Unless you are an avid reader of album credits, Satoshi Tomiie is not an immediately recognisable name. The Japanese DJ has spent most of his career behind the scenes, remixing and producing. His roster includes dance crooner Ultra Nate and pop R & B stars Toni Braxton and Mariah Carey.
That relative anonymity however is likely to change with the upcoming release of his first full-length solo album, due to hit stores world-wide early next year. Tokyo-born Tomiie, who will spin in Hong Kong next week, says that the as-yet-untitled album will be a far cry from the usual house music work he is known for.
'The album is a mixture of various styles of music I like. From the R & B stuff, to the crazy, dance floor friendly tracks. And some really jazzy stuff. It's like I'm on a musical journey,' he said from his home base of New York this week.
His epic, likely to be a double-album of 20 of his constructions, has been eagerly awaited for two years. Although it is slated for a March release, Tomiie is still putting a 'who knows?' tag on the album.
'I'm tired of saying I'm still working on the album,' he said. 'Some people just take more time. Plus, I'm not the type to only want to do house music, I've been taking the time to write various styles, and it's getting hard for me to pick songs,' he said of the 40 pieces he has already put together.
The first single off the album, Come To Me, was released in Japan in August. The track features Diane Charlemagne, best known for her work on drum and bass king Goldie's track Inner City Life. The second single, Darkness, will be released in Britain next week.
'Darkness is an underground club track. Britain and New York are more club-oriented markets than Japan. Instead of starting with Come To Me there, which is radio friendly for those countries, it'll be cool to start with a more underground track.' House music fans will most likely think the rest of the album was worth the wait. Tomiie already received critical acclaim under the name Shellshock in 1996 with the single K-Jee, and his work with New York-based Def Mix Productions is well known in house music circles. It was luminary DJ Frankie Knuckles, dubbed the 'Godfather of House', who first discovered Tomiie in 1988.