The veteran Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto is a universally respected figure whose music has gone through all sorts of different styles and modes over the decades. Sakamoto has made synth-bleep post-disco classics with Yellow Magic Orchestra, and he’s won an Oscar for scoring The Last Emperor. Sakamoto’s music has left is aesthetic stamp on everything from new age to rap. Earlier this year, Sakamoto announced that he’s battling stage 4 cancer. Right now, many of Sakamoto’s admirers are paying homage on A Tribute To Ryuichi Sakamoto: To The Moon And Back, a new compilation that’s intended to celebrate Sakamoto’s 70th birthday.

On To The Moon And Back, a bunch of prominent artists are offering up their own takes on some of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s music. Contributors include Devonté Hynes, Fennesz, David Sylvian, Cornelius, and the Cinematic Orchestra. The first single from the tribute is Thundercat’s starry-eyed take on “Thousand Knives,” the title track from Sakamoto’s 1978 solo debut.

Sakamoto’s original version of “Thousand Knives” is a 10-minute electronic odyssey with blazing acid-rock guitar, vocodered-out vocals, and tons of weird little melodic ideas dropping in and out. Over the years, Sakamoto has revisited that composition in a bunch of different ways. In his cover, Thundercat has radically reworked the song. Thundercat’s cover is half as long as the original, and Thundercat has turned it into a misty groove with some brand-new English lyrics that some how fit perfectly. Below, listen to Thundercat’s cover and Sakamoto’s original.

A Tribute To Ryuichi Sakamoto: To The Moon And Back is out 12/2 on Milan Records.