Ryuichi Sakamoto R.I.P.

[Tin Bird]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-xdCI2oL5M

[Quiet Visitor]

[Blemished]

So sad to hear of Ryuichi's passing. There was always this incredible magic between him and David - soul brothers in music. Have read some great tributes online. I thought the one linked-to below by Simon Reynolds is particularly good. I really liked a lot of his work with Alva Noto too, and Life Life on Async, with David reading a Tarkovsky poem is very special I think, as is David's recent 'Sweet Paulownia Wood'. It's really quite shocking and upsetting to see the passing of these great musicians whose work is part of the fabric of one's own life.

https://pitchfork.com/features/afterword/ryuichi-sakamotos-borderless-brilliance/

[after the bullfight]

This sad news prompted me to put together a playlist of the Sylvian/Sakamoto collaborations which, in my view, hold a fascinating thread over 40 years.

Taking Islands in Africa
Bamboo Music
Bamboo Houses
Forbidden Colours
September
Boy with the Gun
Maria
Devil's Own
When Poets...
Let the Happiness In
Waterfront
Promise
Heartbeat
Cloud9
World Citizen (Ryoji Ikeda mix)
WC - I won't be disappointed
Grains (absolutely beautiful if not heard)

I've left out Zero Landmine (which I find cloying) and Salvation (which jars in a playlist) deliberately, but maybe other pieces unintentionally

[Quiet Visitor]

Fine effort!

[Six One Cynic]

It is absolutely devastating that he died and makes you realize we haven't got much life left after 40. He wasn't even a long-lived japanese person. He should have had a decade or more...

His work with DS in the early 1980s will always be the greatest of all time and funkiest too.

[Kev in P.B.]

....not much life after 40 ?
No, I'm sorry but you are badly mistaken, and saying'' pre-40'' is the only productive time of life is crap.
You hopefully will grow up and become more mature and realize that most people are mentally, emotionally and spiritually only a child for the first half of their life.It isn't until they are post-35(at a minimum) or so that they have lived long enough to discover they know only very, very little about life, the World outside themselves, and the World within them and what they did know in their youth is probably misunderstood or mistaken. In terms of superficial appearance, women are usually more beautiful after 40 and for both men and women, with experience comes wisdom and you learn from your mistakes and know what to do instead of repeating the same errors. Mr. Sakamoto made a lot of beautiful, moving music during his life. Were he here to respond I am almost certain he would say his greatest music came later in life. You may only like his earlier stuff, but you will be missing out if you dismiss the music made later in his life. Just as if you dismiss your own life after 40 you will miss out on some wonderful stuff.

[Quiet Visitor]

Asynchrone released a CD with reworkings of Sakamoto's work under the title Plastic Bamboo.
Asynchrone is:
Delphine Joussein - Flute
Hugues Mayot - Tenor Saxophone, Bass Clarinet,
Manuel Peskine - Piano
Clément Petit - Cello
Frederic Soulard - Synths, drum machines
Vincent Taeger - Drums

Vocals by Asynchrone

Here's Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XRbVY0qZXg&t=19s

All tracks can be listened to on https://asynchrone.bandcamp.com/album/plastic-bamboo