Ryuichi Sakamoto 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.
David Sylvian is an English musician, singer and songwriter who came to prominence in the late 1970s as frontman and principal songwriter of the band Japan. The band's androgynous look and increasingly electronic sound made them an important influence on the UK's early-1980s New Romantic scene.
async is the nineteenth solo studio album of Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto and his first one in eight years since Out of Noise (2009). It is also his first full-length solo record since recovering from throat cancer in 2015. Consisting of a combination of bizarre interpretations of familiar musical instruments, unusual textures both acoustic and electronically-made, samples of recordings of people such as David Sylvian and Paul Bowles doing readings, and everyday sounds borrowed from field recordings of city streets, async has underlying themes of the worries of the end of life and the interaction of differing viewpoints in humanity.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, also known as Furyo, is a 1983 war film co-written and directed by Nagisa Ōshima, co-written by Paul Mayersberg, and produced by Jeremy Thomas. The film is based on the experiences of Sir Laurens van der Post as a prisoner of war in Japan during World War II, as depicted in his books The Seed and the Sower (1963) and The Night of the New Moon (1970). It stars David Bowie, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Takeshi Kitano and Jack Thompson; Sakamoto also wrote the score and the vocal theme "Forbidden Colours", which features David Sylvian.
Secrets of the Beehive is a solo album by British singer-songwriter David Sylvian and it was released on 19 October 1987. The album peaked at no.37 in the UK album chart. The album was released in Japan on 21 November 1987.
Brilliant Trees is the debut solo studio album by the English musician David Sylvian, released on 25 June 1984 by Virgin Records. The album peaked at number 4 on the UK Albums Chart and has been certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales in excess of 100,000 copies.
Pokémon: The First Movie is the soundtrack to the first Pokémon film in the North American markets. Some of the songs were featured in the animated short Pikachu's Vacation, and some songs did not feature in either the short or the movie at all. The CD contains extra features, such as Pokémon videos and a screensaver. When it was released, it included a promotion to send in a proof of purchase for an exclusive Jigglypuff card from the Pokémon TCG.
Dead Bees on a Cake is a solo album by British singer-songwriter David Sylvian, released in March 1999. It was his first solo album in 12 years since Secrets of the Beehive.
Perfecto Fluoro is the fifth DJ mix album by British electronic producer and disc jockey Paul Oakenfold, released in 1996 on Oakenfold's label Perfecto Records, then a subsidiary of Warner Music UK who are also credited. Recorded eighteen months after the Oakenfold's ground breaking Goa Mix (1994), notable for its pioneering of goa trance and usage of film music, Perfecto Fluoro utilizes the same "epic" approach and feel, with liberal use of excerpts from film soundtracks, which is referred to in the album's liner notes track listing which lists not only track, artist and label, but also which film a song appears in, where relevant. There are also several excerpts of film dialogue sampled on some of the tracks; for instance, "Teleport" by Man With No Name contains some of Jeff Goldblum's dialogue extolling the virtues of teleportation from The Fly.
"Bamboo Houses" is a song by Japanese musician-composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and English singer-songwriter David Sylvian, released on Virgin Records in 1982. It reached number 30 in the UK charts in the second week of August 1982.
"Forbidden Colours" is a 1983 song by David Sylvian and Ryuichi Sakamoto. The song is the vocal version of the theme from the Nagisa Oshima film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. It appears on the film's soundtrack album and was released as a single on Virgin Records in 1983.
Cinemage is a 1999 album by Ryuichi Sakamoto. It is a collection of six of his works for film soundtracks and events.
A Christmas Cornucopia is the fifth studio album, and the first Christmas album, by Scottish singer-songwriter Annie Lennox, released in November 2010. It was Lennox's first album after signing to the Universal Music Group following her departure from Sony BMG, which had been her label for almost 30 years.
Playing the Piano is a concept album by Ryuichi Sakamoto which was first released in Japan in 2009. The album includes recordings released in Japan only in 2004 under the /04 and /05 releases. The album is completely instrumental and features Sakamoto covering his earlier work, such as the soundtracks to Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and The Last Emperor, and also pop songs such as "Thousand Knives," by rearranging them to be played on a single piano. Sakamoto himself refers to the album as a "Self covers" album. In North America it was released as a deluxe double album along with the experimental album Out of Noise on 28 September 2010. Sakamoto promoted the album in North America with an 11-date tour in October and November 2010.
Sahara Blue is a 1992 concept album produced by Hector Zazou. The album commemorated the 100th year of the death of French poet Arthur Rimbaud and included collaborative musical works by John Cale, Khaled, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Tim Simenon, and David Sylvian.
Merry Christmas, Baby, is the first Christmas album by Rod Stewart and his 27th studio album overall, released on 30 October 2012. The album has proved to be a top 10 success in many countries including the UK, US, Canada and Australia. It was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in November 2012 with over 1,000,000 copies sold in the US.
"Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" is a 1983 instrumental by Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto recorded for the film of the same name. The song has become a staple of Christmas music in the USA, Britain and Japan. A vocal version, "Forbidden Colours", features former Japan frontman David Sylvian and charted in the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart and Irish Singles Chart.
Revep is the third collaboration record between Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and German electronic artist Carsten Nicolai. This EP continues the series titled the Virus Series. The EP was released on 23 May 2006 via Raster-Noton label.
Sleepwalkers is a compilation album by David Sylvian, released September 2010 by Samadhi Sound.
A Tribute to Ryuichi Sakamoto – To the Moon and Back is a tribute album to Japanese multi-genre composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, released November 30, 2022, by Milan Records, two days ahead of its original release date. The album features reworked versions of Sakamoto's songs, referred to as "remodels", by artists including Devonté Hynes, the Cinematic Orchestra, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Alva Noto, and David Sylvian. A single for American bass guitarist Thundercat's version of the song "Thousand Knives", title track to the album of the same name, was released as a single on October 5, 2022. The second single, Electric Youth's take on "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence", was released November 16.
