(2019) Ryuichi Sakamoto - B-2 Unit (1980, Remastered)



Review:
B-2 Unit is Ryuichi Sakamoto’s second solo album that he released while part of the band Yellow Magic Orchestra. Sakamoto released the album on Alfa Records, right as YMO was reaching an overheated level of peak popularity. YMO, through their heavy use of synthesizers, set their sound apart from the rest, had more of a consumable, catchy, pop sound, whereas Ryuichi Sakamoto’s solo work back then was more ambient and borderline avant-garde. B-2 Unit was remastered by Heba Kadry, an Egyptian female mastering engineer who resides in New York. In the past, Kadry has worked with the likes of Björk, Deerhunter, and Beach House, just to name a few. Björk is known for being particularly picky about her sound, so it’s clear why Ryuichi Sakamoto trusted Heba Kadry to take care of his album. Kadry took the album’s original 1/4th-inch analog tape form the 1980’s and carefully took the audio from the tape into her mastering console while applying Dolby noise reduction, and then remastered the audio using modern-day techniques and equipment. In doing so, she was able to maintain the warmth, dynamics, and richness of the original sound. Ryuichi Sakamoto is said to have fully dedicated his heart, soul, and body to a post-punk lifestyle, a description that perfectly fits the against-the-norm music he was writing at the time. The synthesized sounds he achieved on the album were sometimes rough and abrasive, and other times really alien-sounding. I think he inspired a lot of ambient and experimental artists in the 1980s. At the edge of the era of analog equipment being replaced by new digital technology, Sakamoto, being as freely post-punk as he is, used both when recording and mixing, forming the future of electronic sound. Because of this, B-2 Unit is seen as a landmark piece of work. — otaquest.com





Track List:
01. differencia
02. thatness and thereness
03. participation mystique
04. E-3A
05. iconic storage
06. riot in Lagos
07. not the 6 o'clock news
08. the end of europe


Media Report:
Genre: electronic
Country: Tokyo, Japan
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)


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