Async - remodels

"Toggling between async and remodels, it's hard to miss the contrast between the stark force of the original and the restrained reverence of its follow-up. Sakamoto is one of the greats. Here he's surrounded by an exemplary cast, including many artists groundbreaking in their own right. But remodels isn't an album made by a master confronting life's most unfathomable inevitability. And without that, it's not quite sure what it wants to be. Though worthy, at times enjoyable, and well-intentioned, as a standalone work it's uneven and hemmed in. Its greatest tribute will be to lead listeners back to the source".

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"The collection ultimately ends up feeling like a tribute as well as a remix album, serving to highlight Sakamoto's considerable influence on generations of forward-thinking electronic musicians".

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"Async: Remodels is more likely to serve as handsome background music than a tool to convert the uninitiated. But that's not to say that it can't happen. Listeners more inclined to admire ambient sounds could use either async or Async: Remodels as a way to get into Sakamoto's work. If you only know of the composer's name through films like Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence or The Last Emperor, then this remix album and its parent release could pose a bit of a challenge. But not all challenges hurt, and Sakamoto's army of knob twiddlers make it one that's as interesting as the first go-round".

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"Milan Records invited 11 electronic music producers to reinterpret seven of Sakamoto's works. The reverence with which Sakamoto is rightfully held is all over async Remodels. It begins with the spine-tingling piano solo from "andata," which Oneohtrix Point Never begins to manipulate less than a minute in. Like all of the material here, the rework is respectful, but not slavishly so. These are neither covers nor remixes ... Everything works here, in its own unique way".

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