Our heroes age. After the passing of Yukihiro Takahashi last month, it got me thinking about how long we have Sakamoto-san and Hosono-san with us. Both are due a tribute album of some sort.

Thankfully, Milan Records has done a sterling job bringing together Sakamoto collaborators, friends, and those who are indebted to the master. Artists like Christian Fennesz and Alva Noto (Carsten Nicolai), who have collaborated on some incredible glitch albums, are joined by his countrymen Cornelius and Otomo Yoshihide, along with old friend David Sylvian, all of whom do wonders reworking Sakamoto’s music into sparkling new creations. If you have a compilation of this caliber, with guests such as the Cinematic Orchestra, Hildur Guðnadóttir and Lim Giong, it’s fair to expect this compilation to be a stunner. I’m not at all disappointed.

One of the tracks featured, Thundercat’s reworking of Thousand Knives, can be heard on the video below: