Soundtracks and film scores are critical to the film-making process; how they’re edited, how they set the mood and most importantly, how the movie makes the viewers feel. Yet film scores often go unnoticed - and that’s intentional. The moment you notice a film score, it probably means it doesn’t fit with the scene (or conversely, that you love the song!). Like any element of design, the music should be so seamless that it can only be noticed if it’s not working. And when it does work, everything just clicks.
One of the masters of epic film scores is Ryuchi Sakamoto, a Japanese-born, Oscar-winning composer, ex-pop star, DJ and producer. Sakamoto works not only with music, but with sounds; stretching genres and creating crossovers so unique that he’s often seen “collecting” sounds to use in his tracks.Â
Because Sakamoto is such a diverse artist, it’s equally difficult to box-in his sounds. So we started with one of Sakamoto’s most well known tracks, “Forbidden Colors”, from the film, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. Signature of Sakamoto’s style, the track is fluid and colorful, yet grounded and cool (it’s not a typical piano ballad!).
Curious to hear the results? Take a listen to our 10-minute AI-generated playlist inspired by Ryuchi Sakamoto’s track, Forbidden Colors, here.
Seed track: Ryuchi Sakamoto - Forbidden Colors
Tracks:Â
- George Michael - Careless Whisper (Piano)
- Thomas Newman - Revolutionary Road Score
- Atli Ă–rvarsson - "Broken Wing" (The Hitman's Bodyguard)
- Francesco Taskayali in Concert - Istanbul, Addio Al Terminal
- Kris Bowers - What’s Stopping Us
- RIOPY - Le RĂŞve d'une Note
- James Rhodes - Suite Bergamasque : III Clair de Lune
- Alexis Ffrench - Tomorrow Song
- Fleetwood Mac - Mystified (Instrumental Demo)
- Jean-Michel Bernard - Aristurtle (from "The Science of Sleep")
- Francesco Taskayali - Pomeriggio
- Florian Christl - Hoffnung I
- Dirk Maassen - Gravity
- Yanni - EnchantmentÂ
