Ryuichi Sakamoto S/D

Summer Nerves !

Thousand Knives is my fav though

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LI2mHRycJ4&feature=related

I don't have anything bad to say about Ryuichi Sakamoto apart from the fact that his catalogue is so deep that I'm always finding something that I don't already have. If anything is inessential, it's the multiple collections of already released stuff, and perhaps the one that collects the work he did for commercials. But I almost always still enjoy them.

Even though I know they're not necessarily his best, I still have a soft spot for Illustrated Musical Encyclopaedia, Neo Geo and Beauty - the lush pop he was doing back was something that helped to move me away from a diet of strictly commercial music.

Just picked up a newish double CD on Decca called Playing the Piano / Out of Noise...First CD is solo piano reinterpretations of some of his soundtrack and pop work, and it's really hitting the spot. The other one explores where noise and environment intersect, apparently with some of it recorded underwater and on top of glaciers in Greenland...and some of this is supposed to follow along from some of the work he's done with Alva Noto. Haven't listened through much of it yet but I'm hoping it'll also become a favourite like some of the work he's done with Carsten and Fennesz over the last few years.

There's a quote in the liner notes for this one about how typically as people get older their musical tastes tend to get narrower, but that he's finding his getting wider thanks to his exposure to this new generation of musician collaborators and compatriots...I like to think that I'm along for the ride of continual palette expansion too, but I have to admit that he's certainly helping me along in that regard.

i sold him a copy of bonjour tristesse

He's gone way too minimal and glitchy lately. The HASYMO single he was part of a few years is my last favorite thing by him. Those chords!

Search GEM Collection if you can find it. It's a wonderful collection of synthy odds n' ends from the early to mid 80's that spans a variety of styles - from J Pop to Fairlight + beatbox exercises.

a few years ago

he is very attractive

he might win the women think he's the hottest category, true

http://images.peaceandflood.fr/images/916836RyuichiSakamoto.jpg

I've been listening the fuck out of Esperanto since r1o posted his thread on it the other day. I probably like it even more than 1000 Knives.

To anyone who didn't like Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia - seek out the Japanese version, called Ongaku Zukan; only about half the tracks from the original release wound up on the American version. This one includes "Replica" which is absolutely stunning and one of my favorite pieces of his.

B-2 Unit and Esperanto are indeed great albums, but they took me forever to really get into, especially the latter. Kind of minimal but very cool and revolutionary. Also seek the "Warhead" 12" and the "Forbidden Colours" single with the Bamboo tracks. Otherwise if you're in the market for more cool experimental electronic stuff, you can always check out Hosono's discography.

Search GEM Collection if you can find it. It's a wonderful collection of synthy odds n' ends from the early to mid 80's that spans a variety of styles - from J Pop to Fairlight + beatbox exercises.

― François de Roobabe (Capitaine Jay Vee), Friday, February 5, 2010 5:22 AM (1 year ago)

I can't find this anywhere — halp

also the alternate mix of "Happy End" that's on the Arrangement EP is the shit — should've been on BGM imo

Never heard the Arrangement EP; this is more Left Handed Dream stuff isn't it? Loved that album

Currently have an RS tune stuck in my head, but can't remember what it is!! The only line is "good morning, good evening, where are you?"

half the tracks are versions of LHD songs with added lyrics sung by Robin Scott (the "Pop Musik" guy). I don't really like them, but the second half are tracks that weren't on the album (with the different mix of "Happy End")

"good morning, good evening, where are you?"

this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0ycccAwO7I

There's a nice update of that song on the Playing the Piano album - I'm pretty sure that's one of the tracks he played during his Toronto concert too.

I'll have to check it out then...that's one of his best albums, I always randomly get "Venezia" stuck in my head too

Recently got a few Akiko Yano albums; no thread about her here but so far her early albums (at least) seem to really be a treat...anyone heard of them??

I've heard "Ai Ga Nakucha Ne" (sp) — has all the YMO members contributing music iirc and a duet with David Sylvian. Her voice is nice, has kind of a young Kate Bush timbre

I like Japanese Girl and I have a great more recent album that I have no idea what it's called because it's nearly all in japanese.

Ah, her website is also in English, it's called 'Honto No Kimochi' and it's aces.

The album that is..

I've been listening to a lot of YMO over the last few years but hadn't really heard much of their solo works up until recently. I did own Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia for a while but just couldn't get into it. I gave B-2 Unit a listen and sadly that didn't click either. I did listen to a lot of Yukihiro Takahashi's albums and fell in love with the run he did from 80-83. I think I prefer his work as it's more similar to the more poppy moments of YMO, especially Naughty Boys which is one of my favourite albums of all time. I really loved Immigrants by the Sandii & The Sunsetz and Tutu by Miharu Koshi which were both produced by Haruomi Hosono. I tried one of his albums but it was a bit harder to get into. If anyone has any other suggestions of which albums I should try that would be greatly appreciated.

Have you heard Sadistic Mika Band?

Cochin Moon is probably Hosono's best, but I listen to Coincidental Music a lot xp

Kitchen - if you're looking for stuff that sounds like YMO, you're not really going to find it, except for those three Takahashi albums, which definitely sound like a YMO-side project, but in a good way. I'd be curious as to which Hosono album you got; he didn't do any solo stuff inside YMO besides Philharmony, which is a very neat album (though a little sparse) - he's definitely the kind of Eno-like artist who can do many many different styles and not look back. I guess I need to know what kind of stuff you're into before I can really say, but as I mentioned Sakamoto's Left Handed Dream is a tough one to go wrong with..

One thing you can do is to find the YEN record compilations; tons of great artists on those, and the YMO members were involved on nearly every release.

btw Paraiso is my favorite Hosono album - but if you like the non-standard/Monad period, please find the soundtrack he did for Nokto de la Galaskia Fervojo, it's seriously amazing in all the ways Hosono usually is. It's one of the coldest sounding albums I own.

Also, maybe check out Sakamoto's 1000 Knives record.

Love to hear those YEN comps.

listening to Ongaku Zukan on your rec btw, frogbs — thanks! I already loved this album so hearing the Japan-only tracks is like finding a secret level in a video game I've played 100 times

Yeah I had a feeling I would struggle to find stuff that sounded just like YMO. It was an amazing moment when I discovered all the Yukihiro albums, like I'd found another batch of lost YMO classics from that great period. I couldn't believe I'd never heard Drip Dry Eyes before. Tomorrow's Just Another Day is probably my favourite album of that run, the production is insane. They were all pretty easy to get on vinyl too unlike a lot of the albums from this scene.

Philharmony was the Hosono album I tried, it was nice enough but not really something I would listen to a lot. I am quite a big Eno fan but as you can probably guess it's the four vocal based albums from his 70's period that I love him for. If there's anymore of Hosono's albums that are slightly poppier or more song based I would give them a go.

I will give Left Handed Dream a listen, I love that artwork. Are those Yen compilations easy to track down?

Not heard anything by Sadistic Mika Band. I get the impression the stuff they all released in the 70's is quite different. I listened to the first Yukihiro album Savannah and I just didn't like it at all, it was almost easy listening Muzak.

It's kind of funny, Hosono had the same type of 'pop' phase but his was more exotica/tropical stuff. His albums with Happy End are really good. I understand if you didn't like Philharmony but can you at least admit that "Sports Man" and "LDK" are first-rate? ;)

A good reference is this:
http://technopop.info/

BTW I would be all for some kind of Japanese New Wave listening club similar to the Krautrock one. I mean that page above lists hundreds of albums and nearly half of them seem to have some link to YMO

corey - I was pretty surprised as well to find that the U.S. release cuts off half of the tracks, and also to realize that "Field Work" and "Steppin' Into Asia" didn't really fit with it at all. Sadly few outside of Japan seem to know about it. It sucks because "Replica" is my favorite RS track (at least, according to iTunes)

iTunes says my most-played RS track is "Dolphins"

BTW, just discovered that if you have access to the Japanese iTunes store, there are oodles of Playing the Piano Live concerts available from the past three years, including the ones he did on his swing through North America this past year. Just downloaded the Toronto show. They're only 1500 yen too, which makes them cheaper than most of the albums on the Japanese store!

I hate to be negative, but I really dislike the piano versions of his older songs — it makes me think of when someone orchestrates the music from the Final Fantasy games. Chintzy and artificial the originals sounds might be, they're a huge part of why I enjoy this music so much, and piano versions just turn them into elevator music imo.

Can see that, sure, but I actually like 'em a lot myself. Have really been enjoying a lot of other piano-based work like Olafur Arnalds and Max Richter etc, and so sometimes these versions really connect with me in a way that some of the 80s and 90s version don't. For example, the original "Amore" was a sophistopop high-gloss thing, but the piano version is quite moody. Not sure how much of this is just my love for the sound of the piano and how much of it is the rearrangement of the songs, though.

"Amore", yep, that's the track, thank you

Found this while perusing the information superhighway.

http://mutant-sounds.blogspot.com/2008/01/vatokyo-mobile-musiclp1982uk.html

been distantly aware of this dude for a really long time and finally picked something up last week and i'm pretty into it! that Left Handed Dream one frogbs mentioned. excellent investment! ($0.49 x 25% employee discount iirc)

Playing the Piano is lovely

Just had a listen to Beauty again; yep, "Amore" is definitely a beautiful tune, but this album is really wonky as a whole - "Rose Music" just irritates me.

If you want to hear the difference between Sakamoto and Hosono, listen to both versions of the Okinawan folk song "Asatoya Yunta" (on the albums Beauty and Paraiso). Sakamoto's is very crisp, precise, and beautiful, while Hosono's is surreal and exotic, to the point where it sounds like the vocals were recorded backwards. I love both versions but Hosono's is really something special.

OoooOOOooooh this has "War Head" on it!! Really wish he wrote more songs like that!!!

yeah — it's like the loopiest songs from Multiplies with awesome synth sounds

http://nonukes2012.jp/en/

That is a lineup worthy of international attention

Also think it's going to be the first time sakamoto and otomo yoshihide have collaborated

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fm20120705a1.html#.T_u_dRB5lP4

I mean, was

And I guess I mean: I'm surprised to have only found out about a kraftwerk / ymo concert the week after it happens

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120717a1.html#.UASBKhB5mSM

ummm, can we please get a DVD of this guys?

Wait, ANDY PARTRIDGE is on B-2 Unit?!??

Made it through a full listen of Sweet Revenge this morning. It has little of what I love about Sakamoto['s 1980s work, which is all I can speak to for now] and yet -- say what you will about the anodyne sophistipop, the man knows how to sustain a mood. And it's "wow, this is awful" moments are awful in a way I have no reference points for, so it's a WEIRD kind of awful, which isn't that awful... and then it ends with this beautiful thing, a Taeko Ohnuki/Sakamoto co-write:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B1SHrZy9R8

I don't exactly want to put myself through the ordeal again soon, when I could be playing Summer Nerves or Ongaku Zukan instead. But I *respect* its bizarre artistic choices and may need to return to it down the line.

I like Smoochy but I'm hoping Discord makes an eternal break with the "international world music superstar" chapter of his career. Futurista is wonderful, and Neo Geo is great, and half of Beauty is great, and Heartbeat has its moments, and Sweet Revenge is uh ... so there's a depressing sense of diminishing returns, up until Smoochy which feels like a "here's what I've learned this decade" culmination, and doesn't suck at all.

I made myself an edit of the Handmaid's Tale soundtrack (1991) that excises the traditional hymns, and have played that several times over the last few days -- it's good! Dense and dark and heavy on the synth atmospherics.

Feels like, in the '90s, he stayed truer to himself (or to be fair... to the version of himself that I fell in love with) on the soundtracks than on the solo albums.

That said, I listened to the last four tracks on Heartbeat today and realized I really like all four. My Sakamoto dive is an exploration in progress, and it's encouraging that my thoughts change nonstop.

One thing that hasn't changed over the past half year: Wings of Honneamise is my favorite Sakamoto release of all.

How beautiful is Esperanto?!!!

Oh the joy of connections... Shigesato Itoi, who wrote most of the lyrics for Left Handed Dream and often wrote for / co-wrote with Akiko Yano too, went on to work with Miyazaki on the Japanese taglines of the Ghibli films, and even voiced the dad in Totoro.

That specific connection really blew my mind when working through the solo albums of each YMO member!

Shigesato Itoi also created the Mother/Earthbound series of video games, and that game's composer was in a band called The Beatniks with YMO drummer Yukihiro Takahashi. Lots of YMO-like music in those games.

and that game's composer was in a band called The Beatniks with YMO drummer Yukihiro Takahashi. Lots of YMO-like music in those games.

Keiichi Suzuki, yes! -- who is all over Morio Agata's vast catalogue too, including some of its most beautiful corners. As it happens, I'm finishing up my nteenth replay of Seiken Densetsu 3 and was wondering what to play next. I never got around to Mother as a kid. I think it's time.

I recommend starting with Mother 2/Earthbound.

Took this as a sign to finally start a playthrough of Seiken Densetsu 3 (and check out some Morio Agatha records).

I started a file in Earthbound a few days back. So far so awesome. The dialogue!! The battles!

Enjoy, Travis. SD3 is pretty immediate, Agata maybe less so, but bear with him and at some point you're sure to find he's blown your head right off, the sneaky fucker.

The Neo Geo discussion on the Ongaku Zukan poll thread made me think about why an artist as accomplished as Sakamoto would want to work with a producer like Laswell, whose “car crash” cross cultural experiments were very hit and miss compared to Ryuichi. And I have to think at least part of the answer was Laswell’s Rolodex.

Neo Geo may be kind of a more downtown spin on Ongaku Zukan but it def. paved the way for his All Star collabs with Robbie Robertson, Robert Wyatt, Brian Wilson, Youssou N’Dour, Sly and Robbie, etc. Which weren’t necessarily successful but def. sort of enhanced his reputation and industry power in a way I suspect Andy Partridge, Robin Scott and Adrian Belew couldn’t really.

Over the years, I've noticed the Anglo fan contingent keeps having problems with Beauty, Heartbeat &tc. Where's the problem exactly? It's like there's a snub of implied bad faith in these formal and language experiments he was doing - how so? Why would "Neo Geo" as a concept to these albums be a failure? Conversely to British fans, Gen-X Italian ones near-unanimously regard Beauty as his acme among Sakamoto's pop albums. Where's the rocki$t main$tream $hark-jump there? Because I don't hear it. I hear a rightfully ambitious music that is more communicative/engaging than before, because it's based on novel socio-global ideas and not just artfully/tidily formal or stylistic ones like the works up to '87. The collision between Foster/dub/Okinawa in "Romance", to name but one out of several possible examples on Beauty, is much more than just a cool or artful concoction - the enthusiasm in that heady mix is palpable, and contagious. The stretch from Beauty to Chasm has no business being scoffed at.

I love Beauty and Heartbeat. I think the former makes slightly more sense in its original Japanese tracklist vs the UK one which adds the (awesome, but out-of-place) You Do Me single. I think Heartbeat is more slept on than anything else - it's not on the streamers. Maybe people bump on the 90s synth presets, but these things are cyclical and those sounds are v in-vogue right now.

Cloud #9 is one of my favourite Sylvian/Sakamoto joints.

I don't mind that he expanded his circle of collaborators -- Futurista has a whole bunch of western guests and that's still top-shelf Ryuichi for me. I don't deny that he kept his searcher's heart alive and well. There's a great anecdote about how each time he would deliver these late '80s and early '90s records to his label, he would proudly announce them as his latest pop album. Then the label head would listen, and call Ryuichi back in, and tell him, "In what fucking world is this pop music?!?! What pop music are you even listening to!!"

But personally I find it hard to connect with the rhythmic and sonic ideas he was pursuing. There's more gloss, less forest. frogbs's example of comparing the Asatoya Yunta on Beauty and Hosono's on Paraiso may be instructive. Sakamoto's sounds lovely and full, but its sonic world doesn't have much to do with the likes of Futurista anymore, even less so War Head or something.

So I respect that strecth more than I enjoy it. Surely there is no album on earth that sounds like much Sweet Revenge...? It may not be the kind of crazy that I fall for, but it's still crazy alright.

Oh yeah, a friend did play me four tracks from Chasm the other day and they were all 100% awesome. I really like Smoochy too.

"undercooled" is one of the coolest tracks he ever did. the fact that it uses the skipping CD noise!! brilliant

Undercooled was the awesomest of the four. My friend (a Chinese uni student who's gone travelling to Japan) introduced it as guided by a pan-Asian peace sentiment: Japanese composer, Korean rapper, traditional Chinese instruments. You live in East Asia long enough, that kind of message has impact.

Max's argument is compelling though. Gonna listen to Beauty again with an ear for that enthusiasm.

Ah yeah, Romance *is* wonderful. Romance followed by Chinsagu no Hana has been my favorite thing about Beauty.

Chasm is an incredible record. I also love this version of Undercooled that came out a few years later:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQNTcoayZ3E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou7szZ1Y2B4

trailer for new doc Ryuichi Sakamoto: Diaries, narration by Min Tanaka (!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sCw79Tf29w

I'm not familiar with Sakamoto's prodigious discography past the 80s... Does he have an album of pieces like this?:

Dancing In the Sky

(Not strictly looking for solo piano, it's more the brevity and composition that interest me.)

Ooooh, that's a cool piece. I can't help, I've only made it to the mid-'90s myself (skipping most of the soundtracks, at that) -- I figure there must be treasure beyond Discord but I've not gone digging properly for it yet...

This is very cool...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZrZDerFyhM