Ryuichi Sakamoto
Love Is The Devil Original Soundtrack Recording
Asphodel
Put this disc on, and I guarantee that your head will not be in the same place as it was before you put it on (the disc, that is).
Eerie, patient sonicscapes scattered with piano tinklings – usually directionless, wary, and disturbing. I have no idea what this movie is about, but Love Is The Devil is an ominous enough title – these sounds live up to that while miraculously retaining their other-worldliness.
I can tell you this movie is not a musical. It gets a zero for danceability. Forget cutting edge, this is galactic edge music played in the waiting room of a black hole. Many of the tracks would fit in nicely as sci-fi sound effects in an Ed Wood soundtrack.
The title track (#28 at 5:29) is a fairly coherent bit of lo-fi electronica dirge. Perhaps “Owl” is the mating calls of digital machines between programming sessions. “Redman” brings to mind someone chewing more gum or chaw than should really be allowed aboard a 1950s style Hollywood spaceship. The bending tonal torture of “Water Drop,” or the haphazardly spliced bits of cutting room floor psycho-strings. Don’t worry, with any imagination at all many things like this will come to your mind if you just listen. Asphodel, P.O. Box 51, Chelsea Station, New York, NY 10113
