Tiny Mix Tapes (US)

Man, I hope when I’m an old dude I am one tenth as cool as Ryuichi Sakamoto. As if this dude’s reputation as a founder of techno and a goddamned Academy Award winner wasn’t enough, he manages to do pretty much whatever he wants with his solo career nowadays, producing everything from acoustic piano works to experimental electronica. Sakamoto is also doing a cool surrogate older brother/young sad thing too by reaching out to a lot of like-minded younger electronic artists like Fennesz, Alva Noto, and Taylor Deupree, who all share his interest in imbuing the avant-garde with melody and beauty.

Sakamoto’s most recent collaboration with Taylor Deupree, titled Disappearance, continues the composer’s exploration of this duet dichotomy, which is a welcomed departure from the borderline schlock New Age of 2011’s Flumina with Fennesz. Instead, <i>Disappearance</i> is a looser, more minimal record full of gorgeous ethereal drones, clicks, and scrapes (alternately from Sakamoto’s prepared melodies and Deupree’s field recordings), including Sakamoto’s spare piano playing.

Deupree and Sakamoto clearly took time to weave their sound sources into a synthesized whole, which is especially apparent with album opener “Jyaku.” This particular track is a great example of the two artists’ aesthetics merging, and the overall result is so streamlined that it’s near impossible to tell what’s going on. Even Sakamoto’s signature piano subtlety meshes within the textures, as opposed to calling attention to itself as one of the lone purely acoustic sounds. The whole thing calls to mind the vibe of Andrew Chalk’s best work — the Oren Ambarchi-led <i>Afternoon Tea</i> record — and some of Nicholas Szczepanik’s recent recordings. Yet the piece still remains distinctly Sakamoto, while re-contextualizing many of his trademark sounds into new sonic terrain.