RFI: Yellow Magic Orchestra

Patrick, will definitely be listening to Naughty Boys more. I found the instrumental version a bit repetitious and grating when I listened last but I was also in a bad mood, so...

'Solid State Survivor' seconded, no contest. Then 'XXO Multiplies'.

Comparing this band with late 70's/early 80's synth pop from other countries; everywhere else, the synth sounds seemed to inevitably lead to concept pop bands focusing on either amped up irony (M's 'Pop Musik') or dehumanized alienation (Ultravox / Numan / Human League, even Moroder etc.) YMO's a bizarrely happy, kitsch party band throwing out references to video games, sleazy lounge music, happy party fun. If it's dehumanizing, they seem very happy about it. Maybe because the same technology in Japan signified unprecedented financial prosperity? I can't know. Seriously, if anyone can knowledgeably fill me in on how YMO was received in their home land, please post to this thread.

Obviously a big part of the group's concept was throwing up a funhouse mirror to the west's asian stereotypes (the Martin Denny cover, the Snakeman Show skits, the unbelievable 'Tighten Up' single: 'We Don't Sightsee, WE DANCE You Understand, Yahdee!'), but they don't seem... angry... they seem happy? Or is it actually intensely focused rage? Or... what? Huh? How?

For perspective, the only other group doing Martin Denny tributes in the late 70's was Throbbing Gristle (certainly coming from an entirely different place).

The last reissue wave was the early 90's, still one decade too soon. Hopefully they'll catch on this time.

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.

Right?! I think you would have to be in a band with, uh, Hosono and Sakamoto to be THIS good at what you do and still end up kind of overshadowed. I loved those two right away (Kazemachi Roman, Thousand Knives of), Takahashi took a bit to grow on me, but the longer I spend with his work and the closer I pay attention to what he's doing, the more I adore him.

Focus -- the story of a guy nursing a broken heart, wandering around town in the evening, who accidentally photographs his ex out on a happy date. In what I believe is typical Hosono style (developed during the Happy End days as a defense against being in the same band with Takashi Matsumoto; Hosono felt he couldn't compete with Matsumoto where narrative and emotional weight and imagery were concerned, so when he started writing lyrics for his own songs on the band's third album, he leaned heavily into wordplay -- not that he didn't get good at all those other things too, but the wordplay remained prominent), there are probably lots of puns and double meanings that went over my head -- and I don't know photography so I can only guess at the technical bits too.

An example: the word for "end" that Hosono chose for "end of the world" is a homonym for the Japanese word for "weekend," a word that only appears in the song in English.

In any case, the rhythm of the falling words is probably more important than the words themselves, in this song's case. Those English line endings (weekend! TRY-X! weekend! focus!) are so satisfying.

...

Seems it's happened again --
somehow the day grew dark while I wasn't paying attention.
What's out of the ordinary is the envy burning inside me.

An ordinary weekend in the city.
The position fixed, the shutter set.
A noisy weekend in the city.
The focus suppresses nausea.

Abruptly, on the street corner, I'm conquered by jealousy.
A face I could never forget, accompanied by a secret silhouette.

(You'll be burning with a new love tonight,
and I'll be burning old pictures on my mind.)

An unexpected weekend --
crushing the TRY-X in my hands.
A weekend like the end of the world --
you there, in distinct focus.

That smile, frozen in place, has forced me to shut my eyes.
The girl who turned towards the camera is a star in the firmament now.

(You'll be burning...)

Speaking of Haruomi Hosono and imagery, here's Lotus Love.

...

A feeling that doesn't change,
eternally returning and reverberating.
(I love you.)
Petals in the inner corner of the eye,
the accustomed incantation in the throat.
(I love you.)

(Baby!) Come leap through time.
(Baby!) Let's meet outside the world.

Sitting in the dusk.
Words that no one can see.
(I love you.)
In times of fatigue,
I become like snow melting in the sunlight.
(You love me.)

(Baby!) Come leap through time.
(Baby!) Let's meet outside the world.
(Baby!) Let's meet outside the world.

An incantation surreptitiously grazing
the mouth glimpsed in a dream.
(Love, love, love.)

(Baby!) Come leap through time.
(Baby!) Let's meet outside the world.
(Baby!) Let's meet outside the world.

(Baby!) Come leap through time.
(Baby!) Let's meet outside the world.

Hosono seems he would be a high-maintenance boyfriend

Ah, that cracked me up.

Got a good listen to Service in today -- remains the YMO I'm least familiar with. That Sakamoto-saturated bridge in You've Got to Help Yourself is fantastic. The Hosono tunes sound like they're already halfway to S-F-X.

remains the YMO I'm least familiar with

Except Technodon, I forgot Technodon. Everyone always forgets Technodon.

Here's Expecting Rivers, aka bliss embodied in song. Until I wrote the lyrics out structurally like this, I had no idea the chorus happens five times. You need to have written an incredible chorus to repeat it five times and not even get me to notice.

Considering also Opened My Eyes ("I couldn't sleep in my bed at night, I didn't have any appetite ... for ANYTHING"), YT lyrically owns Naughty Boys.

...

(Dreams fly by
In a starless sky
Dreams fly by)

Now and then, on a pitch-black night, I go out walking.
We drift and fumble along.

The riverside is drifting too.
The water is the color of tears.
You have lost your way.
And me, I'm turning.

(Dreams fly by...)

The riverside is drifting.
The water is the color of tears.
You have lost your way.
And me, I'm turning.

(Dreams fly by...)

Now and then, on a pitch-black night, I go out walking.
We were drifting, we were fumbling along.

Above the slippery river.
The water is brimming over.
You are trembling.
And it's time, so I'm rising.

We set out rowing.
We make good progress.
We're rowing against the current -- yes?
And we're laughing?

(Dreams fly by...)

We set out rowing.
We make good progress.
We're rowing against the current -- yes?
And we're laughing?

(Dreams fly by...)

I miss seeing Yuki looking stylish on social media in some little cafe with his dog and his friends.

there's so much reverb on Naughty Boys that everything is kind of disorienting, in the best way of course. I almost wonder if there's something sinister hiding behind some of these lyrics, especially given the stuff they were writing around this time.

does Technodon even have any Japanese lyrics? I really don't remember. and I like the album! but most of the singing is in English...and "Nanga Def" I don't think is Japanese is it?

I almost wonder if there's something sinister hiding behind some of these lyrics, especially given the stuff they were writing around this time.

Sinister, -- like, in a "we're touching on the dissolution of our own relationships" kind of way?

I've still got Technodon ahead of me! Been exploring moooore or less chronologically, so I want to get properly acquainted with what Hosono and Sakamoto did in the latter half of the '80s first -- Hosono plenty of really weird stuff, and Sakamoto seeming to lean weirdwards in his own way too (Futurista and Neo Geo sound pretty out there -- plus I haven't heard Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia or Esperanto yet). I have some catching up to do with Takahashi too. His solo albums tend to sound dull to me on first several listens, and I have to push myself to listen, but given enough time, I end up figuring out how wonderful everything actually is -- happened big-time with Murdered by the Music, and it's happening again now with Neuromantic. What Me Worry was love on first listen, though. Half of it sounds like it could have been produced by Hosono himself.

yup those 3 YT albums are great. I like Tomorrow's Another Day too. some of those later 80s albums aren't all that great but I think his 90s work is really nice. Technodon probably sounds the most like Hosono's Medicine Compilation, which I think came out after, but it's got a few tracks that would slot right in.

Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia is very good, though you probably want to get the original version called Ongaku Zukan, especially the one with the bonus 12 inch ("Replica" is one of his prettiest tracks). Esperanto is pretty odd, I think some ILXors really like it - IMO the best way to experience it is through the video that was released alongside it, just to immerse yourself in total 80s digital mayhem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-nJPWJE0cs

Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia is AMAZING, so many catchy melodies. There’s a brilliant rocksteady track, even.

this is a really really cool comp of Ryuichi productions/solo work that was apparently only ever released as a promo with one of his CM music comps

https://www.discogs.com/release/6005544-Ryuichi-Sakamoto-Gem

I have (mp3, sadly) and love that GEM collection.

Here is it as Flac files - https://we.tl/t-1y4VKQ6cIE

Grabbed that, MaresNest, thank you! And thanks to Brimstead and Jay Vee for the recommendation.

("Replica" is one of his prettiest tracks)

I downloaded Replica after seeing your recommendation in the Sakamoto thread for it (you said something about icy synths, and I am always game for icy synths) and then played it about a hundred times.

My Naughty Boys translation project ended prematurely, when I realized that there's already an excellent translation of Kimi ni Mune Kyun up on Genius. Here I was bracing myself to wrestle with a Takashi Matsumoto lyric (Happy End's drummer/lyricist) and then -- aha. I was glad to be spared the struggle but it was also kinda anticlimactic. But then I thought, hold on...

Chaos Panic, to the rescue! There was no Chinese cheatsheet this time (the comments on the streaming app generally amount to, "Holy hell, this has a vocal version?!" along with a "I thought Hosono's vocals were actually David Sylvian") so, fair warning, this may be rougher / more approximate / just plain wrong than usual.

...

(You got me shaking and quaking
You got me shaking and quaking
Shaking, quaking, my world is turning upside down)

(HH vox)
Autumn showers in the east.
In the west the sun goes down.
Love is a gaze
that shakes violently and sways.
(Earthquake! Earthquake!)

(YT vox)
You say love shouldn't be treated like a game?
Well then, I'll say it straight out:
I love you!

You say times of happiness always come to an end.
Be that as it may, the fact right now is that
I love you!

(You got me shaking and quaking...)

(repeat Hosono verse)

(YT vox)
Leave everything to time.
We sway and rock as one.
I love you now!

When we embrace,
I go floating through the sky.
I love you now!

(You got me shaking and quaking...)

^^ this song will always be special to me, my first YMO was a pretty odd compilation album which had this and this was the song on it I really got obsessed with. though for a while I thought the lyric was "you got to shake it and break it"

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.