Disappointment-Hateruma is a collaborative album between Japanese artists Toshiyuki Tsuchitori and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Released in 1976 through ALM Records, it is Sakamoto's first studio album.
Back in 1974, Ryuichi Sakamoto was part of a multi-media performance group called Gakushudan with fellow artist/critic Kenichi Takeda (the two were also contributors to a Music magazine called Transonic). Through that project, Sakamoto met Toshiyuki Tsuchitori and while the two didn't really bond, Kenichi had an idea to record an album about the two and how they come from different musical backgrounds. Using that difference as an analogy, he envisioned an album about the distance between Lake Disappointment (located in Australia) and the Hateruma island (located in Japan).
In a stark contrast to what Sakamoto would be known for (mainly his work as a film composer and member of Yellow Magic Orchestra), this album features experimental and improv music which sounds closer to what you'd expect of Tsuchitori. Kenichi Takeda co-produced, wrote the liner notes, and has been considered the "main character" of the record.
In 2005, 29 years after the album's release, it got reissued with additional liner notes and an interview of Sakamoto giving more context to the album's recording.
Tracklist
Side A (Island Side)
- "Aya" (20:06)
Side B (Lake Side)
- "Utsuwa No Naka" (6:10)
- "α / Φ (Musique Différencielle °1)" (13:50)
- "∫ / 𝔷(Musique Différencielle °2)" (6:10)
This album provides examples of:
- Avant-Garde Music: In reaction to the album being labelled as Free Jazz, Sakamoto thought that the music strayed from Jazz. In his view, it is closer to Free Music.
- Concept Album: Mostly from the perspective of Kenichi Takeda who set up the meeting between Sakamoto and Tsuchitori, and the idea of naming the album after two different areas came from him.
- Gratuitous French: "Musique Différencielle" translates to "differential music". However, "Différentielle" is the correct spelling in french.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Side A is renamed "Island Side" (refering to Hateruma Island) while Side B is called "Lake Side" (refering to Lake Disappointment).
- Instrumentals: With the exception of "∫ / 𝔷" featuring vocal noises, the entire album is instrumental.
- Longest Song Goes Last: Inverted with the first track "Aya" being the longest one and taking all of the Side A on the LP version of the album.
- Lucky Charms Title: The two parts of "Musique Différencielle" are titled with greek letters (Phi and Alpha) and mathematical symbols (Long S and gothic Z).
- Meaningful Name: According to Kenichi, the two areas mentionned on the album's title have a large distance seperating them, the same way Sakamoto and Tsuchitori come from vastly different fields of music (Sakamoto was a studio instrumentalist in the Pop scene while Tsuchitori had a background in avant-garde music).
- Minimalist Cast: Only Tsuchitori and Sakamoto perform on the album.
- One-Word Title: "Aya".
- The Place: The album's title refers to Australia's Lake Disappointment (located in the Western state and renamed Kumpupintil Lake since 2020) and Japan's Hateruma Island, the southernmost island of the country.
