Ryuichi Sakamoto: Travesía (2LP) [MILAN]

Why you'll love it

This gatefold 2LP set, pressed in the EU, spans four decades of Sakamoto's music in 20 tracks. The curator is Alejandro G. Iñárritu, who worked with him on The Revenant.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Gatefold jacket
• Pressed in the EU
• Liner notes by Alejandro G. Iñárritu
• Stereo mix

About the album

Travesía means "journey" in Spanish, and that's exactly the plan. Alejandro González Iñárritu first conceived it as a surprise for Ryuichi Sakamoto's 70th birthday, spent nearly two years planning it and six months on the curation, and it arrived after the composer's passing in 2023 as a portrait drawn by a friend and collaborator.

The running order jumps freely between eras. "Thousand Knives," from his 1978 solo debut, sits a track away from Alva Noto's remodel of The Revenant main theme; "Rio," "Tokyo Story" and "Blu" drift past, "Asadoya Yunta" brings in an Okinawan folk song, and the fourth side closes with "Same Dream, Same Destination" and "Composition 0919." The sleeve shows Olin, a volcanic-rock sculpture by Pedro Reyes. Iñárritu sets pieces from Sakamoto's early solo years beside spare piano and electronic textures from later on, so the whole thing plays like one long, unhurried listen.

Iñárritu wrote the liner notes himself. It works as a first stop for newcomers and a fond reshuffle for longtime listeners, a bit like letting someone else organise your shelves and discovering they did it better.

Also at Kops: more Ryuichi Sakamoto on vinyl · browse Electronic

Tracklist

Listen

On Milan (cat# 19658767091), the 2023 compilation.