“Grasshoppers,” too, pops with whimsy by layering patches of bubbly synthesizer just beneath the surface of substantial analog piano loops. Even on “Island of Woods,” the LP’s most strident piece, there’s enjoyment to be had in its array of synthesized fabrics, feathery, needled and clashing.
The admixture of different styles and ideas comes across as both playful and sophisticated: this is clearly music that knows a lot about composition and theory yet strives to deploy this knowledge to fun-filled ends. (And “Das Neue Japanische Elektronische Volkslied” has to be a Kraftwerk shoutout, right?) But “Thousand Knives,” “Plastic Bamboo” and “The End of Asia” include catchy, hummable tunes that foretell the computer game themes Sakamoto would create with Yellow Magic Orchestra, as well as his later film soundtrack work.
Tracks like “Island of Woods” and “Grasshoppers” are indebted to avant-garde and classical stylings, respectively, and feature little in terms of recognizable melody or approachable structure. The six, predominantly instrumental songs on Thousand Knives convey this liminal position, equal parts uneasy and breathtaking, between the academy and the streets. It dropped in 1978, when Sakamoto was only 26 years old, at a moment when electronic music was just beginning to exit experimental and esoteric realms to find commercial success. Can electronic music form the foundations of a new world? This question is central to Thousand Knives of Ryuichi Sakamoto, the solo debut from famed Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto that’s finally been remastered and reissued by Wewantsounds.
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