Welcome to this week’s issue of Shibuya’s Scrambled Sounds!

I hope you had a nice week. Just a reminder that there is now a Shibuya’s Scrambled Sounds Threads! I’m considering other social media platforms so if you have a preference or something, let me know. Pick your poison 🩻

Since there were 5 Mondays last month, it’s been a little longer than usual since the last “The Sushi Platter”, but it’s finally here!

This week is about an artist who likes to talk about dancing together raw. It’s the other Sakamoto, Shintaro Sakamoto! (Not related to Ryuichi btw)

📖 History and Influence 📖 

Born in Osaka in 1967, Shintaro Sakamoto first became known as the vocalist and guitarist for the classic Psychedelic/Garage Rock band Yura Yura Teikoku. His songwriting and playing style evolved with each album. His guitar technique started off with a Hard Rock, borderline Punk Rock playing style, and eventually evolved to something more minimal and effect laden. His lyrics also slowly became more refined, eventually reflecting on inner struggles as well as elaborating on his own critiques of Japanese culture and politics.

Sakamoto started his solo career after Yura Yura Teikoku broke up in 2010. I’ll get to Yura Yura Teikoku eventually, but if you haven’t heard Hollow Me, their last album, it’s an essential listen. What made that album stand out was the new vocal and guitar approach Sakamoto attempted. He tried to make “artificial” sounding vocals that don’t have emotion, but actually he felt that the result had an even more passionate output than he expected.

And this style is what set up his solo career, where on top of these minimal vocal and guitar styles, he decided to add Soul, Disco, and Funk influence. His albums are extremely unique, and don’t you dare pay attention to those Rate Your Music scores, his music is legendary and a standout in the Japanese Music sphere. His lyrics in particular are extremely unique, using dull or even sometimes grotesque imagery to describe beautiful or depressing aspects of our lives.

While Sakamoto was just a guitarist and vocalist for Yura Yura Teikoku, his solo career had him pick up other instruments and show off his talents. He’s always challenging himself and his preferences in music and instruments are always evolving. At one point he switched to slide guitar which played into his unique take on the Hosono Tropical sounds, but then he moved back to regular guitar recently. He always seems bored with what he’s doing and and is continuously searching for the next move.

I got into Sakamoto’s music during a very tough time of my life. I had just got out of a mutually destructive relationship and the number one album on this list was the single most important album to me during that time.

I’m not sure how many of y’all out there enjoy listening to his music or know who he is, but I hope this email/web post inspires you to check him out or give his music another chance.

📈 Rankings 📈 

4. Love If Possible

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube

Once you go super maximal like he did on his first couple of albums, sometimes you just gotta take it down a bit. I think this album is the most minimal and chilled out Sakamoto gets. There’s definitely interesting, semi-kitschy textures going on, but there are lots of sections that are just bare drums and bass, with glints of shimmering slide guitars and marimbas fading out as quickly as they fade in.

For me, this album is the perfect mix of his second album Let’s Dance Raw and Hollow Me, the last Yura Yura Teikoku album. This sounds amazing on paper, and don’t get me wrong, I love this album, but I just think this album executes the previously mentioned sound better on some tracks more than others. With that being said, even his worst album is still great.

One of my favorites is “Like an Animal”, which grooves over what could be best described as ambient slide guitar looming in both the background and foreground. I also like the next track “Feeling Immortal”, where the lyrics are ambiguous, but it seems like it’s about having anxiety and feeling like when you make a mistake, you feel like you’re dying. (Is he alright? Seriously I’m worried about the guy)

I really love the aesthetic and approach of this album, just listen to “Foolish Situation” and tell me that “tropical funk” isn’t a genre. Whether you decide to check out his discography chronologically or via this list, you can’t go wrong. A fun ride the whole time.

3. Like a Fable

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube

Sometimes, you just miss playing the guitar. Nothing wrong with that. So this is Sakamoto back to form, back with the ole 6 string in the front of the mix if ya know what I mean *hyuk hyuk

I feel like the best way to describe this album is to say it’s the culmination of all of his sounds that he’s been crafting so far. There’s a little bit of everything here. The one thing that makes this album stand out in his discography is it feels more… Motown/Doo Wop inspired on some songs. Especially the track “Sad Errand”, a song about being bored with life, even including the mundane act of performing on stage every night. Yet the surf rock-inspired sounds make the song sound so happy and sad at the same time. (Is he alright? Seriously I’m worried about the guy)

This album has some top tier Sakamoto tracks, especially “Thickness of Love”, which features a saxophone that goes from calm and smooth to screeching by the midway point. Also the chord progression sounds like early Techno in the best way possible. Love If Possible and this record are basically equal to me, but I prefer this one a little more for the diversity.

2. Let’s Dance Raw

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube

Alright, now we’re getting to the amazing albums. If we’re talking purely about lyrics, this is his best album in my opinion. This is where he made the jump to social critiques and politics. I’m not Japanese, but I can imagine that a lot of people would simultaneously resonate with some of the subject matters talked about here while also being shocked at how straight forward he writes about these matters.

For example, let’s talk about the last track, one of my all time favorite Sakamoto songs “This World Should Be More Wonderful”. He asks “why is it that even though they look Japanese, we can’t communicate with each other”, possibly referring to how there are so many different dialects of Japanese that are not mutually intelligible, or maybe how he feels like he is such an outcast from Japanese society, a topic he brings up often. (Is he alright? Seriously I’m worried about the guy)

This is the first album where he really features the slide guitar. Instead of going heavy into country music or even a tropical vibe like the next album, it’s used as more of a texture. Sound wise, this album sounds a lot like his first, but with a bit more sonic experimentation. This results in my absolute favorite Sakamoto songs being on this album. The previously mentioned “This World Should Be More Wonderful”, the disco-inspired “Let’s Dance Raw”, and the hopeless sounding “Like an Obligation”, all top tier songs.

If you can understand Japanese, I think that makes this album more interesting, which makes sense why it was voted #1 album of the 2010’s by “MUSIC MAGAZINE”, a widely respect music news source here in Japan. Musically though, his most consistent album is…

1. How to Live With a Phantom

Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube

This album is the ultimate comfort food for me when I’m feeling down. As mentioned previously, I was going through a pretty intense breakup about 8 years ago when I came across this album. When I first heard it, I didn’t understand too much Japanese, so I didn’t even know what the album was about.

Imagine my surprise when 3 years ago, having lived in Japan for 2 years at that point, I relistened to the lyrics. I noticed, that this album’s lyrics could be interpreted as being about exactly what I was going through at that time. To me, this album sounds like the end of a destructive relationship and trying to find your own identity after living with someone you’ve felt attached to for so long. How to live with a phantom… something that used to be there but it’s gone. It’s presence still lingers, but you can’t touch it.

Let’s take “My Memories Fade” as an example. He talks about how all of his memories are fading, and even when he looks at pictures of himself, he doesn’t recognize that it’s him. Another amazing track, “A Gleam of Hope” seems to be about how he’s glad they (whoever they is) met each other here, but now he’s just playing in the darkness alone. It starts with the chorus of “let’s quit” and ends with “let’s search”, perhaps searching for the next person to enter his life in the way that his previous lover did. (Is he alright? Seriously I’m worried about the guy)

As for the music, it’s the empty mood and hollowness of “Hollow Me”, but with some Soul music influence. This album is both sleek and vintage, sounding like some type of slacker funk. A middle aged man crooning over a silky smooth background, kinda like the less-reverbed Japanese version of “Kaputt” by Destroyer.

One reason this is my favorite and I’m sure there are people who would disagree, but this is the only album where Sakamoto plays bass… and I LOVE IT. He’s my biggest influence when I play bass. Instead of trying to align it with the drums or treat it as a another guitar, he treats the bass as if it’s another tool to create melodies. Take the last track, the perfect song “Small But Enough”, where the bass is the counter melody. Also, the last 2 min 40 seconds of that song is pure music bliss. PURE MUSIC BLISS

📊 Tier List 📊 

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Also!
I’m a freelance Japanese to English Translator with about a year and a half of experience scattered around various projects. If the ChatGPT version looks sketchy and you’re interested in having a human translate any interviews or articles let me know. I’ll give any follower a hefty discount 😉

See ya next time! Breakfast is ready.