Problem: Ryuichi Sakamoto (Ban Ben  Long Yi , Sakamoto Ryuichi, born January 17, 1952) (Japanese pronunciation: [sakamoto rjW:itci]) is a Japanese musician, singer, composer, record producer, activist, writer, actor and dancer, based in Tokyo and New York. He began his career while at university in the 1970s, as a session musician, producer, and arranger.

Sakamoto's production credits represent a prolific career in this role. In 1983, he produced Mari Iijima's debut album Rose, the same year that the Yellow Magic Orchestra was disbanded. Sakamoto subsequently worked with artists such as Thomas Dolby; Aztec Camera, on the Dreamland (1993) album; and Imai Miki, co-producing her 1994 album A Place In The Sun.  Roddy Frame, who worked with Sakamoto as a member of Aztec Camera, explained in a 1993 interview preceding the release of Dreamland that he had had to wait a lengthy period of time before he was able to work with Sakamoto, who wrote two soundtracks, a solo album and the music for the opening ceremony at the Barcelona Olympics, prior to working with Frame over four weeks in a New York studio. Frame said that he was impressed by the work of YMO and the Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence soundtrack, explaining: "That's where you realise that the atmosphere around his compositions is actually in the writing - it's got nothing to do with synthesisers." Frame's decision to ask Sakamoto was finalized after he saw his performance at the Japan Festival that was held in London, United Kingdom. Of his experience recording with Sakamoto, Frame said:  He's got this reputation as a boffin, a professor of music who sits in front of a computer screen. But he's more intuitive than that, and he's always trying to corrupt what he knows. Halfway through the day in the studio, he will stop and play some hip hop or some house for 10 minutes, and then go back to what he was doing. He's always trying to trip himself up like that, and to discover new things. Just before we worked together he'd been out in Borneo, I think, with a DAT machine, looking for new sounds.

Where else does he look for new sounds?

Answer with quotes: machine, looking for new sounds.


Problem: A-Teens (stylized as A*Teens) were a Swedish pop music group from Stockholm, Sweden, formed by Niklas Berg in 1998 as an ABBA tribute band called ABBA Teens and later renamed A-Teens. The band members were Marie Serneholt, Amit Sebastian Paul, Dhani Lennevald and Sara Lumholdt. The band's debut album became a success around the world and in 2001 it was reported that the band had sold 6 million albums worldwide. After six years together, the band announced they would take a break in 2004 after the release of their Greatest Hits album.

The band's second album, entitled "Teen Spirit", featured a compilation of tracks that were not ABBA covers and when it was finally released on 26 February 2001, it debuted at number two in the Swedish Charts. This pop sensation hit reached the top ten in other countries and entered at number eighty-three on the World Charts, number thirteen on the European Albums Chart, number fourteen on CNN's WorldBeat Album Charts and peaked at number fifty in the United States selling over 60,000 copies in its first two weeks, ensuring Gold Status for sales exceeding the 500,000 copies in the United States alone. Prior to the release of the album, the A-Teens became one of the first bands to broadcast one of their shows on MSN's Websites.  The UK releases were delayed due to A-Teens' failure with their previous album in that country. When "Upside Down" was released there in May 2001, it became their biggest hit in the country. The single peaked at number ten in the United Kingdom becoming their only top ten hit in that country. The album was delayed and released after the second single, "Halfway Around The World" in late October 2001. The single barely made the top thirty and the album did not chart in the top 75.  Before they started their concert tour in the U.S. the band went to promote their album to Asia, with stops in Japan, Singapore, Malaysia where they did show for MTV Asia and Thailand, with great success, especially in the former where Coca-Cola signed the band to become the face of the brand there and promote, "We were the first international artists ever to appear on a soda can there. They printed 15 million of them; we went home with ten!" Remembers Sara, The cans were distributed around the country that year. Also in 2001, the A-Teens performed as top billing during the Radio Disney Live! 2001 World Tour in Chicago and Philadelphia markets.  The group promoted their album with a forty-three-date tour with Aaron Carter around the U.S. Back in Europe, the band toured with No Angels in Germany. By the end of 2001, Teen Spirit went on to sell over 1 million copies worldwide and were invited by Walt Disney/Buena Vista to record the European soundtrack for the movie "The Princess Diaries". As the movie had already been released in North and South America, the movie was set to be released in Europe in the winter 2001. "Heartbreak Lullaby" a song written by Cathy Dennis (famous for writing Kylie Minogue's number one hit, "Can't Get You Out of My Head") and Kasmanaut, the video was shot in Germany in late October, in the middle of their tour. The single was released in December 2001 and it became another top ten hit for the band in their home country spending four months inside the charts.

did they tour anywhere else other than Asia and US?

Answer with quotes:
the band toured with No Angels in Germany.