RFI: Yellow Magic Orchestra

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.