{"id":520521,"date":"2019-09-17T12:32:29","date_gmt":"2019-09-17T10:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modulor-records.com\/boutique\/uncategorized\/thousand-knives-of-ryuichi-sakamoto\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T10:26:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T08:26:50","slug":"thousand-knives-of-ryuichi-sakamoto","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/modulor-records.com\/en\/boutique\/ryuichi-sakamoto-en\/thousand-knives-of-ryuichi-sakamoto\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousand Knives Of"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wewantsounds is proud to announce the release of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s first solo album originally released\u00a0in 1978 on the sought-after Better Days label. Sakamoto was a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra at the time but the group hadn’t released their first album yet. Featuring Sakamoto on a wide range of synthesizers and keyboards programmed by Hideki Matsutake, and accompanied by a few musicians including Haruomi Hosono and Pecker, “Thousand Knives” was a blueprint for the YMO sound and includes cult classics that were to become live favourites. Save for a small-scale\u00a0release in 1982, this\u00a0is the first time the album is being released on vinyl outside of Japan. Remastered from the original tapes by renowned producer and engineer Seigen Ono, the LP edition comes with original artwork including OBI and 4p insert with new introduction by Paul Bowler.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1978 was a key year for Japanese music. Haruomi Hosono, one of the country’s most innovative musicians had just formed Yellow Magic Orchestra pursuing the sonic\u00a0experimentation he had started with his solo album “Paraiso.”\u00a0The album, credited to “Harry Hosono and The Yellow Magic Band,” had been recorded between December 77 and January 78 and featured both Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi. Hosono quickly invited both musicians to form YMO but before the group\u00a0could release their first album, Sakamoto entered the Nippon Columbia studios in April 1978 with a plan.<\/p>\n

Sakamoto had\u00a0become an in-demand session musician after studying composition at the Tokyo University of Art and had played in many key albums of the time:\u00a0 Taeko Ohnuki’s “Sunshower”\u00a0and Tatsuro Yamashita “Spacy” to name just two famous albums. This led to an\u00a0invitation by Hosono to feature on “Paraiso”. A\u00a0penchant for avant-garde and improvisation\u00a0had gotten Sakamoto\u00a0interested\u00a0in Electronic Music early on and with \u201cThousand Knives\u201d, he decided to get Hideki Matsutake on board as he had mastered the art of synth programming\u00a0following a stint\u00a0with Electronic Music pioneer\u00a0Isao Tomita.<\/p>\n

\u201cThousand Knives\u201d took several months to record as Sakamoto would be busy during the day with his session work and would only\u00a0record at night.\u00a0Named after Belgian-born poet Henri Michaux\u2019s description of a mescaline experience, the album is a reflection on\u00a0how synthesizer\u00a0technology might come to change the face of music.<\/p>\n

The first side conceived as a long suite opens with the title track and a recitation of the\u00a0Mao Zedong poem “Jinggang Mountain” filtered through\u00a0a vocoder, before morphing into a mid-tempo synthpop instrumental. It is followed by “Island Of Woods”, a ten minute track buzzing with insect-like synth sounds\u00a0reminiscent of the tropical exotica of “Femme Fatale” on \u201cParaiso\u201d (also featuring Sakamoto). Side one ends with “Grasshoppers,” a beautiful acoustic piano melody underlined by a subtle synthesizer soundscape.<\/p>\n

Side two\u00a0opens with “Das Neue Japanische Elektronische Volkslied,” acknowledging the\u00a0influence of the German sound spearheaded by Kraftwerk. The track\u00a0features\u00a0a mid-tempo metronomic beat skilfully intertwined with a Japanese folk sounding\u00a0melody. The album ends with two catchy uptempo synthpop tunes in the form of “Plastic Bamboo” and “The End Of Asia,” which both became staples of YMO\u2019s\u00a0and Sakamoto’s live shows.<\/p>\n

Although “Thousand Knives” sold modestly upon release, it was hugely influential in setting the agenda for what was to follow.\u00a0YMO’s sound included various influences from its three members but there is no denying \u201cThousand Knives\u201d paved the way for the group’s Computer Music sound. Thousand Knives remains a\u00a0fascinating insight into the making of a music revolution.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Thousand Knives<\/li>\n
  2. Island of Woods<\/li>\n
  3. Grasshoppers<\/li>\n
  4. Das Neue Japanische Elektronische Volkslied<\/li>\n
  5. Plastic Bamboo<\/li>\n
  6. The End of Asia<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Wewantsounds is proud to announce the release of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s first solo album originally released\u00a0in 1978 on the sought-after Better Days label. Sakamoto was a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra at the time but the group hadn’t released their first album yet. Featuring Sakamoto on a wide range of synthesizers and keyboards programmed by Hideki…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":520519,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"product_cat":[10220],"product_tag":[6869,6091],"class_list":{"0":"post-520521","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"label-wewantsounds-en","7":"artist-ryuichi-sakamoto-en","8":"product_cat-pop-rock-en","9":"product_tag-catalogue-en","10":"product_tag-catalogue","11":"pa_format-1-cd-en","12":"pa_format-1-lp-couleur-en","13":"pa_format-1-lp-en","15":"first","16":"instock","17":"taxable","18":"shipping-taxable","19":"purchasable","20":"product-type-variable"},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/modulor-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/520521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/modulor-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/modulor-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modulor-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/modulor-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modulor-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=520521"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modulor-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=520521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}