Even the quiet grumble of David Sylvian reading a poem by Arseny Tarkovsky (father of famed filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky) has an almost hypnotizing effect that helps draw you further into the undulating synth chords and small string plunks that shimmer alongside it.
Or the piano melody that gets folded over with the sounds of a pipe organ, processed guitar tones and what sounds like a slow moving train. There’s the quiet respite of a sojourn in the woods expressed through a field recording of Sakamoto slowly walking over crunching leaves while the haunting flow of elongated melodies wave under the surface. The majority of async is focused on its soothing qualities. That may be hard to jibe with the lush compositions that make up the majority of the album, but what Sakamoto is attempting to do is reflect the world back on itself, an never ending pendulum swing between solace and chaos. “disintegration” finds him plucking and plonking on a piano that was damaged during the 2011 tsunami, underpinned by warm blooms of ambient synth, while “tri” takes a symphony of triangle sounds, pixelating them ever so gently at the edges for a weirdly unsettling effect.
What Sakamoto emphasizes in his understated way is how to find the magic in dissonance and harmony. The tracks on async are more often gentle sighs of relief suffused with a reawakened wonderment at the beauty of simple sounds created by man made instruments and the natural world. But unlike other expressions of mortality like David Bowie’s Blackstar or Touché Amore’s Stage Four, Sakamoto isn’t raging against the dying of the light. While he’s in complete remission now, the experience of that prognosis and the possibility of not surviving it naturally shades every moment of this blindingly great record. You will - well, hopefully - recognize yourselves.Async, the 16th studio album from Ryuichi Sakamoto, was written and conceived in the wake of the Japanese composer/songwriter’s diagnosis and treatment for throat cancer. They are dedicated to You, the ones who will always be unconditionally loved.
They are dedicated to the beloved ones that are still here and around with us, and to the ever lasting friendship (what's the difference, who can tell, in a way?). But don't make us wrong, these tapes are also - and as well if they were composed in memory of the loss - addressed to life, through all its dimensions. Please forgive us if this comes much too late. The second one, to our dearest friend curator and writer Lionnel Gras. Yes, they are dedicated to two beloved persons who disappeared, strangely, in the meantime: the first one is our ever admired friend, graphic designer Frédéric Teschner. These twin music selections are lying in between mourning and the celebration of life. They could be listened at one after each other - if you ever want to. Even if the two are posted separately, they were conceived in the meantime, both composed as a sort double mirror, and mixed live, with all the mistakes that go with it.
Here is another Autumn mixtape, that follows our previous one entitled When we were Lightining (you can download it here). Tout-Puissant Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou, Les Djos The Group NSI, Mande Moin On Lajan, Pa Mande Moin Za Fe An Moin Shina Williams & His African Percussionists, Agboju Logun Les Vikings de la Guadeloupe, Ka nou pé fé Les Ya Toupas Du Zaire, Je ne bois pas beaucoup L'Orchestre Les Volcans Porto-Novo, Edio (part 1) Dansez mes shegueys !Įric Cosaque, Guadeloupe, Ile de mes amours John Cassavetes & Bo Harwood, Rainy Fields of Frost and Magicįive hours of Azonto, Soca, Biguine, Balani, Soukous, Gwo Ka, Tumbélé, Twoubadou, Kouté Jazz, Sofrito, Afrobeat, Dancehall, Funana, Benga, Highlife, Kwaito, Kuduro, Tarraxinha, Kizomba, Zouk, and much more. Ryuichi Sakamoto, Fullmoon (Motion Graphics Remix)īruce Langhorne, "I'm Cold" (excerpt from Idaho Transfer OST) Orlando Kimber & John (Jon) Keliehor, 1000 Yellow Bicyclesĭeuter, Vom Hohen Himmel Ein Leuchtendes Schweigen
Pepe Maina, Il Canto Dell'Arpa E Del Flauto (prima & seconda parte)Ĭybe, The Moon Is Shining Above The Ricefields Antonio Ricardo Luciani, Suoni Di Una Festa