Just under three weeks ago it was made public: DIAMOND VERSION will support DEPECHE MODE’s stadium tour for select European dates. Therefore DIAMOND VERSION's just released EP4 may interest some more people than the well-informed circles and it may be appropriate to start this review with a short introduction about the two men behind this electro The post Diamond Version - EP4 appeared first on Nothing But Hope And Passion - NBHAP - Music Magazine & more .

March is supposed to be spring, but all over Europe it was more than snowy :( At least we had hotttttttt tunes. Let's see the best ones! As a bonus we give you our TOP5 DJ mixes too, courtesy of MIXCENTRAL . First here is the the official TOP 10, followed by the individual charts of the APC Family members. APC TOP 10 – February #01 Justin Timberlake – Suit & Tie ( Aeroplane remix) [ link ] WIN : WIN [...]

March provided a nice mixture of old favorites and rising newcomers, the former led notably by The Mary Onettes, The Besnard Lakes, Merchandise, and the continuing partnership of Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Byrne. Swedish pop whizzes The Mary Onettes present "Blues", a very solid track that reminds of The Cure's bounciest efforts, something like "Boys Don't Cry" meshed with the bouncy keyboard-led pop of Supertramp. An oddly infectious fusion, to be sure. The Besnard Lakes' released yet another excellent album with Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO , and the hypnotic allure of "People of the Sticks" stands as [...]
This is one of the best Saturday Morning Cutie videos, ever. Seiji is tormented by horrible tsunami-flashback dreams, but one night he wakes up and his beloved grandfather has appeared. With a strum of his grandfather's guitar, Seiji is transported to a colorful, slightly strange, psychedelic world and finally manages to have a good dream. Artwork by UrumaDelvi Music by David Byrne and Ryuichi Sakamoto Zapuni brings together Japanese artist with world renowned musicians to create works for charity.
Here's a slice of the enjoyably bizarre yet heartwarming sentimental, complements of longtime collaborators Ryuichi Sakamo to and David Byrne - who have been making beautiful tunes together since the '80s, most reputably collaborating on the Academy Award-winning soundtrack for The Last Emperor in 1987. " Psychedelic Afternoon " isn't as sweeping or grandiose as the tracks there, but it's a stirring psych-pop gem with plenty of color - both in the music and the accompanied video, designed by UrumaDelvi. It speaks of a fun-loving musical grandpa who lifts the spirits of his grandson, much like the grandpa character in the superb The [...]

(Following up our recent thoughts on Blade Runner and its mooted sequel, here are some thoughts about that soundtrack's contemporaries, in particular Midnight Express.) Giorgio Moroder’s Midnight Express won the Academy Award for best Original Score of 1978. An Oscar. It’s one of those things that seems vaguely absurd in retrospect, like O Superman getting to number 2, or The Jesus Lizard having a Top 40 hit. Not because it didn’t deserve to win (although it did well against Ennio Morricone’s Days of Heaven), but because we’re so used to ‘our guys’ [...]

Hoy por la mañana vi un tweet de Ryuichi Sakamoto en el que hacía saber que acababa de apoyar un proyecto en Kickstarter. La curiosidad mató al gato y tuve que entrar a ver qué era. En ThinkMusic se jactan de haber creado una app para iPad que soporta reconocimiento de escritura con controlador MIDI e input de piano en la pantalla. Escribir música requiere precisión y claridad para que ésta pueda ser leída por otros músicos, y esta es la parte que alenta la creatividad. Ahora, muchas personas usan sus computadoras para crear partituras estéticas [...]
One, Pyramid, is the winner of a Kitsuné remix contest and is now making a name for himself by tackling a slow and funky retro repertoire, and the other, Crayon, is a pro of laptop-produced French disco with a clubby touch, perfect for late romantic nights. What links them to each other? Pyramid and Crayon respectively have their tracks "Wolf" [...]

Pretty awesome video mix featuring some of the best music video's of 2012.
This mashup runs through 35 music videos in 8 minutes. Enjoy… Tracklisting: Twin Shadow – Five Seconds Frank Ocean – Pyramids Jay-Z & Kanye West – Niggas In Paris Benga – I Will Never Change Flying Lotus – Tiny Tortures Gorillaz – Do Ya Thing Le People De l’Herbe – Parler Le Fracas Noisia – Tommy’s Theme Plan B – Ill Manors Jay-Z & Kanye West – [...]

Año con año, las mejoras y nuevas implementaciones tecnológicas hacen que la competencia en diversas áreas sea cada vez más reñida, y el campo de la producción musical y DJing no es la excepción. Nuevos desarrollos hacen que músicos, productores y DJs tengan acceso a formas de composición y manejo del sonido y que incluso algunas veces llegan a marcar tendencia, a través de un simple procesador de efectos o instrumento nuevo. Así que he preparado una lista con las que considero las principales innovaciones en cuanto a materia de producción musical y DJing se refiere de 2012, [...]
Diamond Version is a collaborative project between two of the most groundbreaking, experimental and forward thinking creators in modern music, Byetone and Alva Noto. As joint heads of the German-based label Raster-Noton, and with their solo projects Alva Noto (Carsten Nicolai) and Byetone (Olaf Bender), they have been releasing work that spectacularly blurs the lines [...]

Editor's note (Allan): This post was completed in 2010 but has remained private out of error. So originally I was thought it was going to be convenient to write not only about Sakamoto but also his old bandmates and maybe even his exwife Akiko and his daughter Miu, who are conveniently musicians themselves, but you know it just happens that his wife is like an Asian version of Regina Spektor from the 70s (complete with Cameron Diaz from Being John Malkovich hair) and his daughter is like skinny Charlotte Church (neither of which are compliments mind [...]

Christopher Willits lleva más de 10 años explorando nuevas metodologías para el proceso de señales tanto como músico como también haciendo arte multimedia desde San Francisco. Su música es elementalmente electroacústica experimental, y ha colaborado con Taylor Deupree y el mismísimo Ryuichi Sakamoto en más de una ocasión. Willits acaba de lanzar una video-serie llamada CREATE donde comparte algunos de los procesos creativos por los que pasa su música. En el primer episodio, Christopher expone algunos de los aspectos técnicos y filosóficos de " Completion ", el primer track de Ancient Futures , el recién lanzado LP [...]
For years I have though of Ryuchi Sakamoto as being a bit naff, a bit fond of being overproduced. There's a gloss finish to much of his early works that I find particularly off-putting. But this is rather lovely. Nuages comes from his 1991 album Heartbeat . The tune is a traditional Algerian one, sung by Houria Aichi, and Sakamoto provides some very low-key electronic backing. It manages to be stark and empty, yet at the same time rather comforting. It fades out rather than having any sort of conclusion, which [...]
Two dreamy gems of Japanese soundtrack music by the two masters. A bit more obvious here with the Sakamoto classic from Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. MP3: Ryuichi Sakamoto - Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence Beautiful with a wide bounce to it, from the Miyazaki film, My Neighbor Totoro. MP3: Joe Hisaishi - The Path of Wind
Back in 2008, legendary Japanese pianist/composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and San Fransisco electronic improviser Christopher Willits teamed up to release a droning majesty, Ocean Fire . The two seemed to enjoy working together, as Sakamoto sent some ideas to his collaborator not long later. Over the course of the following four years, the two brewed those ideas into their second album as Willits + Sakamoto , Ancient Future , a deep-listening disc that drips with cold, dark intrigue. It's no surprise that Willits' involvement in a project would result in something as powerfully reverberant as Ancient [...]
Christopher Willits San Francisco experimental musician Christopher Willits , best known for bringing together the worlds of electronic music and forward-thinking, manipulative guitar playing, will be in NYC for an A/V performance at Cameo Gallery TONIGHT (8/8) . Tickets for tonight's show are available. Willits recently recorded a collaborative album with pianist/composer Ryuichi Sakamoto (who is also a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra) called Ancient [...]
Ancient Future es la segunda colaboración entre el compositor/pianista Ryuichi Sakamoto y Christopher Willits , construida a partir de una serie de piezas para piano que Sakamoto envió a Willits justo después de haber lanzado su primer álbum colaborativo del 2008, Ocean Fire . El álbum está integrado por seis tracks completamente instrumentales, que giran en torno la creación, aceptación y término del destino propio. Cada pieza en Ancient Future cuenta una historia propia y explora una faceta distinta de la vida, presentando así, un concepto basado en contradicciones [...]
Christopher Willits es un artista centrado en la música electrónica, donde ha trabajado en varios de sus subgéneros otorgándonos grandes composiciones que van desde el noise al pop. Su sonido experimental alcanzó otras esferas cuando en 2007 unió fuerzas con Ryuichi Sakamoto , alguien que no necesita presentación y que ya imponía en la música antes de que el primero naciera. Afortunadamente, esa deliciosa obra llamada Ocean Fire , que por cierto se puede disfrutar en Spotify , tiene una continuación que está a [...]
Shing02 continues a prolific stream of strong releases and features with this track featuring compositions from Ryuichi Sakamoto and production by TOKiMONSTA. The bilingual emcee rhymes in Japanese here, so a limited opinion can be given on my part, but you can sense something heavy in the hasty flow and ominous production. Download after the link... Continue Reading