Apparently, writing an Oscar-nominated movie score just isn’t enough for some people nowadays. And playing an instrument as huge as two enormous pianos isn’t enough either. Some assholes just keep saying shit like “bigger is better!” and “try playing a freaking house!” And so, that’s exactly what legendary composer/experimental cool-older-uncle Ryuichi Sakamoto and sound-sculptor Alva Noto (Carsten Nicolai) are going to do on their upcoming record, Glass. Not just any house, either (that would just be dumb), but the famed architectural monolith of Philip Johnson’s Glass House. Yeah, alright guys, we get it: you’re too cool for school.
Then again…considering that Noto and Sakamoto already have a collaborative repertoire longer and more impressive than Taylor Swift’s “long list of ex-lovers,” at this point an architectural improvisation record between the two feels like a logical next step: bored, I guess, of working with living geniuses like Fennesz, Taylor Deupree, Ryoji Ikeda, and the like, the cryptic tag-team have chosen to collaborate now with a dead architect.
Glass comes out February 16 on Noton. The recording is a 45-minute and 100% improvised take, using a keyboard, mixers, singing glass bowls, crotales, and of course, the walls and fabrics of the house itself. For Sakomoto, this release directly follows his acclaimed 2017 LP, async, which was one of our second-quarter favorites this year.
According to the press release, this music evokes a real calm, “like a baby observing raindrops on a nocturnal window for the first time.”
Oh.
Uh, anyway: pre-order Glass now via Bookmat and check out that absolutely pristine cover art. Okay guys, we get it. Your instrument is way bigger than anyone else’s.
Glass tracklisting (*deep breath,* are you ready?):
01. Glass
More about: Alva Noto, Ryuichi Sakamoto
