"Bricolage," a French word meaning to assemble something from available materials, is such a perfect term for the art of the remix that it's surprising no one has ever used it before. It's less surprising that
Ryuichi Sakamoto, whose work has always had a cool Continental flair despite the artist's Japanese roots, would choose such an elegant term for his swish remix collection. Focusing on reworks of material from 2005's back-to-the-roots electro-pop experiment
Chasm,
Bricolages features a cross-cultural and cross-generational batch of remixers including
Cornelius, whose playful sense of pastiche is to current hipster Japanese pop what
Sakamoto's
Yellow Magic Orchestra was a quarter-century before; his take on the spoken word cut-up "War & Peace" is considerably lighter and groovier than
Aoki Takamasa's tense, austere version. Former
Japan drummer
Steve Jansen, whose collaboration with
Sakamoto goes back to the early '80s, contributes the skittering "Break With," bridging the gap between new wave disco and contemporary IDM. However, the most intriguing reworking is Rob Da Bank and
Mr. Dan's version of "Word," which transmutes the song into a spookily atmospheric, dubwise dance groove that reveals an entirely new aspect. Remix albums are only as good as their mixers, but
Sakamoto has chosen a solid team that makes
Bricolages his most successful remix project. ~ Stewart Mason