I first discovered him when I bought Wild Palms soundtrack, a lesser known composition but still amazing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMy_Hvk7cGI
Ryuichi Sakamoto has died
51–60 of 125 posts
Re: Ryuichi Sakamoto has died
#52My favorite live performance of "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence". RIP https://youtu.be/L49FRjnhrWI
earlier post:
Re: Ryuichi Sakamoto has died
#53This is as surprising to me as it is sad. 2 of 3 YMO members now gone at 70 and 71 which seems very young given the renown of Japanese longevity. Anyway, Beauty is a favorite album from my childhood so probably time for a re-listen.
> seems very young given the renown of Japanese longevity
Well, Sakamoto-san didn't exactly live a traditional Japanese life. Three marriages, playing in a band in the '70s (so disreputable!), jet-setting around the world... Shit takes its toll (unless you're Mick Jagger, of course).
Re: Ryuichi Sakamoto has died
#54"The industrial revolution made the production of an instrument like [the piano] possible. Several planks of wood - six I think in this case - are overlaid and pressed into shape by tremendous force for six months. Nature is molded into shape. Many tons of force and pressure are applied, making the strings what they are. Matter taken from nature is molded by human industry, by the sum strength of civilization. Nature…
Though we ourselves are by definition part of the universe and thus nature.
“Nature” and “natural” are normative terms that commonly distinguish the world altered and created by humans from the world that isn’t altered or created by humans. It’s clear in context that Sakamoto is using the term accurately in a normative sense, not making a semantic error.
Re: Ryuichi Sakamoto has died
#55Ryuichi Sakamoto - "andata" (Electric Youth remix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g9LEBYJ1oU
Re: Ryuichi Sakamoto has died
#56Annoyed by Restaurant Playlists Ryuichi Sakamoto assembled the soundtrack for Kajitsu,(a Japanese restaurant) in Murray Hill (NYC), and what it says about the sounds we hear (or should) while we eat.
NY Times article: https://nyti.ms/3zmI4XD
Sans Paywall: https://archive.is/9knVL
The songs listed, as Spotify Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3znZ4fY
I will miss him.
Re: Ryuichi Sakamoto has died
#57"The industrial revolution made the production of an instrument like [the piano] possible. Several planks of wood - six I think in this case - are overlaid and pressed into shape by tremendous force for six months. Nature is molded into shape. Many tons of force and pressure are applied, making the strings what they are. Matter taken from nature is molded by human industry, by the sum strength of civilization. Nature…
Though we ourselves are by definition part of the universe and thus nature.
The whole nature vs civilization narrative, is a story told by happy regressors, who want to return to a ilusionary before time, were all things were harmony and civilization was not. It is of course, a call for mass murder on billions of humans with the rumbling instincts from the brain stem and guts as justification. Were it justified with any other argument, civilized society would tear them to shreds, but in the robe of the shaman, they are exempt from the duty of reasoning.
None the less, his music is great and can be enjoyed, like any other artists, without listening to the political and culture drivel that artists sadly often produce. They are easily captured and swayed by instinct tautological ideologies.
Just because it feels right does not mean it to be true.
My favorite rendition of his "My love wears forbidden colors"
Re: Ryuichi Sakamoto has died
#58"The industrial revolution made the production of an instrument like [the piano] possible. Several planks of wood - six I think in this case - are overlaid and pressed into shape by tremendous force for six months. Nature is molded into shape. Many tons of force and pressure are applied, making the strings what they are. Matter taken from nature is molded by human industry, by the sum strength of civilization. Nature…
quite a strange example. to choose piano components yet omit ivory. not all pianos are made from wood and strings either. perhaps a worn-out sword or a bursting dam would have been better, but what do I know. nice sentiment nonetheless
Re: Ryuichi Sakamoto has died
#59My wife and I were just talking yesterday about how we hoped Ryuichi would make another album before he died.
“12” was released just this last January.
Re: Ryuichi Sakamoto has died
#60"The industrial revolution made the production of an instrument like [the piano] possible. Several planks of wood - six I think in this case - are overlaid and pressed into shape by tremendous force for six months. Nature is molded into shape. Many tons of force and pressure are applied, making the strings what they are. Matter taken from nature is molded by human industry, by the sum strength of civilization. Nature…
reads like a digression by Hugo in Les Miserables or Tolstoy in War and Peace