A fine example of
Susumu Yokota's dancefloor-oriented output,
1998 has little in common with the ambient albums that would earn him widespread acclaim a few years down the line, save perhaps for its attention to sonic detail and plenty of meditative repetition. More indebted to vintage electronic disco than the hard-nosed techno of his earliest work and replete with fluid basslines and loungy snatches of sax and vibraphone, it's comparable (in terms of its titular release year) to the groovily hedonistic "French touch" perpetrated by the likes of
Cassius and
Etienne de Crecy. With a couple of playfully jazzy midtempo cut-ups ("Golden Stamen" and "Cat and Rabbit") to break up the relentlessly energetic flow, the bulk of the disc is comprised of competent, funky, and good-natured if somewhat faceless house.