Ryuichi Sakamoto – Futurista (1986)

Ryuichi Sakamoto (January 17, 1952 – March 28, 2023) was a Japanese composer, record producer, and actor who pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto influenced and pioneered a number of electronic music genres.

Sakamoto began his career while at university in the 1970s as a session musician, producer, and arranger. His first major success came in 1978 as co-founder of YMO. He concurrently pursued a solo career, releasing the experimental electronic fusion album Thousand Knives in 1978.

Two years later, he released the album B-2 Unit. It included the track “Riot in Lagos”, which was significant in the development of electro and hip hop music.[2][3][4] He went on to produce more solo records, and collaborate with many international artists, David Sylvian, Carsten Nicolai, Youssou N’Dour, and Fennesz among them. Sakamoto composed music for the opening ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and his composition “Energy Flow” (1999) was the first instrumental number-one single in Japan’s Oricon charts history.

As a film-score composer, Sakamoto won an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, and 2 Golden Globe Awards.[6] Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983) marked his debut as both an actor and a film-score composer; its main theme was adapted into the single “Forbidden Colours” which became an international hit. His most successful work as a film composer was The Last Emperor (1987), after which he continued earning accolades composing for films such as The Sheltering Sky (1990), Little Buddha (1993), and The Revenant (2015).

On occasion, Sakamoto also worked as a composer and a scenario writer on anime and video games. In 2009, he was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the Ministry of Culture of France for his contributions to music. (wikipedia)

Futurista (未来派野郎, translates literally as “Futurist Bastard”) is a 1986 album by Ryuichi Sakamoto with themed references to the Futurist Movement. “Parolibre” and “Milan 1909” include voice recordings of Futurist Filippo Tommaso Marinetti “G.T. II” contains samples from the song “Legs” by Art of Noise. (wikipedia)

Exceptional record. A piece of art. It is loosely structured around the Futurism art movement. 20 some years later and it is still thrilling and one of many many great Sakamoto records (by bluecats50)

Ryuichi Sakamoto is hot or cold for me. I’m either thrilled or bored to tears. There’s no in-between. As such, going into his vast discography can be a bit of a nail biter, time wise. Do I have the time to slog through contemplative jazz piano lps? Ambient new age clouds?

But to not take the chance would be to miss out on some wild stuff – like Futurista.

This album is mid-80’s synthpop fed through an avant garde / art pop grinder. It’s fuckin’ nuts. It’s maximal synth & sample.

Gigantic, slamming, sampled drums go to war with a bank of synths and movie samples. Dinky little digital pianos, fretless jazz funk bass and smooth American English vox R&B their way over unwavering mechanistic rhythms, noise metal guitars and Japanese vox.

It’s goofy mid-80’s pop wearing electro industrial armor and, frankly, it’s fantastic. Not sure how this played in Japan but it never made it over here outside the import market and to no surprise; It has as much in common with Cabaret Voltaire or Maffia as it does Debarge.

Wild, as much of Sak’s 80’s work is. (by Mars Hottentot)

For me a very unfamiliar, foreign music … but of course an important part of music history … many fantastic colors !

Personnel:
Ryuichi Sakamoto (various instruments, sampling, background vocals on 03.
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Caoli Cano (vocals on 07.)
Bernard Fowler (vocals on 01., 03. + 04.)
Haruo Kubota (guitar on 01., 03., bass on 04.)
Maceo Parker (saxophone on 01.)
Kenji Suzuki (guitar on 01., 04., bass on 03.)
Minako Yoshida (background vocals on 02., 03., .04.)

The CD backcover:

Tracklist:
01. Broadway Boogie Woogie (Sakamoto/Barakan) 4.28
02. Kodo Kogen (Sakamoto) 5.25
03. Ballet Mechanique (Sakamoto/Barakan/Yano) 5.10
04. G.T. II° (Sakamoto/Barakan/Yano) 4.04
05. Milan, 1909 (Sakamoto) 4.18
06. Variety Show (Sakamoto) 3.56
07. Daikokai – Verso Lo Schermo (Sakamoto/Cano) 5.26
08. Water Is Life (Sakamoto) 1.47
09. Parolibre (Sakamoto) 3.31
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10. G.T. (Sakamoto) 4.28

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Taken from he official website:

The official website:

Air – Pocket Symphony (2007)

Pocket Symphony is the fourth full-length album by French duo Air. The album was released in March 2007 and features collaborations with Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon. Pocket Symphony also incorporates some of the Japanese instruments Godin recently learned to play from an Okinawan master musician: the koto (also referred to as a Japanese floor harp) and the three-string, banjo-like shamisen. However, a press release claims that “conventional instruments continue to play a great role” in the duo’s music. The album features art by Xavier Veilhan.

The first single from this album, “Once Upon a Time”, can be heard on the group’s MySpace page.

Pocket Symphony debuted on the US Billboard 200 at number 40, with about 17,000 copies sold in its first week. As of 2012 it has sold 77,000 copies in United States according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The name Pocket Symphony stems from the groundbreaking 1960s song “Good Vibrations” by the Beach Boys. At the time of its release, bandleader and chief composer Brian Wilson often described the track to journalists as a “pocket symphony”.

Ever since Moon Safari was hailed as an instant classic, Air have swung back and forth between the experimental and accessible sides that Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel united so perfectly on their debut. 10,000 Hz Legend might have been too grandiose and aggressively experimental for some Air fans, but Talkie Walkie sometimes felt as if the duo was presenting the most widely palatable version of their music possible. On Pocket Symphony, Dunckel and Godin find a balance between pretty and inventive that they haven’t struck since, well, Moon Safari, even though it isn’t nearly as immediate — even by Air’s standards, this is an extremely introspective and atmospheric album.

It’s beyond clichéd to call the duo’s music filmic; nevertheless, “Space Maker” and “Night Sight” play like the album’s opening titles and ending credits, bracketing a set of songs that are sadder and wiser than anything Air has done since The Virgin Suicides (particularly “Lost Message,” which could have easily appeared on that soundtrack). Made around the same time Dunckel and Godin were working with Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon (who also appear here) on Charlotte Gainsbourg’s 5:55 and Dunckel was recording his solo project Darkel, Pocket Symphony could be seen as part of a loose trilogy; if so, it’s more in line with 5:55’s moody romanticism than Darkel’s hyper-pop (where, apparently, any lighter-hearted tracks along the lines of Talkie Walkie’s “Alpha Beta Gaga” or “Surfing on a Rocket” ended up).

However, Pocket Symphony doesn’t feel as serenely untouchable as some of Air’s previous work, and these darker cracks and wrinkles give it character. These songs are often unsettling, but gently so, like dreams that are still vivid but hard to explain upon waking. The Neil Hannon-sung “Somewhere Between Waking and Sleeping” is the most obvious example of Pocket Symphony’s fever dream atmosphere, but there are plenty of others: “Photograph,” a quintessentially sensuous Air track, gives the impression of something a little sinister occurring just out of frame; “Redhead Girl” is a lush meditation on unrequited love so paralyzing that time itself stops. The entire album deals with toxic love and its fallout, but Dunckel and Godin alternate between romanticizing heartbreak and showing just how dreary it can be — although, skilled mood-makers that they are, they manage to make dreary sound pretty romantic, too. The deceptively delicate single “Once Upon a Time” darkens its fairy tale imagery with the fact that once upon a time might be never, while the outstanding “One Hell of a Party,” which features Jarvis Cocker on vocals, presents a breakup as a hangover (a sentiment Cocker also explored brilliantly on Pulp’s This Is Hardcore).

Pocket Symphony pairs Air with producer Nigel Godrich, which is an inspired choice — not just because Godrich has a similarly atmospheric touch and adds lots of fascinating sonic details, but because he helps Air keep the album intimate, not polished into a state of distant perfection. “Left Bank,” which blends humming with a cello and captures Godin’s acoustic guitar so clearly it sounds like he’s strumming it behind you, is a gorgeous example of how well this collaboration works. The Japanese influence on Talkie Walkie and Air’s music for Lost in Translation is deepened on Pocket Symphony, with shamisen and koto (which Godin spent a year learning to play) adding to its ethereal beauty, particularly on “Mer du Japon.” Musically and thematically, this is some of Air’s most elegant, mature music; it does what it does so compellingly that any attempts to be “poppy” would miss the point. (by Heather Phares)

Personnel:
Jean-Benoit Dunckel (synthesizer, piano, vocals, vibraphone, samples, drum machine, percussion)
Nicolas Godin (guitar, bass, keyboards, koto, drums, percussion, vocals, solina)
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Tony Allen (drums)
Jarvis Cocker (vocals)
Neil Hannon (vocals)
Magic Malik (flute)
Joey Waronker (drums, percussion)
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String arrangements:
David Richard Campbell – Joby Talbot

Tracklist:
01. Space Maker (Dunckel/Godin) 4.03
02. Once Upon A Time (Dunckel/Godin) 5.02
03. One Hell Of A Party (Dunckel/Godin/Cocker) 4.03
04. Napalm Love (Dunckel/Godin) 3.27
05. Mayfair Song (Dunckel/Godin) 4.19
06. Left Bank (Dunckel/Godin) 4.07
07. Photograph (Dunckel/Godin) 3.51
08. Mer du Japon (Sea of Japan) (Dunckel/Godin) 3.05
09. Lost Message (Dunckel/Godin) 3.32
10. Somewhere Between Waking and Sleeping (Dunckel/Godin/Hannon) 3.36
11. Redhead Girl (Dunckel/Godin) 4.33
12. Night Sight (Dunckel/Godin) 4.21

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FM Belfast – How To Make Friends (2008)

FM Belfast is an electro-pop band from Reykjavík, Iceland. Its members include Lóa Hlín Hjálmtýsdóttir, Árni Rúnar Hlöðversson, Örvar Þóreyjarson Smárason, Egill Eyjólfsson and Ívar Pétur Kjartansson.

FM Belfast formed in late 2005 as a duo of Árni Rúnar Hlöðversson (Plúseinn) and Lóa Hlín Hjálmtýsdóttir, but didn’t really get going properly until Árni Vilhjálmsson and Örvar Þóreyjarson Smárason joined. The band was a studio project for some time until the Iceland Airwaves festival 2006 when the band expanded into a full-on live act. The members now vary from 3 to 8 depending on member availability. The core of the band is made up of Árni Rúnar Hlöðversson (Plúseinn, Hairdoctor, Motion Boys), Lóa Hlín Hjálmtýsdóttir, Örvar Þóreyjarson Smárason (múm, Borko, Skakkamanage), Egill Eyjólfsson, and Ívar Pétur Kjartansson. They are joined sometimes by Sveinbjorn Hermann Pálsson (Terrordisco), Björn Kristjánsson (Borko, Skakkamanage), Birgitta Birgisdóttir and Eiríkur Orri (múm, Kira Kira, Benni Hemm Hemm).

Andri Snær Magnason, three-time recipient of the Icelandic Literary Prize, says he has to attend a FM Belfast concert at least once every six months, according to doctor’s orders. It is worth mentioning that Andri Snær is not a doctor, but his father is a doctor; his grandfather was a doctor; his sister is no less than a neurosurgeon! Should we, the common, soot-stained masses, doubt the professional medical advice of an entire family?

The band’s live show often features many percussionists, among them are Sveinbjörn Pálsson, Björn Kristjánsson (Borko), Halli Civelek, Svanhvít Tryggvadóttir, Unnsteinn Manuel Stefánsson (Retro Stefson) and Þórður jörundsson (Retro Stefson).

Their first album was recorded in New York and Iceland, with the group recording, mixing, and mastering it, and creating the album artwork themselves.

Árni Vilhjálmsson has since left FM Belfast. (by wikipedia)

And “How To Make Friends” is the debut album by the Icelandic band FM Belfast, released in 2008.

Kicking off with the swagger and sass of “Frequency,” and falsetto lyrics about someone being their “designated driver” over a crisp, punchy arrangement that’s half-classic electro and half-classic EBM, FM Belfast come up with How to Make Friends, an album that takes bored-youth-seeking-kicks clichés and turns them into something just a little twisted. If the basic model of “21st century act reclaims synths from the ’80s” is equally well established — there’s very little on the surface that would distinguish the Icelandic act from any number of similarly minded acts in the U.K., the U.S., or many other spots — there’s still something purring along in most of these songs that feels enjoyably off. Rather than embracing sparkly overload or queasy psychedelic disruption, FM Belfast lock down call and response vocals and observational lyrics with almost brutal rhythms — “Tropical” may well be the least likely song to possess such a total, the only aspect suggesting a random playfulness being a sweet melodic part up against flatly sung words. At the same time, while the lyrics might not always be entirely sunny, there’s plenty of straight up joy to be had with the arrangements on songs like “Synthia” and “Par Avion,” so it’s not like How to Make Friends is simply po-faced through and through. Still, there’s a forced moment where the band takes on Technotronic’s pop-rave confection “Pump Up the Jam” and turns it into a slow and all-too-stiffly sung hotel-lounge swoon — the idea is cute, but ten seconds is all one needs to get the idea. (by Ned Raggett)

This album comes with 6 inserts illustrating the songs lyrics:

Personnel:
Lóa Hlín Hjálmtýsdóttir (vocals, various instruments)
Árni Rúnar Hlöðversson (keyboards)
Örvar Þóreyjarson Smárason (various instruments)
Árni Vilhjálmssona (vocals, various instruments)

Tracklist:
01. Frequency (Hjálmtýsdóttir/Hlöðversson/SmárasonVilhjálmssona) 3.49
02. Underwear (Hjálmtýsdóttir/Hlöðversson/SmárasonVilhjálmssona) 3.09
03. I Can Feel Love (Hjálmtýsdóttir/Hlöðversson/SmárasonVilhjálmssona) 3.33
04. Tropical (Hjálmtýsdóttir/Hlöðversson/SmárasonVilhjálmssona) 3.09
05. Pump (cover of Pump Up The Jam by Technotronic) (Kamosi/de Quincey 2.42
06. Par Avion (Hjálmtýsdóttir/Hlöðversson/SmárasonVilhjálmssona/Pálsson 3.16
07. VHS (Hjálmtýsdóttir/Hlöðversson/SmárasonVilhjálmssona) 2.52
08. Lotus (cover of Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine) (Commerford/Rocha/Morello/Wilk) 3.44
09. Optical (Hjálmtýsdóttir/Hlöðversson/SmárasonVilhjálmssona) 3.21
10. Synthia (Hjálmtýsdóttir/Hlöðversson/SmárasonVilhjálmssona) 3.14
11. President (Hjálmtýsdóttir/Hlöðversson/SmárasonVilhjálmssona) 3.45

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