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. Â 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.
