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Ryuichi Sakamoto wasn’t the man for pop stardom. In his teenage years, he was fond of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, but his abiding passion was the New York underground, his avant-garde art scene (Joseph Beuys, Fluxus, Andy Warhol) and the accompanying experimental music. was. I was born in the year John Cage composed 4’33. At university he studied the works of contemporary composers Boulez, Stockhausen and Ligeti. He was particularly interested in Yannis Xenakis’ challenging electronic compositions. Sakamoto’s first eponymous album, 1975’s Disappointment/Hateruma, was co-written with percussionist Toshiyuki Tsuchitori and consisted entirely of free improvisation. Even if he intended to take on some role in the world of Japanese pop, it was a background, and he used his keyboard skills and interest in the rapidly developing world of synthesizers to set up sessions for his work as a musician. I found
But at least for a while, Sakamoto was quite the pop star. A 1978 session with singer Haruomi Hosono led to the suggestion that they should form a band with drummer Yukihiro Takahashi. Caught the attention of the visible paparazzi and screamed a frenzy among the fans.West.
The Yellow Magic Orchestra was successful, but it was also revolutionary. A convenient shorthand was that they were Kraftwerk in Japan, but in reality, YMO didn’t really sound like Kraftwerk. In addition to synthesizers, they used guitars, bass and acoustic drums. Their debut album also featured an electronic version of the immortal “ooah ooah” of Michael Zeger’s band Let’s All Him chant. One can detect the influence of his fusion of jazz and later of his ongoing ska revival in the UK. Like Throbbing Gristle, they seemed enthralled by Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman’s kitschy 1950s exotica. The Yellow Magic Orchestra’s biggest international hit was Denny’s version of his 1959 track Firecracker.
Likewise, you can see why the Kraftwerk comparison didn’t work. Both bands shared an obsession with technology. Yellow Magic Orchestra pioneered the use of sequencers and samplers and introduced the world to the sound of his Roland TR-808 drum machine. From they write great pop songs. Sakamoto-penned Behind the Mask from his 1979 Solid State Survivor was ostensibly covered by Michael Jackson for inclusion in the thriller, but was dropped from the final track listing. It eventually became a UK hit by Eric Clapton in All People.
Both YMO and Kraftwerk were interested in Anglo-American pop diversions. YMO covered The Beatles’ Day His Tripper and Archie His Bell, and the Drells Tyton his up, just as Kraftwerk borrowed from His Boys Beach on the Autobahn. They also shared a dry sense of humor, and in the case of Yellow Magic Orchestra, it usually stuck to Western prejudices and fears of East Asians. On the cover of Solid State Survivor, they are dressed in red Mao suits and enjoying a drink with the likeness of the deceased dictator. His X∞Multiplies in the 1980s featured a series of sketches while the United States was apprehensive about the influx of Japanese cars and technology hitting the economy. One depicted an ominous Japanese businessman signing a contract, and his other depicted an American who realized his Japanese host did not understand English. And you can tear it apart with a torrent of racist abuse. When moral panic erupted over the harmful and addictive effects of Taito Corporation’s Space Invaders game, Yellow Magic Orchestra’s record literally sounded like an arcade game. It was full of interludes featuring small game-over death marches.
And like Kraftwerk, the Yellow Magic Orchestra proved to be very influential. I mean, it took a while for the world to catch up. There was something telling about the fact that Solid State Survivor wasn’t released in the UK until his 1982. At the height of the synthpop wave that YMO predicted. By then, their music had found its way into the collections of DJs and producers in New York’s burgeoning hip-hop scene. When the Soul Train audience started breakdancing when he played the game, they were clearly surprised. Sakamoto’s most long-lasting solo album, released at the same time as his YMO career, was 1980s B-2 Unit’s Riot in Lagos, reggae producer Dennis Bovell. It was recorded in London with Fela Kuti and seems to have been inspired by Fela Kuti’s afro beats. It remains a surprisingly timeless and vibrant piece of electronica. If you didn’t know that and were told it was released last month instead of 42 years ago, you’d believe it.Abstract but funky, this song has cast a considerable shadow over his dance music. Upon its release, it became a big club hit for him, helped shape his electro sound, and launched hip-hop producers including Kurtis Mantronik. Drum and bass producer Foul Play sampled it, and you can hear its influence on the music of 90s electronic luminary Aphex Twin and his Autechre.
The Yellow Magic Orchestra split in 1983. Had Sakamoto abandoned it and returned to contemporary classical music, he would have already earned his place as one of the era’s greatest pop innovators. After A Christmas Mr. Lawrence was released, in which he also starred, he began his career as a soundtrack composer, more evident than scenes like Beatlemania taunted at home by the Yellow Magic Orchestra. suited his temperament. He went on to work with Bernardo Bertolucci, Pedro Almodóvar, Brian De Palma, Oliver Stone, and others, and won Oscars, Golden Globes, and more.
However, a vocal version of Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence’s haunting main theme, retitled Forbidden Colors, cements a partnership with former Japanese vocalist David Sylvian that began with the 1982 single Bamboo Houses/Bamboo Music. Did. Holger Czukay of Can and Experimental With his trumpeter Jon Hassell, he joins his Sylvian repertoire with his company, reimagining 80s pop in a more expansive, exploratory and reflective way. produced an extraordinary series of albums.
They seemed to reflect Sakamoto’s own position in pop since Yellow Magic Orchestra. Sakamoto’s solo albums mostly contained music that was immediately present no matter what was happening, in a space where he could find his way. It has at times seemed to build its own brand of exotica, blending Eastern, Western and African influences, and building an eclectic and unlikely guest list. Doer, Robbie Robertson, Robert Wyatt, Brian Wilson, and Prince’s protégé Jill Jones.
Ryuichi Sakamoto himself didn’t have to be at the center of pop culture. Thanks to sampling, the centerpiece of his pop culture has never strayed too far from his music. In recent years it has been rented by The Weeknd, Justice, Brial, Beastie Boys, Jennifer Lopez, Brandy and Freddie Gibbs.
In the late 70’s other members of the Yellow Magic Orchestra called him Professor. Sakamoto became more and more popular in his later years, recording minimal albums with German artist Alva Noto, providing ambient scores for art installations, and releasing live orchestral and solo piano recordings of his compositions. It was a title that seemed to grow. In the 2017 documentary film Coda, there is a clip of Yellow His Magic with his orchestra that shows Sakamoto returning to work following a diagnosis of laryngeal cancer, while a young man looks down from an apartment wall in an Andy Warhol portrait. Pop his star is still hard to face. With a man in his late 60s, the classical organ chorus, the purity of sound recorded during a trip to the North Pole, and the out-of-tune piano “struggles to get back to nature.” I learned about whether it represents
The album async, which Coda is working on, was released in 2017. The album combines Bach-inspired piano pieces with monumental drones, distorted synthesizers and ambient fields of his recordings. The artists lined up to remix the track were from Leftfield, the cutting edge of electronic music. If you need proof of how widespread Ryuichi Sakamoto’s influence was, it’s the fact that his work clearly inspired the likes of his Arca and his Oneohtrix Point Never. Jennifer Lopez’s sample on her US #1 single seems like a reasonable place to start. said he wanted to make By some standard, he already had.
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