Such tough news over the last day to learn about the death of Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本 龍一) on 28 March. While I think his composing and pianist skills have made him more of a household name, and earned - deserved - world renown, I think it is more from his pivotal work as a pioneer of electronic music and as a key member of Yellow Magic Orchestra that I [and probably a number of people here] know and love him best. It was already incredibly sad to learn of the passing of Yukihiro Takahashi (高橋 幸宏), his fellow bandmate in the group, just several months ago on the 11th of January. Such losses for us all, and the music industry at large. Veritable geniuses whose influence into subsequent music over the past 50+ years cannot even be measured. I know the term pioneer gets thrown around a fair bit, and often too loosely, but there is no question that what YMO was doing was incredible, creative, and revolutionary in their own right. A perfect counterpart to their Düsseldorf colleagues, YMO's music was fun, delightful, and above all else drew from some incredible native talent of the group. I had to pull a couple albums down from the shelf for a good, but mournful, listen today. Thank you both, Sakamoto-san and Takahashi-san, for what you've given music lovers everywhere. :`( View this post on Instagram
Yes, it's a sad loss. RIP Maestro Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi. Many Saturday nights spent listening to all YMO related with Cevin Key. Endless interesting discussion into Japan New Wave and such. He would dig in his record collection and we would wormhole hard. One night we were even reading aloud from a book of poetry by Chris Mosdell who wrote some of YMO's lyrics including "Behind the Mask". It was amusing to say the least. We would leave no stone unturned in our liquor fueled YMO geek outs. Such a staggering body of influence and works. And don't forget there is also a lesser known 4th member. Hideki Matsutake! I recommend his works. I will never forget first seeing YMO in the early 80's on a show called "Video West". Been a fan ever since. Love this cover of "Music Plans" from YMO's BMG.
