A master musician and occasional actor, Ryuichi Sakamoto has a decorated career to say the least. He’s one of the three founders of Yellow Magic Orchestra, he’s starred alongside David Bowie, and released over 20 solo albums under his own name.
As detailed by The New York Times, Sakamoto has been silently curating the music playlist of Kajitsu, a restaurant he has been frequenting for some time. He got the ‘job’ after speaking to the head chef about the “thoughtless” music the restaurant would play, and offered his help for free.
Imagine this; internationally acclaimed composer Ryuichi Sakamoto enters your restaurant and offers to take over the playlist. Reckon you’d say yes?
Of course, the head chef at Kajitsu said yes. Apparently Sakamoto has been passed the AUX for quite a while now, but today marks the first time his playlist has been revealed. It features some of the best experimental electronic names in the business, from Nils Frahm to Nicholas Jaar and film composer Jóhann Jóhannsson.
The story is eerily similar to the conception of Brian Eno’s landmark album Ambient 1: Music For Airports, which was composed following a particularly uninspiring turnover at an airport in Cologne. Of course Sakamoto hasn’t composed an an album here, but who knows? We may have a Music For Restaurants record on our hands soon.
Listen to the full playlist below.
Via The New York Times.
