Susumu Yokota: Acid Mt. Fuji (180g) Vinyl 3LP

1994 Japanese minimal acid techno masterpiece remastered and reissued with 5 rare bonus tracks on vinyl for the first time. Expanded gatefold includes extensive liner notes by Alex From Tokyo, one of Susumu Yokota's friends and contemporaries. Here's the original Lab review for an earlier reissue of the album:

Like so many lost classics of modern Japanese music, the prolific Susumu Yokota’s monumental Acid Mt. Fuji album (1994) was initially only released on CD, and has never been made available on the cumbersome but beloved vinyl format until now. Not quite as zen as the cover art suggests, the eleven pillars of austere techno contained within are as monolithic as the titular Fuji itself, unhurriedly shapeshifting like the omnipresent peak on Japan’s distant horizon line. Not sure if anyone else has pointed this out already but it seems like the record has been richly sculpted to resemble the incline of an actual mountain; perfectly symmetrical with the placid, sea-level bookends “Zenmai” and “Tanuki” situated at the album’s base, moving upwards into the hypnotic “Kinoko,” “Meijijingu” and “Alphaville” on either side, lurching further skyward with “Saboten,” “Oh my God,” “Oponche,” “Ao-oni” and “Akafuji” delivering on the album’s acid promises, and finally, the wispy and breathless drum trax “Tambarin” teetering dead center atop the mountain’s snow-capped apex. We’re partial to the misty A and D sides, particularly “Kinoko” and “Tanuki,” but lovers of vintage Plastikman needn’t shy away from the album’s more acidic moments. At times, Acid Mt. Fuji can be as brutal as the elements at 12,000 feet, and the back cover of the original CD release (on Sublime Records, ha) promises a “Pure Techno Experience,” which we have no choice but to agree with. Recommended.

• 30th anniversary edition expanded w/ (5) rare bonus tracks on vinyl for the 1st time
• 180g black triple vinyl pressing
• housed in gatefold sleeve w/ extensive liner notes by Alex From Tokyo
• original release year: 1994
• music label: Midgar 2024

reviewed by tom violence 01/2019