Ryuichi Sakamoto S/D

its one of those like E2-E4 where every time I see the release year I do a double take

Saw some weird TV mini-series called Wild Palms which he did the score. That stood out to me. I've been meaning to listen to Yellow Magic Orchestra too. RIP.

thanks for the tokyo melody rec upthread

the “tong poo” scene was so cute

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHhksjfg8Ik

i like all the headlines calling him a 'pop star' because that's a sort of odd idea of what ymo were although i guess not completely incorrect

They were definitely pop stars in Japan.

You’re welcome, original bgm!

My first encounter with Sakamoto was on Japan's "Taking Islands in Africa", a lot warmer emotionally than is usual for Sylvian; and after seeing references to David "Sylvain" in two major Sakamoto obituaries, it's no wonder that he's given up trying to impress himself on modern-day music culture.

Sylvain David Sylvain

"Bamboo Houses" was probably the first time I heard Sakamoto, hated it at the time but then again I was about 14 and I came round to him in time.

So glad I got to see the aforementioned ramshackle YMO 'reformation' at the Barbican Hosono gig a few years back!

he's been doing albums with alvo noto for raster noton since 2002. i've not heard a single one. samples suggest they are very minimal (as per the sleeves)

I saw them play together at the Sydney Opera House - I actually found it a bit uninvolving, but I listened to the live album from the show this morning (‘Two’) and felt it worked much better as a recording. Odd. But I suppose there is a delicacy and intimacy to all the scrapes and rustles that works much better in nearfield listening than it does in a cavernous concert hall.

^This is congruent with my experience of the HAS/YMO gig at the Meltdown Festival in London.

I was kinda perplexed by the setlist and arrangements, and wtf was Fennez doing on stage? But listening/watching back, and after hearing more Sketch Show records, it sounds great to me now.

I really liked the London 2008 live record. Though it's kind of amusing that it only has 3 actual YMO songs on it (4 if you count the new "Rydeen"). Was nice to hear the Sketch Show material live, though "Flakes" and "Mars" are both weird choices in a live context. They have a lot of tracks I think may have worked better. Oh well. The new version of "Ongaku" in particular was really pretty.

Yeah, I stupidly went probably expecting modular synths, Akiko Yano bouncing around, and a 12 min version of Tong Poo, but instead it was this very hushed and measured glitchy electronica.

I'm so glad it was filmed to give the older me a chance to revisit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEs3R3UJr74

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY_N6zz60lI

actually I didn't know the London show was professionally shot. funny I assumed all the percussion was electronic but at one point you can see Hosono tapping on a glass bottle with a pencil. I agree it's not what you'd expect from a YMO show but I can really respect that they kept evolving and made no effort to try to recapture the past. I mean the '79 YMO shows supporting Solid State Survivor were absolutely nothing like the '84 ones for Service, in fact every single album they did was way different, so I guess it's YMO after all.

that clip of Sakamoto appearing for the encore is super cute. I can't imagine how geeked out I would've been if I saw that. Reminds me of one of the cutest YMO clips - the part in the Tokyo Dome show where Sakamoto slips in the Cosmic Surfin riff, clearly surprising the other two:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfY9AKKK28M

Looking at his work in terms of an album discography is pretty intimidating to someone who mostly focused on his film music. What are the absolute must listens?

that clip of Sakamoto appearing for the encore is super cute. I can't imagine how geeked out I would've been if I saw that.

It was a magical moment for sure. Enhanced considerably by the fact that, as it usually goes when seeing an artist from anywhere in London, a huge slice of the audience was Japanese.

I was in the last row of the very front stalls at the Barbican gig with an aisle right behind me and I turned around just in time to see YT walking down the aisle to the stage, I was giddy, I could have fist-bumped him on the way past.

he's been doing albums with alvo noto for raster noton since 2002. i've not heard a single one. samples suggest they are very minimal (as per the sleeves)

― koogs

these are all great imho

Eric H I’m very partial to - in no particular order -

B-2 Unit
1000 Knives
Esperanto
Neo Geo
async
Left Handed Dream
GEM Collection

missing one or two ottomh but I think these are pretty wonderful non-sndtrk albums.

Thanks! Realizing now I have listened to (and love) Thousand Knives, but looking forward to sampling the rest!

that list is more or less my sweet spot too but i’d probably add works/CM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R731jAs0_NU

i’d be lying if i said i like the 2000s glitchy electronic RS or YMO stuff even 1/4 as much as my faves from either discographies but i also respect them following their interests and it can be pretty. disappearance with taylor deupree is prob the one i’ve played the most, though it’s been a few years.

also features a relatively early appearance from ichiko aoba:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIRO5k6bmKY

def also respect how he stayed plugged in and worked with lots of younger musicians basically his whole life

Also not to discount his playing and production for others especially with ex Akiko Yano. Gohan Ga Dekitayo (sp?), Ai Ga Nakucha Ne and Tadaima are all strange, exciting albums.
I also live for YMO up until Naughty Boys when it got too slick for a while ( for me ).

yeah I love the CM stuff! illustrated musical encyclopdia is so fng good too

the slickness is the point I think, the whole album sounds like 40 minutes of commercial jingles, but you can actually enjoy them because they're not trying to sell you anything (besides more YMO albums I guess)

tbh I'm not too sold on glitchy Sakamoto either but that stuff seems to have cultivated an entirely different audience so I assume it's very good for what it is. I would say the same about a lot of Brian Eno albums. async, his latest "proper" record, is very nice. I also really dig Chasm, which strikes me as one his few true "solo" records, in that it brings in a lot of guests and doesn't really have a concept behind it. the hip-hop track on it is fascinating:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1lqJPNKTTw

Oh yeah how could I have left IME out of that list? For shame.

Just leaving this slice of madness here -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HIbDVNG7E8

aha yes. The bside of that single is really cool, iirc, not rock, more of a YMO sound

Did we post these?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9intgzzLfk

Eric H I’m very partial to - in no particular order -

B-2 Unit
1000 Knives
Esperanto
Neo Geo
async
Left Handed Dream
GEM Collection

missing one or two ottomh but I think these are pretty wonderful non-sndtrk albums.

Often think about Ryuichi Sakamoto hating the music in his favorite restaurant so much he pro bono made them a replacement playlist — inspirational. https://t.co/y3aN62y692 pic.twitter.com/xCRsCb1Z8y

— Nick Newman (@Nick_Newman) April 2, 2023

ha I love that story too

apparently this is the playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2YY3rAwm9tldNhlBmuMqgY?si=tBcsQ5q_SsWhBPp_cHIu2w&dd=1&nd=1

Had a rabbit hole moment last night and made a mix of some of RS' production work from the late 70s to the early 90s.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/3cgychgpp8o9eaei95w80/h?dl=0&rlkey=4swircqlijwji9limzl1zgdkf

Miki Imai - Watermark
Akiko Yano - Canton Boy
Kanako Wada - Creation My Heart
Tokiko Kato - Alabama Song
Robin Scott - Once In A Lifetime
(Phew) - 終曲（フィナーレ）
Akina Nakamori - Everlasting Love
Mari Iijima - My Best Friend
Friction - I Can Tell
Raijie - Tabidachi
Hayaku Aitsuni - South Of The Border
Seri Ishikawa - いろ、なつ、ゆめ～彩・夏・夢
Virginia Astley - Tree-Top Club
Hiromi Go - Your Name Is Psycho
Jill Jones - You Do Me (7'' Mix)
Thomas Dolby - Field Work
Koharu Kisaragi - Neo-Plant

Virginia Astley’s Hope in a Darkened Heart is an incredible record

I love his score for the 1993 limited series WILD PALMS. Such a sinister, claustrophobic work

xp seems to just be a .rtf file?

Sry Sleeve, files are still uploading, check back in 2 mins.

lol np, thanks

Errata already, the (fantastic) Koharu Kisaragi track is Träumerei, not Neo-Plant

Thanks for the download!

aww at that restaurant playlist, I would have loved to make him a semi-ambient/ambient mix cd

_BIG_ fan of this particular miki nakatani album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45ahRf9NggM

RS appears to have done a lot of stuff for it

Producer, Composed By, Arranged By, Performer [Performed By], Mixed By – Ryuichi Sakamoto

https://www.discogs.com/release/2456654-%E4%B8%AD%E8%B0%B7%E7%BE%8E%E7%B4%80-%E7%A7%81%E7%94%9F%E6%B4%BB

his daughter also covered the opener, tho I prefer the other ver

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

I did my best to recreate the Kajitsu Playlist for Tidal, missing two tracks that Spotify had.
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/02b62cb5-3c23-4320-9791-a15c726a1216

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUw6nUkjFcM

RIP Luigi :(

Fucking Jacobin... this is a tweet leading to an article I will not be reading:

The brilliant cornucopia of Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto’s work crystallizes the freedoms and desires that neoliberalism has betrayed.

to be fair, Sakamoto was a Marxist when he was in uni!

surprised I haven't seen too much discussion of his collaborations with Fennesz - Cendre gets a lot of love but I also adore Flumina from 2011. very conceptually rigid but always strange and beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwELGACE-GY

That Fennesz + Sakamoto set (2 CDs) is the only thing of his I own in physical form.

wow wonder how his score for Snake Eyes sounds

https://www.discogs.com/master/288313-Ryuichi-Sakamoto-Snake-Eyes-Music-From-The-Motion-Picture