Al de Leon

The mainstreaming of dance music has started to open the eyes and ears of a culture with rock 'n' roll coded in its DNA--America. Unfortunately it's also enabled record labels to flood the market with sub-par mix CDs. This is where Satoshi Tomiie's "Renaissance 3D" cuts through the glut, delivering the Japanese superstar's blend of all things house in a comprehensive three-disc package.

First blowing up the scene in 1989 when he collaborated with Frankie Knuckles on the seminal house track "Tears," he's now a fixture on DJ Magazine's Top 100 DJs poll.

Speaking from Australia, Tomiie explains his latest oeuvre: "This is really a great concept. The approach is different for the three CDs." Disc one is meant to recreate the vibe of seeing Tomiie play at a club, offering an energetic mix of funky house, leaning toward the techy side at times, with plenty of bleeps and fuzzy 808 basslines. On the aptly dubbed second disc, "Studio," Tomiie reworked seven of his productions and remixes into exclusive edits for this album. From the dark and harrowing chants of Slok's "Lonely Child" to the feathery vocals of Kelli Ali in Tomiie's "Love and Traffic," the creative track selection builds a range of emotions.

"Home," the third disc, was Tomiie's favorite to create. "It's almost like I'm making a tape for my friends--what I'd recommend from my favorite tracks. These are my influences." Indeed "Home" makes you feel like Tomiie invited you to his spot in NYC to thumb through his downtempo and jazz crates. Any DJ who connects Sneaker Pimps' trip-hop with Jaco Pastorius' mad genius on the fretless bass deserves props.

While Tomiie hasn't spun in Chicago for more than a year, he thinks the city's role in the creation of house music makes it an interesting place to play. Like Japan, he said the dance-music communities in Chicago and other U.S. cities thrive despite their size. "For the amount of people who live there, the club scene is relatively small. In Europe, it's for everybody. But people [in the U.S.] who are into it are really into it, so that's good."

Satohi Tomiie spins at Sound-Bar, 226 West Ontario, (312)787-4480, on March 10.

(2006-03-07)

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