Doopee Time

Yann Tomita is a bit of a mad scientist. The Japanese percussionist learned his instrument of choice, the steelpan drum, from a pilgrimage to Trinidad and Tobago after becoming obsessed with the resonant sound, having heard them on a Van Dyke Parks record. He’d go on to put his talent to proof with an eclectic range of styles, from reggae to acid jazz to hip-hop (he even produced a pioneering Japanese rap record, Seiko Ito’s MESS/AGE). On his Doopees project, he’d synthesize all these interests and more into a singular record, combining calypso rhythms with ’60s crooner ballads, working in a healthy amount of space-age synth. There’s nothing else like it, on this planet or any other.