Reki's Inner Studio

"There's no such thing as perfect writing. Just like there's no such thing as perfect despair."
-- Murakami, Hear the Wind Sing


My first Murakami was Norwegian Wood. It was five years ago, in 2001, when my friend Olive pressed a book into my hands and said, "read this, you'll like it." She was right. It soon became my favourite book for that year, and I carried it around covertly in my backpack, dipping into it whenever I needed to take a break.

I've always had Murakami books with me since then.

To prepare this soundtrack I went through all ten of his published fiction works in English, as well a Jay Rubin's excellent "The Music of Words," a book that explores the meaning of Murakami's writing through the lens of one of his three main English-language translators. Having done that, my intention is not to make a "balanced" soundtrack that touches on each of his works, but rather a cohesive one that gives a picture of Murakami's prevailing musical moods. I want this to be the kind of music you can listen to when reading his books, which is another way of saying that I want this soundtrack to be the kind of thing you can listen to on a lazy summer day on a beach by the sea, either alone or with pleasant company. This is music for swimming, for drinking beer, for making love, for eating a multi-course Italian dinner with, and most importantly, for getting lost in.

Haruki Murakami's musical influences are primarily jazz, classical, and what would now be considered oldies American rock. These are the kinds of songs you'll find on this soundtrack, and I hope you will enjoy them as much as I have.

( cover )

( content )

Full Megaupload FST download: Down Mexico Way: A Haruki Murakami FST (total 86.05 MB)

(crossposted to fst)