budman!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl5fBJ2j3x0
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Wednesday, 5 April 2023 20:15 (one year ago) link
I kinda love how the concept of 'selling out' just doesn't seem to exist in the music community in Japan.
There are acres and acres of commercials with YMO together and separately, selling all sorts of things, I wonder if it started in the bubble or if it's always been so.
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 5 April 2023 20:20 (one year ago) link
XXP - it is rather lovely too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEt2YzR0zEk
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 5 April 2023 20:21 (one year ago) link
bizarre to see him actually drinking beer in the commercial. in America you can't do that...you can open the bottles and clink the glasses but you can't actually drink out of them
― frogbs, Wednesday, 5 April 2023 20:25 (one year ago) link
I realise I'm doing the exact same thing as when Yukihiro passed, diving into the back catalogue, watching documentaries and YT clips, I'm feeling sad as hell, but (as frogbs points out) how fucking glorious is it to have this seemingly endless ocean of music to dive into?
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 5 April 2023 20:26 (one year ago) link
speaking of YMO commercials I came across this recently, not sure what the point of this commercial was except to make people question their sexuality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m4ZCWqn13o
― frogbs, Wednesday, 5 April 2023 20:30 (one year ago) link
hot
― change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, 5 April 2023 20:51 (one year ago) link
going down the rabbit hole of wacky 80s/90s peak economic bubble ads that sakamoto seemingly did a thousand of. it's such a joy to watch the man, he has such a natural charisma and warmth!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IRt3Kpinb0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEnMp8Y8_FY
(tried listening to async, my favourite album ever, today - I can't. there's dark and strange magic coursing through those songs and it's going to take a while to be able to approach them after his passing.)
― slumpy, Thursday, 6 April 2023 10:52 (one year ago) link
wow adelic penguins is so good
― ufo, Thursday, 6 April 2023 11:07 (one year ago) link
Every time I see this thread bumped I fear I'm going to read that he's died.― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, April 3, 2015 12:32 AM (eight years ago) bookmarkflaglink
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, April 3, 2015 12:32 AM (eight years ago) bookmarkflaglink
say it ain't so Sakamoto全くありません。人生でプログレが好きになったことも影響を受けたこともありません。Not at all. I’ve never in my life liked prog rock and I’ve never been influenced by it either.#skmtnews #ryuichisakamoto #坂本龍一 #twelve— ryuichi sakamoto (@ryuichisakamoto) March 22, 2023 ― frogbs, Wednesday, March 22, 2023 1:57 PM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink
全くありません。人生でプログレが好きになったことも影響を受けたこともありません。Not at all. I’ve never in my life liked prog rock and I’ve never been influenced by it either.#skmtnews #ryuichisakamoto #坂本龍一 #twelve— ryuichi sakamoto (@ryuichisakamoto) March 22, 2023
― frogbs, Wednesday, March 22, 2023 1:57 PM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink
Not entirely Ryuichi-related, but in addition to having that fear yet again this week, one of the odder things about the world we live in is that celebrities are tweeting literally up to the day before they die and then, boom, they're gone. Roger Ebert was reviewing movies before he announced he was in the final stages (10 years ago this week, actually), David Crosby was grading the joints his Twitter followers rolled literally the day before he died -- and here you have Sakamoto, presumably on his death bed, telling some schmo that, no, he's never been into prog at all and WTF is that question, dude.
It's a strange sensation as a fan.
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 6 April 2023 13:42 (one year ago) link
I think it's nice? May we all squeeze every last drop out of life.
― Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 6 April 2023 15:25 (one year ago) link
agree with this
― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Thursday, 6 April 2023 15:50 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsH_UBptm-U
timeless
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 6 April 2023 16:20 (one year ago) link
The amazing thing about that piano version of Riot in Lagos is that it makes the groove more prominent, and in turn, the overall Afrobeat/Fela feel of the piece. I love it – it was the only version available in Spotify for a long time, and got so used to it.
― fpsa, Thursday, 6 April 2023 17:00 (one year ago) link
I think it's nice? May we all squeeze every last drop out of life.― Daniel_Rf, Thursday, April 6, 2023 11:25 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
― Daniel_Rf, Thursday, April 6, 2023 11:25 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
Oh I agree -- I mean, that's exactly what the folks I cited did. It's just sudden is all. I mean, as I posted, I was dreading Sakamoto's passing for 8 years. But I think when you see people doing interviews and shooting the bull with fans it can be surprising to then learn they've passed.
The amazing thing about that piano version of Riot in Lagos is that it makes the groove more prominent, and in turn, the overall Afrobeat/Fela feel of the piece.
Yes! BTW, I'm assuming on at least this cut there are multiple Sakamotos "playing the piano" (ie, overdubs) as there are things happening that require four hands.
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 6 April 2023 18:04 (one year ago) link
well my Youtube recs are like 50% Sakamoto now, which rules. check this shit out, how awesome is this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a8xV9xOHqA
― frogbs, Thursday, 6 April 2023 20:51 (one year ago) link
after listening to all of his '80s and '90s "pop" albums in a row i came out with smoochy as my favorite. it reminds me of the chill-out-ier corners of something like beaucoup fish
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, 8 April 2023 15:48 (one year ago) link
Since people are rediscovering his early 90s stuff I'm gonna say don't sleep on Technodon. I think its an album that works much better in the context of their other 90s releases instead of what YMO had done a decade ago. It's actually really good. In retrospect its super cool that such a high profile reunion happened and they decided to take it in a direction that conceptually was unlike anything they did in their original incarnation. Feel like it would be regarded a lot differently if it didn't have the YMO name (which technically, it didn't!)
If nothing else the track "Nostalgia" is a excellent, haunting Sakamoto piece - if you took it out of context and put it on a RS mixtape I don't think anyone would guess what it was actually from. Initially I thought it was funny that a YMO reunion would have a track called "Nostalgia" that sounded nothing at all like YMO, but I guess it is kinda similar to those Prologue/Epilogue pieces on Technodelic. Actually I think most tracks here would be neat highlights on mixtapes. But people don't like the album.
― frogbs, Wednesday, 12 April 2023 03:56 (one year ago) link
The latest ep of Gilles Peterson's radio show predictably has a Sakamoto tribute and the first two tracks they play are an orchestral "Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence" followed by "You're Friend To Me" and that's a great illustration of the "wait, this is the SAME GUY?" aspect discussed itt.
― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 12 April 2023 09:27 (one year ago) link
oh wow turns out i love technodon, thank you frogbs, nobody ever has anything good to say about this record yet it rules
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 13 April 2023 13:08 (one year ago) link
I never knew there was a third version of "Forbidden Colours" - a live recording by RS that Sylvian re-recorded his vocals for:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMjtAP2_j9E
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 13 April 2023 15:13 (one year ago) link
xpost
count me in as another Technodon lover (my fav YMO album in fact)!
― Max Florian, Friday, 14 April 2023 18:13 (one year ago) link
Technodon is great. I encountered the YMO albums in a fairly random order, so it never felt like an outlier (especially given the wild swings across their original run). It's probably got the strongest Kraftwerk influence of any of their LPs? with shades of LFO's Frequencies in places too.
I think there's always been a continuity between what they're doing in and out of the band at any one time. I wish they'd done a final LP in the 00s drawing on all the glitch/IDM stuff they were doing separately, but I guess we have the Londonymo / Gijonymo live albums for that (which "claim" a lot of Sketch Show / Sakamoto solo stuff under the YMO banner).
― bamboohouses, Friday, 14 April 2023 18:33 (one year ago) link
I think maybe it's an outlier in terms of melody, it has none of the bright, sunny stuff they're known for. If you dig it I highly recommend Hosono's Medicine Compilation (which is not actually a compilation).
I too wish they'd done one more album, in fact in 2007-2008 it really looked like something was in the works, as they had released a few singles under the HASYMO name. Maybe the whole idea of getting back together, reopening the YMO name, and possibly touring again was a bit overwhelming. I'm kinda bummed we only got the 2 1/2 Sketch Show albums - I've really grown to appreciate those a lot
― frogbs, Friday, 14 April 2023 19:28 (one year ago) link
A brilliant piece of writing and remembering here https://t.co/hheEJRAovD— Fielding Hope (@fieldinghope) April 14, 2023
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 15 April 2023 12:13 (one year ago) link
“Sakamoto passed away after several years of preparation.I heard that he passed away quietly, with no regrets for himself or his family.After knowing that, I feel at ease.”Haruomi Hosono
― frogbs, Monday, 17 April 2023 02:12 (one year ago) link
;_;
― slai gorgeous-alexander (m bison), Monday, 17 April 2023 02:43 (one year ago) link
slightly off topic but does anyone else get a slight ick from Toop and his writing? parlayed a leechy career in journalism (is there any other kind?) into very dull experimental music. the opening line of his piece on Ryuichi:'That left unsaid and at the centre of us, unspeakable silence. Turbulent thoughts but faltering words, a very specific form of silence' - not even grad school shit. leave us to grieve Ryuichi without this bullshit poetry!
― slumpy, Wednesday, 26 April 2023 12:56 (one year ago) link
Ha ha -- I get what you're saying but I like Toop and think he generally includes enough specifics and substance to warrant (or at least mitigate) the florid poesy. I have also found that Sakamoto's passing seemed to hit a lot of people surprisingly hard -- and not just the friend of mine who literally called me in tears when he found out!
― Naive Teen Idol, Wednesday, 26 April 2023 15:10 (one year ago) link
this track here always makes me really emotional. it's not even on the Ongaku Zukan LP proper, you have to get the original with the bonus 12" to get it (or just get the CD). the way the icy synths come in 2/3rds of the way and just completely change the tune always makes me get chills. that's the kind of trick groups like Underworld and Orbital used to pull off in the 90's. wouldn't be surprised to find out it's just a chill version of one of his advertising jingles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I59rqjeSUo
― frogbs, Friday, 28 April 2023 04:19 (one year ago) link
I went to see Suga last night with my partner, and I was surprised by a nice tribute to Sakamoto when they played a personal recording of Suga with Sakamoto at what appeared to be his home. Sakamoto plays something on the piano while Suga looks on - he then smiles at the camera, gets up and the two share a warm embrace.
It was a very young crowd that seemed concentrated around the teens and early 20's, and several fans behind us didn't even know Sakamoto had died. I forgot the two collaborated, and it seemed to emphasize the impact these cross-generational collaborations can have on both sides of the equation - I got the impression most of the fans probably knew Sakamoto only through Suga, i.e. at minimum their collaboration has become their gateway to him, and it was clear Suga had a tremendous amount of respect for Sakamoto's work.
― birdistheword, Friday, 28 April 2023 16:16 (one year ago) link
what a wonderful song, frogbs -- i had no idea Replica and マ・メール・ロワ after it were bonus tracks on Ongaku Zukan! i've listened to that record 10000 times and always thought it closed so strongly and poignantly with the children's choir and koto of マ・メール・ロワ.
― slumpy, Monday, 1 May 2023 06:43 (one year ago) link
I've been listening to Esperanto this morning. How on earth was this made in 1985? I can't think of many albums that sound as ahead of their time as this.
― kitchen person, Monday, 1 May 2023 14:32 (one year ago) link
YT is still bringing up Sakamoto (and Takahashi) things for me to check out, I keep happily clicking, this is lovely...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxD4141Pyl0
― MaresNest, Saturday, 6 May 2023 21:37 (one year ago) link
What a fantastic arrangement! It nearly brought tears to my eyes. I wonder if a recording is available on CD.
― Vast Halo, Saturday, 6 May 2023 22:14 (one year ago) link
Ryuichi’s Last Playlist. We would like to share the playlist that Ryuichi had been privately compiling to be played at his own funeral to accompany his passing. He truly was with music until the very end.- skmt managementhttps://t.co/QPeSnthq9p pic.twitter.com/lK7B2ltUM9— ryuichi sakamoto (@ryuichisakamoto) May 15, 2023
― 龜, Monday, 15 May 2023 13:57 (eleven months ago) link
Spooky to look at the "date added" column. Seems he was putting it together right on Spotify (mostly last June) and they just now set it to public.
― maf you one two (maffew12), Monday, 15 May 2023 14:12 (eleven months ago) link
Here's a nice compilation of various piano cameos on his Sound Street show on NHK from 1982-85
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4tS8KJv5Ss
― MaresNest, Saturday, 10 June 2023 23:39 (ten months ago) link
He breaks into the sequencer riff of DAF's El Que for a sec at one point, which is mad.
― MaresNest, Saturday, 10 June 2023 23:41 (ten months ago) link
A lengthy tribute collection came out recently:
https://microambientmusic.bandcamp.com/album/all-micro-ambient-music-5-disc-set
And there's a forthcoming live event that will be streamed as well:
https://microambientmusic.peatix.com/
Details:
AUG 24In Memoriam Ryuichi Sakamoto Micro Ambient Music 'Improvisation for serenity'(Thu) 18:00 (8 days) | online | By RITTOR BASEEvent detailsIn memory of Ryuichi Sakamoto, who passed away in March, a compilation album entitled "Micro Ambient Music" was released on 13 July on bandcamp. Although the reputation of Ryuichi tends to be biased towards his work with YMO and in the field of film music, it is also true that the true value of his ideas and music can be found in his works from the 21st century onwards. This compilation album is a total of 41 musicians from Japan and abroad who were closely associated with Ryuichi in his later years. The sound of the album is a total of 3 hours 56 minutes of music.The bandcamp distribution is limited to 31 October, but in order to bring the sound to as many listeners as possible, it has been decided that live performances will be held by the Tokyo-based musicians who participated in this work over two days from 24-25 August. Three groups each day, six artists in total, will perform with a theme of 'Improvisation for serenity'. Duos performing in unusual combinations. After the performance, there will be an after-talk by the participating musicians, so don't miss it.The part of the proceeds will be donated to Trees for Sakamoto.Participating artists24 Aug (Thu)Tetuzi Akiyama Tomoyoshi DateKo Ishikawa Chihei HatakeyamaSachiko M Kazuya MatsumotoOtomo Yoshihide (after-talk only)Friday 25 AugustTomotsugu Nakamura SawakoYui Onodera Ken IkedaToshimaru Nakamura Yumiko Tanaka (photo: asanao Matsumoto) Takashi Kokubo (ambient sound provided during live transitions on both days)<Ryuichi Sakamoto Micro Ambient Music "Improvisation for serenity" in memory of Ryuichi Sakamoto.Date: 24 (Thu) - 25 (Fri) August 2023, both days open 17:45 start 18:00Venue: Ochanomizu RITTORE BASE Ochanomizu Christian Centre B1, 2-1 Kanda Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0062 Venue map (2 min walk from Ochanomizu Station on JR Chuo/Sobu Line, 3 min walk from Ochanomizu Station on Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line, 3 min walk from B1 exit of Shin-Ochanomizu Station on Chiyoda Line)■Attendance ticket at the venue: General/4,400 yen, Students/3,300 yen (archived viewing of the two days is also available).Capacity: 30 people on both days. Doors open 15 minutes before the start of the performance and people enter in order of ticket number.Tickets to watch the archived broadcast: ¥3,300 for adults, ¥2,200 for students (archived viewing of the two days is available).Archived viewing deadline: 31 August 2023, 23:00.(Timetable)Thursday, 24 August18:00 - 18:35 Tetuzi Akiyama + Tomoyoshi Date18:45 - 19:20 Ko Ishikawa + Chihei Hatakeyama19:30 - 20:05 Sachiko M + Kazuya Matsumoto20:05 - After Talk: Otomo Yoshihide + Date Hakkin "Ryuichi Sakamoto's Music after 2000".Friday 25 August18:00 - 18:35 Tomotsugu Nakamura + Sawako18:45 - 19:20 Yui Onodera + Ken Ikeda19:30 - 20:05 Yumiko Tanaka + Toshimaru Nakamura20:05 - After Talk: Yumiko Tanaka + Hiji Hatakeyama + Hakkin Date "On Japanese and Western music, improvisation and notation".
Event detailsIn memory of Ryuichi Sakamoto, who passed away in March, a compilation album entitled "Micro Ambient Music" was released on 13 July on bandcamp. Although the reputation of Ryuichi tends to be biased towards his work with YMO and in the field of film music, it is also true that the true value of his ideas and music can be found in his works from the 21st century onwards. This compilation album is a total of 41 musicians from Japan and abroad who were closely associated with Ryuichi in his later years. The sound of the album is a total of 3 hours 56 minutes of music.
The bandcamp distribution is limited to 31 October, but in order to bring the sound to as many listeners as possible, it has been decided that live performances will be held by the Tokyo-based musicians who participated in this work over two days from 24-25 August. Three groups each day, six artists in total, will perform with a theme of 'Improvisation for serenity'. Duos performing in unusual combinations. After the performance, there will be an after-talk by the participating musicians, so don't miss it.
The part of the proceeds will be donated to Trees for Sakamoto.
Participating artists24 Aug (Thu)Tetuzi Akiyama Tomoyoshi DateKo Ishikawa Chihei HatakeyamaSachiko M Kazuya MatsumotoOtomo Yoshihide (after-talk only)
Friday 25 AugustTomotsugu Nakamura SawakoYui Onodera Ken IkedaToshimaru Nakamura Yumiko Tanaka (photo: asanao Matsumoto)
Takashi Kokubo (ambient sound provided during live transitions on both days)
<Ryuichi Sakamoto Micro Ambient Music "Improvisation for serenity" in memory of Ryuichi Sakamoto.Date: 24 (Thu) - 25 (Fri) August 2023, both days open 17:45 start 18:00Venue: Ochanomizu RITTORE BASE Ochanomizu Christian Centre B1, 2-1 Kanda Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0062 Venue map (2 min walk from Ochanomizu Station on JR Chuo/Sobu Line, 3 min walk from Ochanomizu Station on Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line, 3 min walk from B1 exit of Shin-Ochanomizu Station on Chiyoda Line)■Attendance ticket at the venue: General/4,400 yen, Students/3,300 yen (archived viewing of the two days is also available).Capacity: 30 people on both days. Doors open 15 minutes before the start of the performance and people enter in order of ticket number.Tickets to watch the archived broadcast: ¥3,300 for adults, ¥2,200 for students (archived viewing of the two days is available).Archived viewing deadline: 31 August 2023, 23:00.
(Timetable)Thursday, 24 August18:00 - 18:35 Tetuzi Akiyama + Tomoyoshi Date18:45 - 19:20 Ko Ishikawa + Chihei Hatakeyama19:30 - 20:05 Sachiko M + Kazuya Matsumoto20:05 - After Talk: Otomo Yoshihide + Date Hakkin "Ryuichi Sakamoto's Music after 2000".Friday 25 August18:00 - 18:35 Tomotsugu Nakamura + Sawako18:45 - 19:20 Yui Onodera + Ken Ikeda19:30 - 20:05 Yumiko Tanaka + Toshimaru Nakamura20:05 - After Talk: Yumiko Tanaka + Hiji Hatakeyama + Hakkin Date "On Japanese and Western music, improvisation and notation".
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 12 August 2023 16:18 (eight months ago) link
(Quick check confirms the streaming price is about $23 so I'd say that was an excellent deal.)
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 12 August 2023 17:44 (eight months ago) link
https://fruitandgroovescollective.com/2023/08/29/ryuichi-sakamotos-final-performances-captured-for-concert-film/
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 29 August 2023 20:43 (eight months ago) link
Just saw the Sakamoto Coda doc. Some of it is a sad look at him struggling with throat cancer and just eating and drinking. Some fascinating sections showing him creating music. The doc only briefly nods back to the past so you don’t get to understand how this guy talking about Bach is also a guy who played on a cover of Archie Bell & the Drells and on YMO songs.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 4 December 2023 20:14 (five months ago) link
Left Handed Dream sort of fulfills my long-time wish for an album that would take the vibe of the more windswept and fabular John Wesley Harding tunes (As I Went Out One Morning, All Along the Watchtower, The Wicked Messenger, etc) and stretch them across a whole LP length.
One of the modi operandi for Left Handed Dream was to keep the lyrics extremely simple, at least as regards the language, if not the import/impact/meaning of the songs. Perhaps because Mr. "Music Plans" Sakamoto himself was not up to the task, he outsourced, and trusted the right people with the job. I love the lyrics to these songs. Here are English renditions of the five in Japanese.
...
Boku no Kakera (Fragments of Me) (words by Shigesato Itoi)
Let's lift them up:these fragments of me.Thank you forthese fragments of you.
Saru to Yuki to Gomi no Kodomo (Children of the Monkey, Snow, and Trash) (words by Shigesato Itoi)
The monkey's house iswhere the monkey lives.The monkey's fatherand the monkey's mother,the monkey's children."I love you."The monkey's house isencircled by the woods.
The snow's house is where the snow falls.The snow's fatherand the snow's mother,the snow's children."I love you."The snow's house isencircled by the sky.
The trash's houseis where the trash lives.The trash's fatherand the trash's mother,the trash's children."I love you."The trash's house isencircled by the soil.
Float. Floating.Tomorrowfloats too.Tomorrowis floating.
Green.Blue.Blueis green.The light is radiant, isn't it?
The flower's house iswhere the flower lives.The flower's fatherand the flower's mother,the flower's children."I love you."The flower's house isencircled by the sky.
Bloom.Bloom.Tomorrowwill bloom too.Tomorrowis blooming.
(Repeat first verse)
Kachakucha Nee (An Irritating Mess) (words by Akiko Yano, in the Tsugaru dialect spoken where she grew up)
What a mess we're in. What an irritating mess we're in.Let's bear up under it already.
Living in the Dark (words by Tetsuro Kashibuchi, Moonriders' drummer)
(Verse 1)A dreamstorm crumbling to dustA sandstorm raging past (x2)
(Verse 2)The color of gold callingArriving in paradise at last (x2)
(Chorus 1)The birds are going tooFlocking togetherRingingThe song of the earth
(Verse 3)Drawing a circle with the inner eyeDriving away illusions (x2)
(Chorus 2)BoundlesslyFar awayAlive for the sake ofRapture
(Verse 4)A dreamstorm crumbling to dust
(Chorus 3)The birds are going tooFlocking togetherRingingThe song of the earth
(Verse 5)A sandstorm raging past
(Chorus 4)BoundlesslyFar awayAlive for the sake ofRapture
(Verse 6)The color of gold calling
(Chorus 5)The birds are going tooFlocking togetherRingingThe song of the earth
(Verse 7)Arriving in paradise at last
(Chorus 6)BoundlesslyFar awayAlive for the sake ofRapture
(Verse 8)Drawing a circle with the inner eye
(Chorus 7)The birds are going too
Venezia (words by Tetsuro Kashibuchi)
The beautiful boyin a desolate castle,wearing his armor,basks in the sun.
Red rose, Venezia!Country eternal, Venezia!Castle of sand, Venezia!Country eternal, Venezia!
In springtime they gambol,the old noblemen,out in the moorland parading their horsesand coughing up blood in the thickets of heath.
― TheNuNuNu, Wednesday, 7 February 2024 18:22 (two months ago) link
Akiko Yano otm on that one
― frogbs, Wednesday, 7 February 2024 18:48 (two months ago) link
Agreed. And she did the words for Tell It to Me too!
― TheNuNuNu, Wednesday, 7 February 2024 19:05 (two months ago) link
But the softly-spoken words to Boku no Kakera, set to that eerie music, hit pretty hard too.
― TheNuNuNu, Wednesday, 7 February 2024 19:09 (two months ago) link
Realized this am that the record he produced and arranged for Virginia Astley, Hope in a Darkened Heart, is really required listening for anyone interested in Ryuichi’s mid-80s classy orchestral Fairlight experimental pop phase, a la Ongaku Zukan and his contemporaneous work w David Sylvian.It’s a legitimately weird record – with nursery rhyme-melodies sung in Astley’s little girl falsetto over Ryuichi’s booming gated drums, sequenced music boxes and gamelans. The duet with Sylvian himself that leads off the record is a pretty unique entry in his catalogue:https://open.spotify.com/track/5nwDAFzUqt7hVVsKoWGcJN?si=xX7P9oCVScqGde8qpsO5eg
It’s a legitimately weird record – with nursery rhyme-melodies sung in Astley’s little girl falsetto over Ryuichi’s booming gated drums, sequenced music boxes and gamelans. The duet with Sylvian himself that leads off the record is a pretty unique entry in his catalogue:
https://open.spotify.com/track/5nwDAFzUqt7hVVsKoWGcJN?si=xX7P9oCVScqGde8qpsO5eg
This was an amazing recommendation. I am not often blown away on first listen. Echoes of early Leonard Cohen (!) and Syd Barrett (!!!). As NTI says, this is absolutely the place to go for those who can't get enough of Forbidden Colours, Bamboo Houses, or Bamboo Music. (And where hence? Are there more Sakamoto-orbit albums/songs that explore these particular woods?)
― TheNuNuNu, Friday, 9 February 2024 16:09 (two months ago) link
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.’”
“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"?
― frogbs, Tuesday, 13 February 2024 23:30 (two months ago) link
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
― Maresn3st, Sunday, 18 February 2024 13:47 (two months ago) link