spectrum, the closing Last Moment, is a slow, serene sunset slice of cinematic, ambient acid. 

While the record wears these influences on its sleeve, its tracks are not attempts at slavish copies. Instead their genius is filtered, rendered, differently, interpreted uniquely via Virgo’s imagination and machines.

Virgo’s Landform Code can be ordered directly from WRWTFWW.

A big thank you to Steve at The Chillout Tent for the heads up.