RFI: Yellow Magic Orchestra

I will cop to less familiarity with the later period and shouldn't generalize. Looking forward to checking out the reissues.

my YMO 10 right now

1. Taiso
2. Rydeen
3. Firecracker
4. Tighten up
5. Tighten up (I can do this!)
6. You've got to help yourself
7. Light in darkness
8. Nice Age (perverse!!!!)
9. Day Tripper
10. Absolute Ego Dance

B-2 Unit is indeed an excellent record. I'll have to check out 1000 Knives. I've been tetchy with Sakamoto solo releases as he's rather ...inconsistent. Haruomi Hosono's Monad Box isn't really worth it either.

I have still not ponied up for any Sketch Show releases! *forehead slap*

Ally's mom in the car when Tighten Up came on the stereo: "They sound like they're making fun of japanese people!"

I can gmail/YSI you guys sick Yamantaka eye remixes also!

Solid State Survivor's so outstanding I can't believe I didn't happen upon it earlier, the perfect synthesis of their pop orientalism and mastery of electronic texture -- the "Japanese Kraftwerk" thing really plays here, with "Behind the Mask" (bizarre history notwithstanding) something of an antidote to "The Model" (there's an absolutely hideous YouTube clip of Sakamoto playing this in the 90s that makes me shivver to even think about). "Insomnia," too, with the noirish vocoder melody that appears in the last third.

I'm only digging into BGM now, but Technodelic seems to get seriously short shrift -- the sound develops by leaps and bounds here, with "Taiso" birthing Nick Rhodes perhaps even more than Richard Barbieri ever could. Transitional, but not the worse for it. Shades of the Beatles, which would show up later on with "Lotus Love."

With Service and Naughty Boys, the music becomes extremely...digital, more symphonic. Some great stuff -- "Limbo," "Wild Ambitions" (featuring Bill Nelson's eBow pretty prominently), "Kai-Koh." These records almost sound like a different band, featuring little of the wit or bounce that kind of defines early YMO songs like "Absolute Ego Dance" and "Firecracker," with much more of an opaque Ippu-Do thing going on.

Still digging in, but with such a diverse profile, it's hard to believe these guys were left with such a niche reputation.

It's great! "Epilogue" should reduce many a grown man to sobbing.

with "Taiso" birthing Nick Rhodes perhaps even more than Richard Barbieri ever could

Clearly I meant "Light in Darkness" here.

can someone recommend some other Haruomi Hosono projects aside from YMO (solo or otherwise)?

Haruomi Hosono

Paraiso is really good. Tropical music with a bizarre electronic twist. Very odd and affecting, and quite catchy as well.
Cochin Moon is an early electronic classic. Really neat stuff.
His Nokto de la Galaskia Fervojo soundtrack is chilling, it's minimal (as is a lot of Hosono's stuff) but very cold and moving. Love it.

so glad this was revived. just found a mediafire folder with all the albums and needed some guidance.

really loving these stripped down live versions YMO have been playing this year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NTnIJ61z1w

Love the synth trumpet!

Whoah, YMO doing "Thank You For Talkin' to Me Africa"!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWPbDsPYxZM&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEZ3VxGWwjM

excellent video (if you can ignore the camera effects). kinda weird to see a shorthaired 70's Hosono funking out by himself. they really did keep it tight though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0adjDQyYSI4

amazing find

i think cindy crawford is in one of those!!

hah, she is! I caught her posing dramatically with a piano while randomly skipping around.

Somebody really needs to write me a good, thorough examination on YMO and the Japanese New Wave (400 pages at least). I like the process of rooting around and finding out little bits and pieces of information but I need some cultural CONTEXT dammit!

I'm thinking that Nick Kent (the guy who runs technopop.info) could probably do something like that. YMO are interesting enough to warrant their own book but Japan is such a small country that all that stuff really ran into each other at some point. Like there's 3 degrees of seperation between pretty much every one of those bands. Most of it is probably through Harry Hosono, who seemingly appeared on everything that came out of Japan from 1976 to 1990 or so.

Too true, Hosono is a walking infographic.

a book like that would leapfrogbs to the very top of my reading list, for real

it's weird how popular ymo seem to be when reading about them, but every time i've asked a native japanese if they've heard of them, they haven't. maybe it's a generational thing?

I've experienced this a couple of times with some Japanese aged under thirty or so, although they seem to know Sakamoto for some reason.

What's interesting is that if they are aware of YMO they're often interested that a westerner would be bothered listening to 'old' Japanese music, or even Japanese music period.

yeah it seems like japanese don't have the same retromania that americans do, but i have no idea really

Somebody really needs to write me a good, thorough examination on YMO and the Japanese New Wave (400 pages at least). I like the process of rooting around and finding out little bits and pieces of information but I need some cultural CONTEXT dammit!

― Late night with Amazing Bo (MaresNest), Monday, April 1, 2013 5:42 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I've not felt the urge to write about music much over the last few years, but I *really really* want to write a longform piece on Jun Togawa. Never going to happen without a rudimentary knowledge of Japanese, though.

If you want to blow the mind of a 40+ Japanese person, tell 'em you love Ippu-Do or Guernica.

I know a lot of big music nerds who have no idea who Kraftwerk are, for instance...some people just don't really care about anything older than they are

You know, I heard an phone interview on Resonance last week with Akiko Yano (interspersed with some of her music), it was a show called Clear Spot. Maybe you could speak directly to Jun herself? If she speaks Eigo of course.

emily - have you read this?
http://www.groundzeromongkok.com/2010/12/memory-and-gender-in-music-of-jun.html

oops, XP

I think Hosono would be happy with that mishearing, Frog.

Here, for reference / to satisfy the completist in me, is a copy & paste of user handle qomolangma's translation of Kimi ni Mune Kyun for Genius. I would've kept the unforgettable onomatopoeia and rendered the title as "My Heart Goes 'Kyun' for You' -- but Qomo's "I've Got a Crush on You" gets the spirit across, and anyway, anybody interested in an English version of the lyrics will already have the four letters KYUN written across their heart.

... (cheers, qomo)

I've got a crush on you! During this summer of desire
Place your hand on my shoulder.
I've got a crush on you!
"Have you noticed?" I asked that timidly.

A line dance that moves like a ripple
It's just a plain waste of time
A high voltage glance
as things get heated up

I've got a crush on you!
We printed out a photo of our summer
We're just getting sunburnt
I've got a crush on you!
To me, this is uncharacteristically platonic

The cruel sea breeze
measures the distance between our hearts
The yearning I felt when you momentarily lowered your glance felt so wonderful

(the Italian bit)

I've got a crush on you! "I love you."
I can't say that out easily.

But you often see that
in Italian movies too.

I've got a crush on you! During this summer of desire
Place your hand on my shoulder.
I've got a crush on you!
"Have you noticed?" I asked that timidly.

I've got a crush on you! "I love you."
I can't say that out easily.
I've got a crush on you! We run along the beach
As we get shrouded within the shadow of the fog

I've got a crush on you! During this summer of desire
Place your hand on my shoulder.
I've got a crush on you!
"Have you noticed?" I asked that timidly.

listening again to Naughty Boys now that I know some of the lyrics, and yeah can confirm it's still the best pop album ever made

I haven't done a proper reckoning in a while but I think it's crept into my all-time top ten.

Really interesting stuff in the Gem collection, thanks all! Gave my first listen to Ongaku Zukan as well -- wonderful. So much reggae! (which for me is a huge plus.)

I didn't realize how awesome the lyrics to Camouflage and Mass are. Good, more reasons to adore BGM.

I'm definitely interested in the BGM lyrics, I know someone translated the middle section of "U-T" and it was very weird and meta. I can't find it now though!

Here's the UT bit, edited for clarity.

...

Hosono: Hello, I'm your host, Hosono. Appearing on the show today are Yellow Magic Orchestra's Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Welcome, gentlemen.

Takahashi: Thank you.

Sakamoto: Thank you.

Hosono: First, I’d like to ask Mr. Takahashi...

Takahashi: Yes?

Hosono: Do you know the word U•T?

Takahashi: Well, I know YT, but this is the first time I've ever heard of U•T.

Hosono: Is that so? Well, then, Mr. Sakamoto, what does the word U•T mean?

Sakamoto: It means otherwordly existence.

Hosono: Is that so? By the way, Mr. Takahashi's drumming on this song is amazing, isn't it?

Takahashi: Yes. It is amazing.

Hosono: Yes. Well then, will you listen to this song when it comes out on BGM?

Takahashi & Sakamoto: Of course not!

Gradated Grey and Key back to back are just unbelievable.

Today I heard my way into the Simoon bassline. I don't think I'll be able to notice anything else about the song ever again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l79HgXvxP8

^^ hah, just coming to post that. it's from the same guy who did that "what's on the Genesis floppy discs" video which I know some ILXors liked.

Would any Solid State Survivor diehards mind expounding a bit on what you love most about the album? After a very long stint of it being my least favorite YMO album, yesterday I had one of those "scales falling from your eyes" moments. Could hardly believe I was listening to the same album. I'd love to get some cheat sheets as to what to pay attention to, now that I'm finally attuned to what it's doing.

Also, people here have said SSS is the most Kraftwerkian YMO album. I've never knowingly heard a Kraftwerk song. What should I try first? Insomnia is my favorite on SSS, if that helps.

thats a real hard question to answer I mean it's one of the catchiest albums ever made. it plugs directly into that part of your brain that freaks out whenever you hear come on Barbie lets go party

I've never knowingly heard a Kraftwerk song. What should I try first?

what??? I swear I never say things like this but how do you not know Kraftwerk? give 'em a try there's a 50% shot it's your new favorite thing and you're bumping the Kraftwerk thread in a week going "holy shit y'all ever heard Europe Endless" and a 50% shot you're like "nah it's pretty corny but maybe it was cool back it its day". when I discovered them I was the latter but after a while really got into them. anyway Neon Lights is my favorite track by them, the second half especially is some of my favorite music ever, if you want an album I think Computer World will tell you what you need to know. but if you're afraid you'll find them too silly maybe do Man-Machine instead.

computer world is their best album and a total classic

as for SSS the moment at the end of Technopolis where the music slowly fades away but the drums don't is one of the coolest moments in their catalogue. just so you can plainly hear how great YT's drums are on this thing

actually come to think of it that's what really makes this album tick. of all the cool synth stuff being done back then the one that really blows my mind is this. like the fact it was released in the same decade that Pink Floyd and Zeppelin were hitting the charts is still crazy to me. you hear Kraftwerk and yeah it's impressive but it does sound like what you'd expect synth pop in the 70s to sound like. Moroder had more sophisicated rhythms but they were still pretty static. YMO however had Yukihiro Takahashi who *sounds* like a drum machine but is in fact someone who by the way can play all sorts of complicated backwards shuffle patterns with ease. so it sounds so far beyond everything else that was going on at the time.

That figures, one of the thoughts I had yesterday was, "If this album was JUST drums, I think it'd become a favorite on the strength of these drumfills alone."

OTM re: the Barbie comment, though it makes me wonder why Naughty Boys clicked so soon and this didn't.

I always think about that when I listen to the '78 debut -- how in god's name did it occur to Hosono that he should make this kind of all-digital music BUT keep a live drummer?

Which spawned the follow-up thought: is genius actually just the combination of a great idea and the wherewithal/dedication to follow through on it?

I've never knowingly heard a Kraftwerk song. What should I try first?

Kraftwerk released six classic albums between 1974 and 1986* and one of their many remarkable aspects is that each one is completely different in concept and mood to the record that preceded it. Autobahn invented synth-pop and has a very melodic major-key sound, but is also quite Krautrock-y in places. Radio Activity (1975) is much more somber and atmospheric in feel, which of course sometimes exactly what you want.

Trans-Europe Express (1977) kicks off with a lovely pop epic ("Europe Endless") but then works its way through a series of gothic masterpieces. The penultimate track, "Franz Schubert", is hauntingly beautiful and dreamlike; I think it's the most slept-on piece in their whole catalogue. This album marks the point where Kraftwerk acquired their first sequencer, but it's used throughout as a fifth band-member, meaning that there is still a discernible "live" feel in places. By contrast, every track on The Man-Machine (1978) is built up from ultra-precise sequenced rhythm patterns, and the band's drummer essentially became surplus to requirements. This is one of the reasons that The Man-Machine stands in elite company as one of the most influential pop albums ever recorded. That said, conceptual and technical brilliance doesn't count for much if you don't also bring some great tunes to the party, and Kraftwerk delivered on that too. "The Model" was released a single some years later and hit number one in the British charts!

Computer World (1981) doubles down on the interest in danceability that began to appear in its predecessor, and in places radically pares back the band's usual focus on melody and harmony in favour of funky proto-electro drum patterns. That said, it does include their pop songwriting apotheosis, "Computer Love", which is built around their most beautiful and melancholic set of melodies. Kraftwerk are often described as musical visionaries, but what's also fascinating here is that the lyric imagines an electronic match-making service, prefiguring the emergence of Tinder by about three decades. ("I need a rendezvous / Computer love, I call this number / For a data date")

* Electric Café was generally regarded as a disappointment on its release in 1986 and is still derided even by many aficionados. However, while I will admit that it's not wholly on a par with their previous few records, I do really like it. Although Kraftwerk's de facto leader Ralf Hütter subsequently became content for the band to become a heritage act, in the mid-80s he was still very intent on pushing forward musically. To this end, they retired their warm-sounding analogue synthesisers in favour of the most sophisticated (and expensive) digital workstation of the era, the Synclavier. And it had the desired effect, in that Electric Café did sound absolutely state of the art at the time of its release. Although there is a nice, wistful pop song ("The Telephone Call") half-way through, the overall vibe is prescient, angular minimalism. "Boing Boom Tschak" and "Musique Non-Stop" are playful, but also viciously funky. Turn up the volume and the Synclavier's hard-edged drum samples will pummel you into submission.

I always think about that when I listen to the '78 debut -- how in god's name did it occur to Hosono that he should make this kind of all-digital music BUT keep a live drummer?

he plays bass on it too. actually I'm pretty sure there's real bass and drums on all of YMO's albums in varying quantities. but on later albums it's way more of a mix.

how did it occur to him? probably just heard YT play :)

the mood of “rydeen” is particular is very LETS GOOOOOOO!!! what a tune.

So apparently, when they were making BGM, Hosono asked Sakamoto to write a new song in the vein of Thousand Knives. Sakamoto said, "Fuck you. Why don't you just put Thousand Knives on it then?"

Extensive 2020 interview with Hideki Matsutake!

https://www.electricityclub.co.uk/logic-system-interview/

I love that Hosono kept the Infinite Space Octave in mind for THREE YEARS.

Everyone. Single favorite Yellow Magic Orchestra song. Go!

If the Tong Poo > La Femme Chinoise > Bridge Over Troubled Music > Mad Pierrot > Acrobat suite counts as a single song, then that's the one. The debut is not my favorite YMO album but Side B is definitely my favorite album side.

If not, then it's gotta be Gradated Gray -- one of Hosono's most soulful vocal performances (AND one of his best sets of lyrics), plus that insane -- subtle, ghostly -- band arrangement. If Technodelic as an album is the apogee of the three in full-on-collaborative mode, Gradated Gray is the apogee of that collaboration WITHIN the album. The drums in the chorus destroy me (that little kick-snare combo: "every minute..." kick SNARE). And the vocal melody at the end! Mixed quieter than the main vocals, like they're intentionally encouraging you to listen in. "To where... gray meets white. To where..."

Frogbs, is it still your favorite too?

that song definitely connected with me during a long drive - there's that line "my car radio's playing a song, that makes me feel very strange"...like yeah I'm listening to it right now. I agree there's something about how everything lines up in that song that feels a bit strange, it's very precise but feels a bit backwards. it's probably still my favorite, so long as you can't pick an entire album side :)

I also like the Sketch Show arrangement of it. fun to see them actually play it so you get a sense of what the band members are actually doing. the added guitars in the chorus are really something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6JaenTfVnQ

and then, 10 years after, this countrified, sorta jazzy arrangement. amusingly without even watching the video I can tell that's Harry on piano. his playing is not unlike it was on the Monad albums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NjSg54eNSM

I-in my defense, Side B of the debut is seamless! And each song is the exact same tempo! (And as such, the proggiest the band got?)

Gonna check those out soon. I didn't realize the song stayed in live rotation.

Also -- after frogbs called the Technopolis fade-out to my attention, (with everything fading out early, but Takahashi's drums playing on at full volume), I realized that Absolute Ego Dance ends the same way: the other instruments fade first, the drums stay (along with some percussive odds & ends). And then Rydeen is the exact opposite, the drums drop out first, and everything else keeps going for a while -- as if paving way for the (relative) quiet of Castalia.

Side B of the debut is interesting to me since all 3 tunes do clearly go together but they were all written by different members. They never really did anything like that since. I think back then the band was just supposed to be a one-off on a sort of gimmicky concept so they were all going outside of their usual styles and clearly having a lot of fun with it. in YT's solo catalogue you'll hear songs like Nice Age or Ballet or Cue, but not La Femme Chinoise. nothing Hosono did really sounds like Mad Pierrot.

The After Service version of “La Femme Chinoise”

For my OPO

Taiso for me, but it's only a hair ahead of like 20 other songs of equal stature, imho.

The After Service version of “La Femme Chinoise”

Just heard this for the first time. Takahashi's vocals! Goes to show how far five years of constant singing can take you.

And both those Gradated Gray live takes are awesome. The guitar brightens the choruses up, which is pleasantly disorienting. I love how sedate both arrangements stay and how psychedelic both get, in their own ways. Great woozy piano-led outro in the Hosono version.

Taiso could go for fifteen minutes and still wouldn't get boring.

Naughty Boys always ends SO SOON.

There's a much improved translation of Lotus Love over at the blog:

https://grainsparrow.blogspot.com/2024/03/translation-lotus-love-yellow-magic.html

(In addition to stylistic fixes, I made a major error in the version originally in this thread -- misread one kanji, ruining a beautiful line...! Sorry Harry.)