Watch the video of the performance, and the source of this mysterious, haunting howl turns out to be so innocuous, it would be easy to miss. Nearing the 20-minute mark, a breathy, voice-like drone flares up. ![]() When Noto and Sakamoto introduce an even higher sound it evokes a physical sensation akin to freezing rain suddenly turning to ice, brittle and crystalline. Glass bowls are rubbed with a mallet and digitally processed ghostly tones from Sakamoto’s Sequential Circuits synthesizer waft about in space and crotales (small tuned disks) are struck so that their high frequencies seem to hover like flying saucers. The music’s drifting forms scan as ambient, but rather than imbue a sense of calm, Glass evokes an intensifying sense of unease it evolves. That sense slowly arises on Glass, a site-specific performance that utilizes Johnson’s building as an instrument itself. There’s a resonant center to Noto and Sakamoto’s work together in which stark timbres and abstract electronics ultimately turn heart-stirring. He has said that making experimental music led him back to the music of his youth, working under the influence of artists like Nam June Paik and the Fluxus movement. But collaborating with one of the most austere electronic producers of the clicks ‘n’ cuts generation marked a return of sorts. ![]() After decades of making groundbreaking synth-pop as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra and working with artists such as Brian Wilson, Iggy Pop, and David Sylvian on his own solo albums, Sakamoto pivoted away from pop music.
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