Ryuichi Sakamoto S/D

interesting bit in the recent Mouse on Mars interview:

One of the many distinct ingredients within Idiology is the distortion that drives immediate standouts like the noise-punk single “Actionist Respoke.” Ryuichi Sakamoto’s reps actually reached out to the duo around this time to ask if they could produce a similar beat for the composer. Since it was more of a work-for-hire situation than a proper collaboration, they politely declined and were surprised to hear a similar technique surface on Sakamoto’s next pop record.

“They basically reconstructed the beat from ‘Actionist Respoke’,” explains St. Werner. “It made me laugh because it was so cleanly distorted. I thought, ‘Oh God, they put [the song] through some distortion device and obviously used pedals or plugins.’”

anyone know what track St. Werner is referring to here? the Actionist Respoke single came out in early 2001...Sakamoto was pretty much done making pop by that point, so I am guessing this is Chasm, which I suppose is as much as "pop record" as you'll get out of him in the 21st Century. so then the track must be "Coro"?

Nice to see an upgraded version of this, wonder if he was a fan of Cabaret Voltaire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Quev-hsqR9w

I know he was a fan of Throbbing Gristle.

This is quite quite lovely

https://x.com/istevejansen/status/1759165971690815719?s=46&t=byMYjCp2JCdH5mkSaZqRBQ

The other day I decided to figure out where exactly Hosono's guest appearance on the Thousand Knives version of Thousand Knives happens -- he's credited with finger cymbals. Knowing Hosono's sense of humor I figured he'd show up for one clink and then back right out, but no, he's actually quite prominent from about 7:30 through the end!

Seeing Opus tomorrow. Anyone see it yet? Good NY Times review:

The twin themes of “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus” are art and mortality, and they’re twisted so tightly together that they become inextricable. Shot in black and white to match the keys of the piano, the film entirely consists of the influential Japanese musician’s final concert. One might say it was a performance for nobody — Sakamoto filmed alone in a studio, with only the crew there as audience. But it’s more correct to say it’s for us, a gift from a master.

NHK have a documentary coming out next week called 'Last Days' that looks interesting.

https://www.barks.jp/news/?id=1000245935

I did go to see Opus. I am putting my thoughts behind a spoiler.

I was enthusiastic, going in, hoping that the performance would reflect RS's more recent albums, prepared piano and/or collaboration. This was not to be the case. The first half of the concert film finds RS playing pieces of solo piano music that I didn't recognise, very slow, very banal. The pieces were not complex in any regard, and felt to me as if they could be improvised-- not just by RS, but really, by any pianist. Only the sheet music in front of him indicated that he was playing composed music. I found this part of the film frustrating. This frustration was compounded by a sense of guilt that I did not appreciate the epigrammatic quality of the performance. I sat and wished I hadn't come.

In the middle of the film, he plays a brutally slow chorale for prepared piano-- it is gorgeous. He followed it with some kind of extrapolation on themes from "Merry Christmas, Mr. Laurence", which was also transcendent. The pieces were getting more interesting. I noticed other people in the theatre were snoring, more than one, probably two or three. I started to feel, myself, very sleepy. I didn't want to fall asleep in the theatre, so I told the friend I was with that I would go to concessions, buy some popcorn, and listen to the music from the lobby. I did so, and listened to the last six-or-so pieces with popcorn. One of the last pieces was a very-beautiful rendition of "Forbidden Colours".

My friend and I agreed that the film felt like it would work better if presented as accompaniment to other activities. That we'd both enjoy having the film on at home as we cooked dinner or cleaned house or whatever. We were walking to the subway. I was talking about how much I admired RS as a film composer. A woman walking near us interrupted our conversation to jump in. She had attended the same screening, by herself. We chatted with her all the way to the subway and rode the subway with her, in conversation.

She was a Sakamoto superfan. She'd travelled from the West Coast to Toronto just to attend this screening. She referenced every song that RS had played, she clearly knew everything about it. She told me that Opus was the full version of a previous concert film, that a six-song cut of the film had made the rounds already. She seemed very enthusiastic about the film, and I didn't want to express my comparative lack-of-enthusiasm to her to colour her experience, so I kept my feelings to myself. I feel inclined to keep my feelings to myself, now, even, which is why I put the spoiler tag on these paragraphs.

I did tell her that I did want to see a Sakamoto documentary. One that covered YMO and so on. She recommended Coda, which I've added to my watch list.

tl;dr, I wouldn't recommend seeing this film in cinema to anybody who finds Sakamoto's music to, at times, be wallpaper-y. You may find yourself bored, as I was. I would recommend this film to anybody who desires to watch it at home, where it can serve as accompaniment.

Seeing it on a second date, so if the theater isn't full, that could work out right. Thanks for all the info! And definitely curious about Coda as well.

And not to digress, but seeing a screening of The Raid later today, so this could be an all-time contrasting double feature.

Sorry my formatting was bogus, was hoping to hide all that info. I actually think it might make for an excellent make-out-in-the-theatre soundtrack, may things work out in your and your date's favour!

It's showing at the film fest here, I didn't try to make my partner go for fear it would be boring, especially without any context.

Also missing the Ennio Morricone and Richard Davis docs. :(

Funny this thread resurfaces alongside the PiL Album thread, I had no idea RS played on that

It worked just right having fgti's first paragraph osbscured by spoiler alert but reading the rest before going, and then going back to that first graf.

I was amazed by how it was shot, with no shot seemingly repeated twice. Totally get what fgti wrote about the music itself (great to hear it from your perspective). Would love to see this format with other solo pianists.

And it was a great date movie as far as being able to pay attention to it moment by moment without fully concentrating on it (as I would with any plot-driven movie).

When I'm listening to Summer Nerves and think that Ryuichi Sakamoto studied composition at university... I realize that here is someone who truly used his powers for good.