Each following part had me shaking my head and muttering “god damn!” to myself. I was bobbing my head like crazy hearing this for the first time. Some marching-band like tom drums rattle in, an ominous, obviously very-influential-to-video game-composers synth tone, and of course an absolutely ripping guitar solo. Once this groove is established, different instruments take the lead and offer a different solo on the song, each with its own flair. ryuichi sakamotos first solo album from 1978 released on the better days label and featuring the synth classics 'plastic bamboo,' 'end of asia' & 'thousand knives' is reissued outside of japan for the first time in decades. Featuring Sakamoto on a wide range of synthesizers and keyboards programmed by Hideki Matsutake, and accompanied by a few musicians including Haruomi Hosono and Pecker, 'Thousand Knives' was a blueprint for the YMO sound and includes cult classics that were to become live favourites. Just beautiful textures and sounds creaking and dripping out of every little nook of this song’s production – like a well-oiled machine (but one having a good time). ryuichi sakamoto - thousand knives of - cd edition from wewantsounds, 12.00 usd. A robotized spoken intro makes way for a carbonated, peppy groove that makes up the base for the rest of the song.
It’s one of those great songs too that totally make you forget about its near 10-minute length. It was the first time in a while I had to shazam (caveat – when have we been out to hear songs in the wild? I do not know every song).
I heard it for the first time the other night while waiting for Jessy Lanza to come on and it totally blew my brain apart. Case in point: the title track of this Ryuichi Sakamoto album, “Thousand Knives”. Even though I like to think I know a good bit of “classic” Japanese music (I don’t), I’m always slapped across the face with even more classics that I’ve been too ignorant to check out.
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