Archive for the ‘Ryuichi Sakamoto’ Category

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Mo’ Sakamoto

Monday, July 22nd, 2013

I reviewed the 12″ single to “Get Lucky.” Because if I don’t who will?

Another post dedicated entirely to Ryuichi Sakamoto. I should just turn this site into a Yellow Magic Orchestra fanpage.

Ryuichi Sakamoto
Forbidden Colours
The Last Emperor
Little Buddha
Wuthering Heights
Replica
El Mar Mediterrani
All of these tracks are live, taken from the album Cinemage.

The first four are excepts from musical scores and soundtracks that Sakamoto worked on. “Forbidden Colours” being the theme to Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, while the others are all self-titled from the films they appeared in. This version of “Forbidden Colours” does feature Sylvian’s vocals, but I suspect they were dubbed in later and not performed live with the rest of the music.

“Replica” is the only track on the album that is not taken from some sort of project, it is lifted from the Japanese version of Sakamoto’s solo album Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia. Next to “Forbidden Colours,” it’s probably my favorite track on Cinemage, thanks to its regimented, minimalist feel that echos Phillip Glass.

Finally, there’s “El Mar Mediterrani,” which was composed for the 1992 summer Olympic games. It’s 17 minutes long and crazy. That Olympic theme that John Williams did doesn’t have shit on this.

Bonus Sakamoto!
Jungle LIVE Mix Of Untitled 01 – 2nd Movement – Anger
I put up a ton of remixes from Sakamoto’s album Dischord a few weeks ago and since then a reader sent me along this mix, which he snagged off a promo CD. I love it, it’s just barely removed from pure noise at parts. As a narcoleptic who has built up a near-immunity to caffeine, I really find that comes in handy at times.

Posted in Complete Albums, live, remixes, Ryuichi Sakamoto | 5 Comments »

Ryuichi Sakamoto – Discord Gütninja Remixes

Monday, June 10th, 2013

Been neglecting Lost Turntable in favor of Mostly-Retro for the past week or so. Sorry about that, getting a blog up and running is hard work, especially when you’re trying to balance it with work that actually pays. In case you’re interested, some stuff I’ve put up there recently includes this review of the latest by Queens Of The Stone Age, and a rather obscene take on Microsoft’s rather obscene used games policy they seem to be adopting with the Xbox One. If you miss my foul-mouthed rants of old then you should probably read that post. I suspect you’ll like it.

Now music.

Ryuichi Sakamoto
Discord - Gütninja Remixes (complete album download)
I bought this in Tokyo, and recorded it last month. About the only thing that has stopped me from sharing it here is trying to figure out how to write about it, as well as the realization that only about five other people in the world will care about it. But hey, I’m sure those five people will be stoked.  For the rest of you, I’ll try to talk you into downloading this and giving it a chance.

I’ve written about Sakamoto on this site before, but in case you missed those posts, here’s a quick refresher. Ryuichi Sakamoto was part of the super-influential/amazing/incredible Japanese electronic pop group Yellow Magic Orchestra; a group who helped to lay the groundwork for synth-pop, electronic dance and even chip-tune. After they disbanded in the mid-80s, Sakamoto embarked on his wildly diverse and successful solo career, which includes mainstream rock music, ambient electronica, and orchestral compositions. He even won an Oscar in 1987 for his work with David Byrne and Cong Su on The Last Emperor.

In 1997, Sakamoto released Discord, his first classical work that was not for the screen (although many of his previous works had some classical elements). Primarily orchestral with a touch of piano, the album also featured some guitar and even some turntablism from DJ Spooky, so even if classical isn’t your thing, I think you should give it a chance. It’s really different.

Two years later, Sakamoto (or someone on Sakamoto’s label) handed Discord off to various DJs, producers and other electronic musicians for remixing, and the result is this album. It’s something special and unique, thanks largely to the remixers chosen for the project, who include Amon Tobin, Coldcut, Andrea Parker and Tavin Singh (a lot of Ninja Tune is on this record). They really work to transform the classical compositions into entirely new tracks, sometimes removing and reworking so much of the original pieces that they’re nearly unrecognizable. That’s not a bad thing in this case, however, all these tracks are great, even when they have little to nothing in common with the source material.

In case you can’t tell, I really dig this record. It’s pretty much everything I love all rolled into one big ball of awesome; Sakamoto, Ninja Tune, crazy remixes, and awesome weird Japanese shit. I really hope I’ve convinced you to check it out too.

Posted in Complete Albums, remixes, Ryuichi Sakamoto | 10 Comments »

They Might Be Sakamoto

Tuesday, February 19th, 2013

I finally went through and cleaned the rest of the records I bought when I was in Tokyo, as well as everything that wasn’t cleaned before I went…as well as the stuff I’ve bought since I returned to the states.

It took me four hours.

Seriously. I was able to watch the first two Fast & Furious films in the time it took me to clean all the damn things.

So, yeah, I guess I really did buy a lot of records when I was in Asia. So many records! They’re surrounding me! I feel like a hoarder, except, y’know, not as insane or on TLC.

The prospect of listening to/recording all of them would overwhelm me if I wasn’t looking forward to it so much. Although to be honest, now that I see my pile of Japanese anime soundtracks next to my turntable, I’m starting to question the level of restraint (or lack there of) that I had while in Japan. Oh well! I bought those Gundam soundtracks and dammit I’m going to listen to them! I might even share them with you all.

Also, look forward to Kraftwerk. Holy shit. So much Kraftwerk. And Leftfield, Pet Shop Boys, OMD, Primal Scream, Erasure…you know what? I’m just going to stop now. I want to leave some surprises. I’ll just say that I think I got the next few months, if not year, of The Lost Turntable covered now, and it’s going to be full of some really amazing shit.

Speaking of amazing shit. Yo, check this shit out.

001

Ryuichi Sakamoto (with Thomas Dolby)
Field Work (London Mix)
Field Work (Tokyo Mix)
Exhibition
I’ve begun to slowly dig into the Sakamoto back catalog. Right now I want all of it, but I suppose that’ll stop once after I accidentally buy one of his classical or more jazz-influenced records. I’m sure all that stuff is excellent for what it is, but I’ll pass.

As for these tracks, they are from a 12″ single. The original version of “Field Work” first appeared on the Western version of Sakamoto’s 1986 album Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia (an abridged and re-edited version of a Japanese only release that first came out in 1984). Dolby fans, however, probably didn’t discover the track until the 2009 re-release of his 1984 album The Flat Earth, which also included soundtrack rarities “Don’t Turn Away” and “The Devil Is An Englishman.”

The version of “Field Work” on The Flat Earth re-issue is labeled as the “London Mix” but it is actually an abridged version of that mix. The proper version runs at about six minutes in length, while the version on the album is only four minutes long. The Tokyo Mix, as far as I can tell, has never been released on CD in any form, and that’s a real shame because I think its the better of the two mixes.

Also rare to my knowledge is “Exhibition.” Dolby is nowhere to be found on this track, and its certainly not a radio-friendly pop number. Instead it’s a 15 minute ambient soundscape with no beats, no melody and no motifs outside of a constant, looping set of beeps and bloops. It’s kind of like something you might find on The KLF’s White Room album, or maybe on an Orb b-side. Not for everyone, but I find it relaxing and oddly enough, a great track to write to. I’ve certainly heard worse Sakamoto, I bought his disco album. It’s…something.

They Might Be Giants
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) (Brownsville Mix)
Stormy Pinkness
Chalk up TMBG as another band who seemed to be doing their damnedest to make sure their fans have easy access to all of their b-sides and other rarities. Like I said before, I wish all bands would do that, even if it makes my job of finding out-of-print and hard-to-find stuff all the more difficult.

Still, it looks like at least a couple of b-sides slipped through the band’s re-releasing machine. I found these two oddities on the 12″ single for “Istanbul (Not Constantiople),” which also had “James K. Polk” and “Ant,” two songs that have made their ways onto proper TMBG releases.

The remix of “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” is one of the strangest TMBG compositions I’ve ever heard, and if you know anything about the group, that’s really saying something.. The TMBG wiki states that it contains a sample of Kraftwerk’s “The Robots” as well as an unidentified Janet Jackson sample. I couldn’t make that out, but I wouldn’t doubt it. The vocal samples at the beginning of the track are even weirder. What the hell is a white tornado?

“Stormy Pinkness” is weird, but it’s also pretty short (about a minute) and there’s not much to it. So I really don’t have anything to say about that one. I’m glad I found it though.

Posted in B-sides, remixes, Ryuichi Sakamoto, They Might Be Giants, Thomas Dolby | 14 Comments »

I’m more like an A380

Saturday, January 8th, 2011

When I proclaimed that “The Time (Dirty Bit)” was the worst song of the millennium behind “My Humps” I had not yet heard “Like A G6” by The Far East Movement. So she wants to be like a private jet that drinks purple drank? Yikes. Sometimes I just wanna give up on pop culture and move to Yemen or something.

Yellow Magic Orchestra
 Limbo
S.E.T. 1
The Madmen
S.E.T. 2
Chinese Whispers
S.E.T. 3
You’ve Got To Help Yourself
S.E.T. + YMO
Shadows on the Ground
S.E.T. 4
See-Through
S.E.T. 5
Perspective
S.E.T. 6
Just like I promised, here’s some more from Ryuichi Sakamoto! All these tracks are from Service, which is the only Japanese Yellow Magic Orchestra album I own. Not surprisingly, it’s also the weirdest. While the Americanized versions of their albums are just all music, most of their Japanese albums also included comedy bits by the Super Eccentric Theater (or S.E.T.). YMO performed most of their songs in English, the bits by S.E.T. are strictly in Japanese. So, unless you speak Japanese, they’re pretty much pointless to listen to. As far as the actual music goes…well, it’s okay. Its a very good 80s synthpop album, but their earlier albums are much better and far more experimental. This was the last YMO album proper, and the group didn’t record together again until a decade later.

Posted in Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yellow Magic Orchestra, YMO | 2 Comments »

Some Dirty Shit

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

Has anyone out there heard The Black Eyed Peas’ “The Time (Dirty Bit)”? I managed to avoid it for a while because I don’t listen to pop radio. But the gym I workout at has started playing it over and over (and over and over) the past few weeks, so now I can’t escape its inhuman fury. If you are really curious as to the level of its awfulness, watch the (equally awful) video here. It’s bad. You’ve been warned.

Next to “My Humps,” “The Time (Dirty Bit)” is probably the worst piece of pop shit that The Black Eyed Peas have ever unleashed onto the public. For those of you who just want a brief explanation as to why its so bad, I think Deadspin’s Drew Magary says it best:

GAHHH IT’S EVEN FUCKING WORSE THERE IS NO JESUS! IT’S LIKE YOUR MOTHER BEING KILLED AND SOMEONE AUTOTUNED HER SCREAMS OF AGONY!

He sums it up quite well. But allow me to elaborate a (dirty) bit.

“The Time (Dirty Bit)” might just be the first song to feature every single thing I hate about modern pop music and mash it all together into one unholy abomination of shit. There’s the blatant sample of a classic used only to create a radio hook; the overused autotune, the meaningless lyrics about partying and fucking; the hideous chiptune-inspired melody that sounds like it was lifted from a broken NES game. It’s all there and it’s all shit. Shit that gets in my damn head and refuses to leave until I force it out with an injection of Madonna, Kylie, or some other artist who can actually create, good, catchy pop music.

I mean, my GOD. Its horrible. Its success makes me weep more for the youth of America than any other shitstained style-over-substance piece of computer-enhanced trash they seem to be going for as of late.

Sure, there are worst bands out there than The Black Eyed Peas, but what makes me so upset is that they used to be good! I bet you didn’t know that The Black Eyed Peas used to be a critically acclaimed alternative rap group! Its true! Check out the awesome video for Joints & Jam. See that amazing woman singing the chorus (which is a tasteful lift from the theme to “Grease” that isn’t a blatant attempt drawing pop appeal)? That’s Kim Hill.

Kim Hill is the shit. She left the group before their (not bad) second album came out. I read an interview with her once where she said that the label was pressuring them to write songs that would eventually become booty-anthems like “My Humps” and she didn’t want any part of that. Kim Hill is an intelligent woman who wants to be taken seriously as a singer and writer. She wanted to be taken seriously so much that she literally walked away from millions in order to maintain her integrity and avoid degrading herself for cash.

Luckily for Will.I.Am and the other two remaining members of The Black Eyed Peas they found Fergie, a woman who obviously has no such qualms about objectifying herself for the sake of a quick buck. Want someone to sing about their “lovely lady lumps” and then put on a girl scout outfit and roll around in candy? Fergie’s your woman! The sad thing is that Fergie isn’t that bad a singer, she just allows herself to be degraded and shit upon for the sake of album sales. Maybe she’s afraid to do something honest and real because she doesn’t want to end up like Kim Hill and chucked out of the band for another pop tart who will eagerly take her place? Geez, that’s even more depressing.

Man, now I’m bummed. I’m going to go listen to “Request + Line.” Hopefully the group that made that track will record another album someday.

Ryuichi Sakamoto
Love And Hate (Hate Mix)
Love And Hate (Message Mix – Single Edit)
Love And Hate (Love Mix)
Love And Hate (NYC Personal Mix)
Moving On (12” Mix)
Moving On (No Drum Pass)
Moving On (Radio Mix)
Ryuichi Sakamoto is the keyboardist to Yellow Magic Orchestra, a band I love. He also is an Oscar-wining composer, having done original scores for films like The Last Emperor, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence and Snake Eyes. He also did the score to Seven Samurai 20XX video game. What I’m saying is, the dude gets around. I don’t have much of his solo pop work, just these two singles. However, if they are any indication as to the quality of his work, I should really get some more. Anyone have any recommendations? I hear good things about Neo Geo.

The  vocalist on the “Love And Hate” mixes is Holly Johnson, who you may know as the lead singer of everyone’s favorite band of perverts, Frankie Goes To Hollywood. I do not know who handles the vocals for “Moving On” so any help would be appreciated.

Hopefully I’ll have more Sakamoto-related work later this week.

Paperboy
Ditty (Radio Mix)
Ditty (New Hype Mix)
Man, now THIS is a jam. What happened to hip hop man? Sure there’s some good indie and alternative shit out there. But now its all Autotune and programmed beats. Its a drag! Someone recommend me good new hip hop that doesn’t use Autotune! That’s a requirement, no Autotune. These are from a 12” single.

Posted in Paperboy, rant, remixes, Ryuichi Sakamoto | 11 Comments »

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