The Space Age Genius of Tomita

Before Air or Aphec Twin, there was Isao Tomita. Born in Tokyo, Japan in the early 30s, he’s often overlooked for similar sound pioneers. While Kraftwerk and The Radiophonic Workshop were rightly praised for their forward-thinking approach to electronic music in Europe, Tomita was quietly, brilliantly, doing his own thing in Japan. Sadly, his passing in 2016 went largely unannounced by the media- at least, certainly here in the UK.

His second album, Snowflakes Are Dancing, created in 1973, is still a thing of eccentric, space age beauty and wonder. Using analog synths like Moogs and an experimental flavour with Mellotron, he created sounds with all the bells and whistles (literally, like birdsong) we’ve come to expect from electronic music, a decade before pop stars like Duran Duran, Human League, Japan, Depeche Mode, etc found their new wave synthesizer template. His own compositions and reworkings of Debussy are stargazing symphonies.

Classical music was rendered otherworldly and actually pretty adorable. It’s almost bordering on kitsch sometimes, given his Iove of quirky FX, but it sounds like past and future. Turn on the radio today, and at least three contemporary tracks will have a dash of Tomita sauce. It’s surely no coincidence he looks like Spock on the record sleeve. This music has lived long, and prospered.