The copious reverb that surrounds each restrained note on “ZURE” would slot right in with Kompakt’s Pop Ambient series. But there’s a warmth and fragility to the album here that makes it stand apart from these works.Ī careful piano melody opens the album, with just enough space between the notes for a noisy chord to rise up and consume it all, shifting from white noise to solemn organ line, revealing both Sakamoto’s penchant for melody and texture and the gap between each. Unlike his ’80s heyday where Sakamoto fearlessly embraced pop and found himself in the studio with Iggy Pop, David Byrne, or Maceo Parker, async is more closely aligned with his 21st-century experimental side and his ongoing collaborations with the likes of Christian Fennesz, Alva Noto, and Christopher Willits. Three years after that diagnosis, Sakamoto returns with an album bearing a sense of mortality surrounding its every sound. In June of 2014, the legendary Japanese composer was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent rigorous radiology treatment to combat it. It’s environmental, but from its inception, ambient music also has roots as a healing music.Īmbient as restorative comes to mind with async, Ryuichi Sakamoto’s sixteenth solo album. Brian Eno’s Reflection from earlier this year presented its contemplative side, the recent compilation Mono No Aware posits it as a commentary of modern technology, and ambient musician Keith Fullerton Whitman rhetorically wondered: “What music isn’t ambient in the 21st century?” Its modern conception stems from a now-mythologized moment, when Eno was convalescing in a hospital bed after being hit by a cab, the playback on a harp record so low that it blended in with the sound of rain. Merry Christmas Mr.Ambient music means many things in the present moment.
![rain ryuichi sakamoto rain ryuichi sakamoto](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rMeuWWrspxk/hqdefault.jpg)
Carsten Nicolai – producer, additional sounds.
RAIN RYUICHI SAKAMOTO MOVIE
Sakamoto in 1983 for the movie Merry Christmas Mr. Notes: "Ax Mr.L." refers to a track that was composed by Mr. Nick Lawrence, Higher Frequency Track listing No. Any more of this cleverly crafted masterpiece and you’d never want to waste your time with any of that other stuff posing as music. By all means listen to this CD numerous times but just be careful because there is a reason the album is only three songs long. Play this at a party and you’ll be hung, drawn and quartered but turn it up at the next annual meeting of the chin strokers society and you’ll be hailed a hero. In fact it is a refreshing change from all the electro sounds Tiefschwarz et al are dressing up as click, glitch and minimal. This isn’t by any means an album to let loose and rock out to. Music? Art? Whatever it is this is less about listening and more about feeling. Don’t be surprised if you feel your throat tighten and a frosty sensation spread through your anterior lobes.
![rain ryuichi sakamoto rain ryuichi sakamoto](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zzDRJ9yCe_Y/hqdefault.jpg)
![rain ryuichi sakamoto rain ryuichi sakamoto](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/I4h0OvaDaN8/hqdefault.jpg)
Clicks, taps, clacks and taps skitter across the soundscape as Ryuichi’s expertly knocks away at the ebony and ivory. A mistake or recording problem? Not likely, nothing is an accident with these two virtuosos. Turn the volume up loud enough while listening to opening track ‘Siisx’ and you’ll hear unmistakable white noise.
![rain ryuichi sakamoto rain ryuichi sakamoto](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GF3PoifNf60/hqdefault.jpg)
Lawrence starring David Bowie, Takeshi Kitano, and Ryuichi Sakamoto himself. Lawrence", the theme music to the 1983 movie Merry Christmas Mr. The compositions revolve around a collaborative new arrangement of Sakamoto's classic " Merry Christmas Mr.