Good morning. Every recommendation this week includes a release from this month. 2023 is off to a good start.
Today we’re listening to Ryuichi Sakamoto, a Japanese pianist and composer from Tokyo. We’ve recommended Sakamoto three times before, but not since 2020. Sakamoto studied classical, world, and electronic music, identifying Claude Debussy as his “hero.”1 In the late ‘70s, with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi he formed the band Yellow Magic Orchestra, a global pop sensation which also heavily innovated with synthesizers and samplers. In later years, Sakamoto scored films and TV, and put out several solo piano and ambient records. We’re playing two of those records today: his newly-released ambient record, 12, and Playing the Piano 12122020 from 2021.
12 - Ryuichi Sakamoto (60m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Bandcamp / Tidal
Playing the Piano 12122020 - Ryuichi Sakamoto (70m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal
We wish you a great start to your week.
Thank you. Never heard of him before. And I just love the music. I can meditate or work to it.
The only song of his I was familiar with is “Bibo No Aozora”, which I love 🖤 It was so nice to be reminded of it and to discover his other work. Thank you for this curation! 🎼