Shintaro Sakamoto – My Memories Fade
This release arrived at my place a couple of weeks ago and just looking at the cover image, I was expecting some avant-garde style music, not having a clue who Shintaro Sakamoto was. For a long long time, he was a member of Japanese group, Yura Yura Teikoku, but even if I had listened to their largely retro-psych rock sounds, I still wouldn’t have been prepapred for this record, his debut as a solo artist. How To Live With A Phantom hasn’t left my mind in the last two weeks, with it’s breezy funk that evokes a bit of the 1970s and a bit more of the Acid Jazz infused 1990s. “My Memories Fade” is just one of the many tracks on this album you’ll be hearing quite a lot of on the radio show, with it’s slower groove, slide guitar and touches of organ. Don’t be surprised if this ends up being on of my favorite records of 2012.
As bonus here’s the video for another track on this album, the more upbeat “You Just Decided,” which I thought about posting but instead thought it better to include the video for the song (directed and illustrated by Sakamoto himself!) just because it is ever so very trippy: