Esperanto

by Ryuichi Sakamoto

Overview

One of Sakamoto's strangest, most uncompromising albums, Esperanto features music written for a dance performance by New Yorker Melissa Fenley. Using weird, clipped samples of ethnic instruments, electronically modified sound bites, and distorted vocals, Sakamoto builds a very icy soundscape that juts out at the listener like pointy modernist architecture. Leaving lots of breathing space in the arrangements for the dancers, this is music that stretches langorously over rhythms and snatches of melody. "Dolphins" is bright and shiny with its synth bursts and backwards notes; "Adelic Penguins" is the closest Sakamoto gets to techno here, with bits and bops of a melody exploding over a propulsive bassline. A far cry from the more symphonic Sakamoto, but equally intriguing. ~ Ted Mills

Product Details

Release Date:	11/19/2021
Label:	Wewantsounds
UPC:	3700604729815
Rank:	74197

Tracks

1. A Wongga Dance Song
2. The Dreaming
3. A Rain Song
4. Dolphins
5. A Human Tube
6. Adelic Penguins
7. A Carved Stone
8. Ulu Watu

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Ryuichi Sakamoto   Primary Artist
Yas-Kaz   Percussion
Arto Lindsay   Guitar (Electric)

Technical Credits

Ryuichi Sakamoto   Arranger,Producer,Remixing,Composer
Hiroshi Okura   Executive Producer
Seigen Ono   Remastering
Shigeru Takise   Engineer,Remixing
Tsuguya Inoue   Design,Art Direction
Naoto Shibuya   Assistant Engineer
Tohru Kotetsu   Mastering
Fumie Takahashi   Recording Coordinator
Andy Beta   Liner Notes