Thundercat has recorded a cover of Ryuichi Sakamoto‘s ‘Thousand Knives’, the title track from the Japanese composer’s 1978 solo debut – listen to it below.

The cover is part of a new compilation that pays tribute to Sakamoto,in celebration of his 70th birthday. ‘A Tribute To Ryuichi Sakamoto: To The Moon And Back’ is due out on December 2 via Milan Records.

Thundercat’s bass-laden take on ‘Thousand Knives’ is about half the length of Sakamoto’s vocoder-heavy original, with brand-new English lyrics fitting with the melody.

It’s the first single from the album, with other artists to appear including Devonté Hynes (AKA Blood Orange), Fennesz, David Sylvian, Cornelius, and the Cinematic Orchestra.

Last month, Sakamoto shared two new songs that were made for the Netflix anime series Exception. The two songs – ‘Opening for ‘Exception’’ and ‘Oxygen’ – soundtrack the new space horror anime series, which is based on a new story by Hirotaka Adachi.

Last year, the composer and founder of the Yellow Magic Orchestra was diagnosed with cancer for the second time in a decade.

“I was relieved after the throat cancer that I had in 2014 went into remission after six years,” he wrote. “However, unfortunately, I have been diagnosed with cancer again—this time, rectal cancer. The news was disheartening, but thanks to the excellent doctors I met, the surgery I underwent was a success. I am now undergoing treatment.”

In other news, Thundercat made an appearance on the Gorillaz single ‘Cracker Island’, which was released in June. The band are due to release their new record, also called ‘Cracker Island’, on February 24, 2023 via Parlophone (pre-order here).

The track marked the experimental cartoon band’s first new music since last summer’s ‘Meanwhile’ EP. Speaking about the track previously, 2-D said: “It’s nice to be back, I’m well into our new tune, it brings back weird and scary memories of stuff that hasn’t happened yet.”