Inventive and prolific Japanese electronic musician, composer, and arranger; co-founder of the vastly influential Yellow Magic Orchestra. As one-third of Yellow Magic Orchestra and an Academy Award-winning composer for his work on the soundtrack for The Last Emperor, synth pop innovator Ryuichi Sakamoto is among the most groundbreaking artists to have emerged since the late '70s. The driving force behind "Neo Geo," a cutting-edge fusion of Asian and Western classical music with other global textures and rhythms, he has been equally adept in electronic and acoustic settings, whether recording in solitude or in tandem, with decades of steady activity. His discography is immense and varied, including solo piano works, proto-techno, experimental ambient, and glitch.
As one-third of Yellow Magic Orchestra and an Academy Award-winning composer for his work on the soundtrack for The Last Emperor, synth pop innovator Ryuichi Sakamoto is among the most groundbreaking artists to have emerged since the late '70s. The driving force behind "Neo Geo," a cutting-edge fusion of Asian and Western classical music with other global textures and rhythms, he has been equally adept in electronic and acoustic settings, whether recording in solitude or in tandem, with decades of steady activity. His discography is immense and varied, including solo piano works, proto-techno, experimental ambient, and glitch.
Bridge is a modern classical work for solo piano lasting over 35 minutes. It weaves itself through subtle variations of a central theme. The work begins with the mysterious and ambient soundscapes of prepared piano. It also features the soft hum of vibrations of open piano strings akin to Cowell's experimental work, The Banshee…
Futurista (未来派野郎, translates literally as "Futurist Bastard") is a 1986 album by Ryuichi Sakamoto with themed references to the Futurist Movement. "Parolibre" and "Milan 1909" include voice recordings of Futurist Filippo Tommaso Marinetti "G.T. II" contains samples from the song "Legs" by Art of Noise.
Ryuichi Sakamoto masterfully blends a luggage full of orchestrated poetic commentary and sound bits from the 20th century to create a trip of a lifetime. The skillful way he has constructed the methods to expose life's inter meanings and human existence is a huge task to say the least, however with ticket in hand this is one trip you won't forget! The intermingling of a variety of languages, express to the listener the urgency that we are all one planet. From the orchestrated cliffs to the lakeside poets brings a clashing of ideas that can only dissect and create a whirlpool of emotions that brings the listener to experience a total assault on the senses. The operatic and chamber vocals found though out weaves the catalyst to LIFE.
Original motion picture soundtrack from the award-winning documentary. Alexei and the Spring was awarded Readers' Prize of the Berliner Zeitung at the Berlin Film festival. Includes the previously unreleased solo piano version of the ending theme.
Because this set features some of Sakamoto's most famous film scores, it doesn't delve into the ethereal and experimental nature of some of his more esoteric work. It's pretty conventional by comparison (it's actually billed as an album of pieces composed to accompany visual events), which might make it a good starting point for novices. The textured and atmospheric pieces here - taken from such films as Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and "visual events" like the opening ceremonies of the 1992 summer Olympics - lean toward the spiritual, preventing the album from ever grounding itself as a thematic whole.