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noanunoparty · 2 years ago

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18/01/23 ~ NTS Radio ~ Ryuichi Sakamoto Special

For the past 2 months I've listened to every album, soundtrack, composition, live recording that Ryuichi Sakamoto has made. There have been a lot of tears. A lot of reflection on life, on mortality, on social harmony and the environment. A loooot of emotions have been felt.

All of this research has solidified my respect for Sakamoto as an artist. A true pioneer. A maestro. Condensing his career into 2 hours has been difficult, but I hope you enjoy the show and my notes.

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Ryuichi Sakamoto has released over 20 solo studio albums, 10+ live albums, several compilation albums, over 40 EPs and singles, and about 48 soundtracks.

1978 - Thousand Knives - Plastic Bamboo

Sakamoto’s first solo album, created with the help of Hideki Matsutake who was known as the 4th member of YMO. The album fused electronic music with traditional Japanese sounds whilst incorporating elements of modern classical and reggae.

On the album cover, from Taeko Onuki “I was told that the jacket he’s wearing was an Armani and chosen by Yukihiro. I had only known Sakamoto in jeans and rubber sandals and he said to me, “What do you think?!

2. 1980 - B-2 Unit - Riot in Lagos

Sakamoto’s “edgiest” album. B-2 Unit birthed Riot In Lagos which is said to be an early example of electro. Several electro and hip hop artists were influenced by the album, especially Riot In Lagos.

“Differencia" has, according to Fact, "relentless tumbling beats and a stabbing bass synth that foreshadows jungle by nearly a decade". Some tracks on the album also foreshadow genres such as IDM, broken beat, and industrial techno. For several tracks on the album, Sakamoto worked with Dennis Bovell, incorporating elements of afrobeat and dub.

Another recommended track: E-3A

3. 1981 - Left-Handed Dream / Hidari Ude No Yume - Kacha Kucha Nee

Sakamoto wanted to record an album rooted in pop and created Left-Handed Dream (or Hidari Ude No Yume), which displays a variety of global influences through the instruments used - marimba, didgeridu, traditional Japanese instruments such as the sho and hichiriki flutes. The album showcased Sakamoto’s ability to seamlessly combine Eastern and Western sounds, strengthened through collaborating with Talking Heads guitarist Adrian Belew & co-producing with Robin Scott.

Venezia would then become the Left Bank!

4. 1982 - Bamboo Houses

Sakamoto continues his long-standing collaboration with David Sylvian of Japan, Sylvian’s first solo project outside of the band. Featuring Steve Jansen on drums.

5. 1983 - Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence Soundtrack - Forbidden Colours

Sakamoto’s first film score, for Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence which he also starred in alongside David Bowie. David Sylvian contributed lyrics and vocals on Forbidden Colours, which became a hit and a vocal version of the main theme, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. The soundtrack won a BAFTA Award for Best Film Music in 1984.

Another recommended track: Germination

6. 1984 - Ongaku Zukan - Etude

Ongaku Zukan was an experimental album with no deadline - created around Sakamoto’s incredibly busy schedule in 1983, which saw Yellow Magic Orchestra pause their group activities after an intense 8 years of recording and touring. Features from Hosono, Takahashi, Minako Yoshida and Tatsuro Yamashita.

Sakamoto recalls he got started on the album without having a clear direction for its content: "Making an album without a blueprint...... it's an adventure to see what happens like when you embark on a sea voyage without a compass or chart. If you follow a blueprint, you will be able to record efficiently and in a short period, but I removed all of that and made it that way."

Sakamoto likens this production method to "automatic writing", which is known as one of the methods of surrealism:

"I went into the studio and recorded what came out without any prejudice...... I made it as if in a kind of trance. It could be something classical, it could be pop. Regardless of style and unity, the major premise was to accept everything that was made, so we created a lot of songs."

7. 1985 - Esperanto - A Rain Song

Sakamoto’s 6th solo album, orginally composed for a performance by New York choreographer Molissa Fenley. An experiment with new sampler technology - apparently Sakamoto needed a huge computer to make this score.

Another recommended track: A Wongga Dance Song

8. 1986 - Futurista - GT

Futurista (未来派野郎, translates literally as "Futurist Bastard") was created as a response to the Futurist Movement - an artistic and social movement originated in Italy. Mid 80-s avant-garde synthpop perfection!

Sakamoto samples a lot throughout this album - G.T. samples “Legs” by Art of Noise.

9. 1986 - Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia - Field Work (ft. Thomas Dolby)

The reissued English titled version of Ongaku Zukan, intended for the international market. It combines about half of the tracks from the 1984 album with newer singles "Steppin' Into Asia" and "Field Work” ft. Thomas Dolby.

10. 1987 - Neo Geo - Risky ft. Iggy Pop

The term "neo geo", or "new world", is derived from Sakamoto himself as a way to describe worldwide musical diversity in regard to genre (similar to world music and world beat). Again, showcasing Sakamoto’s ability to combine Eastern and Western musical styles.

Bootsy Collins on bass!

11. 1987 - The Last Emperor Soundtrack - First Coronation

The soundtrack features 9 pieces composed by Sakamoto, 5 by David Byrne & 1 from Cong Su. The album won Best Original Score at the 1988 Academy Awards.

12. 1989 - Beauty - You Do Me

8th solo studio album, which sees his solo career begin to extend outside of Japan. Beauty is notable for its "collage of styles" that range from rock, techno, and classical to flamenco, African, and Japanese traditional, featuring a long list of collaborators.

In discussing whether music is narrative and illustrative or an abstract medium, Sakamoto said, "I have visions sometimes when I'm writing contemporary music, even when it's very logical. For example, for one of my songs on the album Beauty, I was always having visions of Amazonian rainforests, a little plane flying very low over the trees. Trees, trees, trees, and some birds. But the title of the song is 'Calling from Tokyo'".

13. 1991 - Heartbeat - Rap to the World

Sequel from Beauty, still collaging sounds from all over the world, this time in an eclectic upbeat fashion. You can hear the dance music influences throughout this album, which is enforced through the credits - notably Towa Tei and Satoshi Tomiie.

14. 1994 - Sweet Revenge - Same Dream, Same Destination

One of my least favourite Sakamoto albums - the strings are beautiful but a lot of the vocals miss for me. But this song + the cover is iconic! Maybe he was just gearing up for his next album, Smoochy.

The album title refers to Sakamoto’s wish to bring a sense of melody back to the “rhythm-obsessed pop-world”.

15. 1995 - Smoochy - A Day In The Park

An exploration of the old world meeting the future - Sakamoto combines Latin tinged sounds, jazz and the possibilities of the internet through electronic experimentation with an “listening” approach running throughout Smoochy.

16. 1996 - 1996 - Bibo no Aozora (Trio World Tour Live recording)

1996 contains a selection of Sakamoto's most popular compositions plus two new compositions, all arranged for a standard piano trio. The arrangement of "Bibo no Aozora" that appears on this album has appeared in several film and television projects.

A concert, called Ryuichi Sakamoto Trio World Tour, was organised in 1996. This concert was played at 6 venues in Japan, and the Bunkamura Orchard Hall concert was live streamed on August 28, 1996 on the Internet, and was one of the first concerts to be streamed.

17. 1997 - Discord - Salvation

Sakamoto’s first full length orchestral work, which sees him contrasting modern musical tools with traditional instruments. Amongst procrastination and self-imposed deadlines, Sakamoto wrote the four movements in Discord ("Grief," "Anger," "Prayer," "Salvation") in a month. He finished writing the last notes on the morning of the first rehearsal with the orchestra.

Salvation features spoken word contributions from Laurie Anderson, DAvid Byrne, Patti Smith and Banana Yoshimoto.

18. 1998 - BTTB (Back To the Basics) - Energy Flow

Sakamoto was stuck in a traffic jam and melody popped into his head. That melody would then become Opus - the opening track of his solo piano album, BTTB - Back To The Basics. BTTB & Discord see Sakamoto’s departure from his pop-tinged outputs as he returns to the piano.

19. 2002 - Elephantism - Great Africa

Elephantism stands out from the rest of Sakamoto’s discography as it’s his first venture into new-age, ambient sounds with elements of African musical styles, featuring field recordings.

Elephantism is a reflection of Sakamoto’s life ethos, where he strives for world peace. In his search for harmony, he turns to nature - specifically the elephant. “Elephantism is the state of being compassionate, loyal and loving towards family and friends, and being understanding and generous in attitude toward other clans; it means being big and expansive in your outlook on life, not small and mean; it means showing thoughtful consideration, wisdom and dignity when necessary, but in equal measure showing powerful expression and emotion, and being, yes, a little wild and passionate now and then!”

20. 2002 - Works I - CM - Old I (Suntory 1983)

Compilation of music written for various commercials (called CM in Japan), all works are from 1983 to 1984. Monopoly is a favourite (didn’t have enough time to include it in the show!)

21. 2004 - Chasm - Ngo/Bitmix

Sakamoto’s 15th solo studio album. Chasm is experimental, combining the paion with ambient and glitch programming. Features contributions from Hosno and Takahasi, under their Sketch Show alias.

22. 2005 - Insen - Avaol

Sakamoto and Alva Noto’s second studio album - their collaboration began in 2002. “Both explore the potential for interaction and tension between electronic and acoustic instrumentation”.

23. 2009 - Out of Noise - composition 0919

Sakamoto was one of a handful of concerned artists who took part in The Cape Farewell Project, where scientists joined with the creative community for a conference in Greenland to address and investigate global warming. During his stay in Greenland, Sakamoto made a number of field recordings that he incorporated into his album Out of Noise; the album is dominated by graceful, minimalist keyboard pieces punctuated by electronic noise, ambient sounds and bits of found voices.

24. 2017 - async - Zure

Sakamoto’s 19th studio album - his first one in 8 years since Out of Noise. It’s also his first full length solo record since recovering from throat cancer in 2015. During this 8 year “break” he felt uninspired with the composition process and focused on scoring films. Despite his recovery, Sakamoto thought that async would be his last album. "That’s why I tried to forget all the rules and forms, anything. I just wanted to put down just what I wanted to hear, just a sound or music, it doesn’t matter. This could be the last time."

He began making async in 2016 and completed it in 8 months.

Async is unusually textural, featuring both acoustic and electronic elements plus samples recordings readings and field recordings of city streets. Sakamoto’s worries of death seep into the album, which were influenced by his experience with cancer and the many earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan in 2011. “We were warned about how our civilisation is fragile and how the force of nature is great."

25. 2023 - 12 - 20220123

Maybe one of Sakamoto’s most moving albums.

His breath can heard throughout 12 like a metronome - keeping time, evoking the feeling of a warm embrace and making us are of how fleeting life is. It has a palpable level of intimacy to it, as if you’re in the room with him as he plays the piano.

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Ending on a few of my favourite Sakamoto quotes:

"I hate to divide the world -- East and West. Where is the edge? My music is much more melting."

"I want to be a citizen of the world. It sounds very hippie, but I like that."

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