Ryuichi Sakamoto has a long career of composition in many forms, from bands to solo work and scores for film. Probably most well known for the Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence theme and most recently his work on the Revenant soundtrack. Both previous tracks of the week.
His latest album async has a strong overarching theme of mortality. Whether this is caused by his age or the battle with cancer Ryuichi Sakamoto is clearly interested in the themes of life and death and on this mostly instrumental and minimal album he explores them with great talent and finesse.
The album starts with the track andata which demonstrates what Sakamoto does best. Sparse elements with strong emotional themes that are given room to breathe whilst also remaining faithful to the original idea behind the track as it moves from a grand piano to a cavernously reverb enriched piano.
The album Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain was a collaboration between the the band Mono and composer Worlds End Girlfriend. They both inhabit the same musical soundscapes so the collaboration makes perfect sense on this album which focuses on blending post-rock and neo-classical elements my favorite track being Trailer 3.
Over its 17 minute playtime we start with an arrangement for classical strings that over time is layered with traditional rock elements as it descends into darker and darker territory. Fans of the more famous post-rock artists in the UK such as Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor will certainly get a lot from this arrangement:
Over the next few weeks I will be away in Japan celebrating my birthday and thought that the perfect accompaniment would be to highlight some of my favorite Japanese composers and musicians over the rest of the month.
Japan has always been a place of interest for me because of its unique culture which always came across as distant and exciting when I was growing up. Its this culture and ideology that has permeated through all forms of Japanese art. Creating distinctive works from all mediums that could only originate from japan and music is no exception.
I start with a mix of two mediums, Joe Hisaishi is a composer best known for his collaboration with Studio Ghibli, creating the soundtracks for many of their animated films over the past twenty three years. His compositions provide the perfect accompaniment to the beautiful vistas and detailed close ups drawn in all of studio Ghiblis work with my favorite of them all being the theme One Summers Day from spirited away.
There is a style to several Japanese composers that manage to create a beauty and also a longing that is reminiscent of the romantic era but with a stoicism and restraint that clearly comes from the culture. One Summers Day has this beautiful melody on piano that manages to feel both wistful and yet optimistic, accompanied by orchestral arrangement to extenuate both emotions and create a piece that holds up on its own as well as being a perfect summery of the themes within Spirited Away.
My favorite work from Actress is his foray into minimal electronica. Over the past several albums they have always been their highlights and Blue Window is another example.
The lo-fi tape sound mixed with the instrumentation in Blue Window makes it highly reminiscent of Aphex Twins Selected Ambient works album and could easily fit on it with no problems. A plucky synth line is driven along by basic shuffling electronic drum patterns that do a lot with very little which is surprisingly hard to achieve:
Arca has managed to carve out a strong identity in the varied world of electronica with his experimental, unique and often abrasive sound.
The track urchin repeatedly swells and throbs with repeating crescendos that fade away or crash into reverb tails. These are accompanied by heavily processed instrumentation and percussion. If you like electronica with an experimental edge arca is one of the current key players and shouldn’t be ignored:
Clarks latest album Death Peak is clearly influenced by his previous two releases the self titled album which focused on strong dance elements and his previous sound track album The last Panthers which focused more on creating atmospheric backgrounds for picture.
On Death Peak we see both at play. Large soundscapes mix with rhythmic drums and his rip roaring bass design to create an album that exemplifies his current direction. On Peak Magnetic these two worlds are blended together to create my favorite track from the work as synthetic elements are blended with vocal samples and strong rhythms to create a track that rests somewhere between the dance floor and the headphone listener. Just over halfway into the track an all encompassing bass synth rips its way through, devouring all the percussive elements and returning the track to its initial instrumentation. It’s a great demonstration of the sound Clark has been developing over the the last few albums and a perfect place to start:
Since I started listening to Kendrick Lamar a few years ago he has managed to become one of my favorite rappers of all time and certainly my favorite current hip-hop artist. His last full length to pimp a butterfly made my album of the year very easy to decide and its follow up EP Untitled Unmastered was also one of the best things to be released last year. So the announcement of his new full length DAMN. was greeted by me with a mix of excitement and trepidation. Could he continue this incredible run of form or was it too much to ask?
This week DAMN. was released and so it’s time to start thinking about those answers. However it’s still far to soon to comment of how highly I regard this album. To Pimp a Butterfly only cemented itself as a classic from repeat paying. Only as the tens of plays went to hundreds and the layers of truth and artistic expression were revealed throughout every element of that work did I realise its true merit. A week after the release of DAMN. And I’m still only on the surface but I can say that the surface is looking pretty good.
Modern stronger trap influenced textures make up the key elements in the first half of the album which starts to shift towards samples and acoustic instrumentation on its second half. Kendrick is still on form with his cutting deliveries that often sound like outpourings of pure rage the first time through before you start to notice the subtlety and poignancy in the lyrics. They turn from all out brawls to silent assassins. Laser targeting people, elements of American culture and corporations with overwhelming positivity or vitriol. It will take more time to divulge whats going on in the album but for now all I can say is I’ve listened to it six times and am still finding new things to enjoy and analyse so its looking good so far.
I picked FEAR as my Track of the week because it stood out, forcing me to sit up and analyse it on my first listen. Which I usually try to keep as passive as possible, paying attention to the aesthetics of the album as a whole rather than the individual elements.
FEAR handles Kendricks insecurity in his current position and looking back to the fears that he had during the To Pimp A Butterfly days with a honesty and vulnerability that is often hidden under the bravado of Rap. At nearly 8 minutes its also the longest work on DAMN. But continues the structure of his earlier works by splitting the track up into smaller arrangements, motifs and skits that all blend together to put across the ideas of the overall track. This style of arrangement results in tracks that become very cerebral and almost dreamlike as the characters and feelings thought the track fade in and out the overarching narrative becomes the poignant element to hang your thoughts on.
If you still Haven’t listened to Kendrick Lamar I hope this will persuade you to go further into his work and his back catalog. Missing out on it is missing out on one of the most interesting popular artists working today and someone who actually has something to say about current events, It’s all well worth your time.
Telefon Tel Aviv were one of the first artists I ever featured on my Track Of The Week segment of this blog. Promoting music I love that is often on the fringes of most listeners is the reason this segment exists and they’re certainly fit into that category. Looking back I noticed that I never included a track from their album Immolate Yourself. The last album made before Charles Coopers accidental death in 2009 and it is time I rectified the situation.
The album took the group away from their computer heavy compositional style to analogue synths and a tape machines for recording and its shows in the work. As the glitch style percussion gives way to more organic textures their experimentation still remained.
On You are The Worst Thing In the World percussive tape loops and a hi-hat pattern drift in and out of sync with each other to give elements of randomness that are then cemented by the rigid arpeggiated analogue synth line and more driving elements of percussion. Its this blend of the more experimental elements from the history of electronic production mixed with strong melodies that keep me coming back to their work and this album time and time again:
Shobaleder One is a band founded by Tom Jenkinson. Better known as his pseudonym Spuarepusher, an act that has always mixed his expansive knowledge in composition with his incredible abilities as a bass player. He brings both of these to this project ,which plays a collection of his own work in a live environment with a collective of other highly talented musicians.
At times Instrumentation that was never designed to be played from anything other than a machine is achieved by the group as they turn samples and arpeggiators into virtuoso noodlings. Although physically impressive it’s the more melodic and simple tracks that have been my highlights.
Iambic 5 Poetry offers a restrained collection of instrumentation in comparison to some of the other tracks but also provide catchy hooks which drew my attention on first listen. It manages to highlight that a lot of the more complicated forms of electronic are closer to Progressive Rock and Jazz then most modern Electronic Dance Music and is well worth a listen to fans of either genre.
For fans of the more experimental music I put up on this site especially the work of acts like Tim Hecker and William Basinski the album Cacophonies by Our Gray Lives may be right up your street.
Each track on the album features another album by a completely different artist with every track from that album playing at the same time. The artist Our Gray lives then mixes these tracks together and washes them in effects to create new tracks of his own.
Depending on the material used these tracks vary differently in tempo style and sound design and for me they work the best when they are larger more pad like soundscape found on tracks such as the opening S__A_A_H_G___S__B___-V_4. Although I’m still not aware of the album he has used as the sauce material it certainly has elements of African instrumentation and singing which become more prominent towards the end as other tracks drop away removing the wide sonic textures to reveal guitars and vocals.
If you want to hear music that falls on the fringes of the norm. This is a great addition to a thriving experimental scene and has a lot to take from and enjoy.
Bandcamp:
TOTW
TOTW Playlist:
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