async
The Japanese composer's first solo album after eight years and a battle with throat cancer is marvelous, using a bounty of textures, moods, and ambience from his esteemed four-decade-long career.
“We’re here for the long run,” Thurston Moore said in a recent interview, insisting that his new band (composed of guitarist James Sedwards, My Bloody Valentine bassist Deb Googe, and Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley) is “a serious endeavor and not a transitional endeavor.” If it sounds a bit defensive, it’s for…
The tracks on async are more often gentle sighs of relief suffused with a reawakened wonderment at the beauty of simple…
It's difficult to drop the needle on track one of Ryuichi Sakamoto's new album and not feel a wave of nostalgia. The Japanese legend's recen...
For legendary composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, the value in creative engagement is bending and transitional, derived from different inspirations at each new point of departure.
Ryuichi Sakamoto - Async review: No need for a date: I was, I am, and I will be.
The first solo album in eight years from legendary musical innovator Ryuichi Sakamoto resonates with misfire and melancholy - unsurprisingly, when much of that time has been dedicated to a battle against throat cancer. The organ, Bachian fugues, and a series of portentous narrations join a more familiar blend of dissonant and percussive tracks which, like the title “async”, blend a pervasive sense of an organism malfunctioning with a contemplative attitude to mortality and mutability.