RFI: Yellow Magic Orchestra

Can anyone recommend a J-pop album with songs as good as Naughty Boys? As much as I love earlier YMO albums and members' contemporary solo albums (especially Technodelic, B-2 Unit, and Philharmony), Naughty Boys is my favorite--it's just one perfect song after another. If it's "generic J-pop," then please give me more of that shit.

Surprisingly tough, Naughty Boys is a high bar, Tadiama by Akiko Yano perhaps?

not into picking apart songcraft, esp w synthpop, where the sound of things is the main appeal.

i like other YMO albums but they are more recognizable as bands in the studio playing instruments, where "Naughty Boys" sounds like it fell from the sky wholly formed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4cyBlFs_RY

The commercial for BGM included there is wtf, wish it was longer.

omg. thank you. this is awesome.

There are so many cool YMO things out there like this. i've been listening to them regularly for several years now and i still feel like i'm barely scratching the surface

one of YMO's early producers' son is the director of atlanta.

these fuji tape commercials are amazing

Rabbit hole awaits you - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbjcQtiyNcA

<3<3<3<3

Thank you mates nest !
Does anyone have mp3s of these?

So glad to see YMO threads at the top of ILM so often. I have dug around for YMO-related albums for years and I can tell you the three I think are the best. I should mention that my favorite YMO is their first album.

The first is Thousand Knives of Ryuichi Sakamoto. I think this is his best album and a must-listen for any YMO fan. I would share a Youtube video, but this album appears to be scrubbed from Youtube.

The second is Unit by Logic System. This is the side project of Hideki Matsutake, sometimes called the unofficial fourth member of YMO, although he should have been an official member because they wouldn't have sounded the same without him.

The third is Orient by Hiroshi Sato. I think this album is an absolute gem. Hosono plays bass on this album and it's clearly very in line with what YMO were trying to do -- in fact, Sato was one of the first musicians Hosono approached to be in YMO, though he declined. He later appeared on their albums and on tour, and is considered part of the 'YMO family'.

Thousand Knives and Orient were released in the late 70s, when YMO was at their best, IMO. If you like this side of YMO, I would recommend the stuff Hosono did for the CBS Mastersound series. Also check out the "Summer Nerves" album by Ryuichi Sakamoto & Kakutougi Session, and Sakamoto's collaborations with Kazumi Watanabe.

YMO is in my top 3 bands of all time, but I think they were downhill from Technodelic on. And unfortunately, most YMO-related material seems to come after this point, so it has a more J-Pop sound and less of their original sound, which i think of as a combination of experimental electronica, jazz fusion, disco and self-referentially oriental exotica.

I have a disc of sakamoto's commercial music, it's positively delightful. Contains akiko yano singing the most beautiful song about diapers ever

hiroshi sato is fantastic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUQjdwRno5g

Question about this Hiroshi Sato album: Discogs lists it as a compilation (from 1985). If this is true, what does it compile, and from which albums? Japanese characters make it impossible to tell. I really love Orient but that's the only one I've heard so far, and I really love this "Say Goodbye" song and need more of that pronto

I am busy spending my morning face down on a pillow, but you could probably just dump the text into google translate and it'll point the way

"This album released in 1985 has become sought after album for the 80’s Japanese boogie lovers. It features a revisited version of “Sweet Inspiration” originally released on Hiroshi’s previous LP Sailing Blaster in 1984. This album also contains the amazing track “Say Goodbye” that was originally released on his 1982 album Awakening (featuring singer Wendy Matthews)."

Is all I could find

Thanks! I've done a little poking around and it looks like I need to buy a copy of Awakening.

Only on ILX can I, while waiting for tea to steep, innocently open a thread about YMO--a group I like based on the three albums of theirs I own--and find myself, two days later, in a deep city pop rabbit hole, desperately trying to outbid vaporwavers on eBay

wimmels, i'm pretty sure it's a comp of singles and non-album tracks but i might be wrong. there are no tracks from orient afaict.

These Miharu Koshi records may be of related interest too, if you didn't already know them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASUSdIw4n9o

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

xp yeah, I noticed that, but only because Orient is the first one I downloaded and, while good, none of it reaches the heights of "Shiny Lady" or "Say Goodbye" imo

Non-album tracks, though, that's too bad, because as far as I can tell, This Boy is a relatively tough one to find (though probably a lot easier to find than the original singles!)

xp thanks! Don't know these at all. Pretty new to this stuff in general. This thread has been awesome / devastating in this regard

^^^

It might be my favorite ILM thread

City pop in a non vaporwave, irony free way has definitely been making some kind of small comeback among Japanese musicians and producers it seems.

Toki Asako's new record Pink for instance is pretty upfront about it, using producer Tomi Yo who is regarded a a big City Pop stan.

Okay I always try to resist mentioning mine and my friends little radio show and sounding like a shill but I've caved in, mainly because we do play a lot of late 70s early 80s stuff of this stripe and the inevitability of a YMO connection is at the running joke stage, particularly Hosono.

It seems the more we keep digging the more great stuff we find that they've had a hand in somehow, be it mentoring, producing, releasing, guesting, it's madness and unending.

Kate NV's album "Binasu" has that Hosono-produced Miharu Koshi vibe all over it (did I already mention this upthread. If so - sorry).

The YMO-produced rabbithole can be a great one to fall into. For me the Akiko Yano albums that had YMO - or iterations of - playing with Sakamoto producing are the top example of how wonderful this stuff can be.
Hosono-produced stuff can go from shiny, glorious synth/sample based pop to fairly standard commercial production. As the '90s loomed the guys seemed to fall in love with cheesy "rave" sonics and lost much of their charm. I like the glitchy "clicks-n-cuts" approach of HASYMO and the Hosono/Takahashi collabs of the early '00s but - again - they seem to have gotten stuck in this sound, or at least Sakamoto has, for the last 10 years or so.

more ppl need to hear binasu

I will confess I am struggling a bit with Hosono's singing voice. Assuming I'm alone on this one?

it took me a while but now i love his weird voice

There's a ... a...."Sesame Street" quality to his voice that I find comforting.

Kate NV's album "Binasu" has that Hosono-produced Miharu Koshi vibe all over it (did I already mention this upthread. If so - sorry).

frogbs mentioned it earlier:
RFI: Yellow Magic Orchestra

and i fucking love that album. it's one of my favorites of 2016 in retrospect

Oh yeah! Thanks frogbs - I discovered "Binasu" through that post!

me too! i have found very little about NV elsewhere. i have no clue who she is but whatever she releases next is my most anticipated release

Never had a problem with Harry's voice, it took me a long time to get used with Yukihiro's excessive Bowie/Ferry/Sylvian style though.

Oh man, this thread has got me looping Hosono's 'Pleocene' over and over, it's truly the best thing ever.

Recent Kate NV interview. there's a cool solo live set up on YT as well - just her and a couple of instruments doing "Binasu" stuff. And she's gorgeous.

http://thequietus.com/articles/19916-nv-glintshake-kate-shilonosova-interview

Actually meant to post this recent interview. Other link is a year old.

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/a-glimpse-of-alternative-russia-through-the-music-of-kate-nv

Binasu is the only time I've gotten the Hosono vibe from an album that he wasn't directly or indirectly involved with. It's such an odd thing to replicate - all of Hosono's work feels surreal and strange to me, even when he's not trying to be. He's kind of on another planet.

Never heard Hiroshi Sato before, kind of amazing there are YMO-related albums I haven't heard yet given my decade-plus obsession with tracking everything down. So much good stuff there. Glad Akiko Yano was mentioned b/c her stuff is seriously amazing, even outside the YMO-collab period. She can really sing too. This song - so freakin great. Plus that has got to be one of the best album covers ever.

https://youtu.be/-MK9V7S3XuQ?t=12m

I have dug around for YMO-related albums for years and I can tell you the three I think are the best.

god, I couldn't even imagine paring it down to three. Hosono's Paraiso would definitely be the first one though.

How do you guys rate Pacific?

Hosono-produced stuff can go from shiny, glorious synth/sample based pop to fairly standard commercial production. As the '90s loomed the guys seemed to fall in love with cheesy "rave" sonics and lost much of their charm. I like the glitchy "clicks-n-cuts" approach of HASYMO and the Hosono/Takahashi collabs of the early '00s but - again - they seem to have gotten stuck in this sound, or at least Sakamoto has, for the last 10 years or so.

yea this is pretty much spot on. so weird hearing Hosono do straight techno stuff in the mid 90's, still kind of strange though. Medicine Compilation (not actually a compilation) has some great stuff on it. N.D.E. I never got into. Sakamoto fell into some bad habits in the early 90's too, trying to do overly commercial pop stuff that IMO just wasn't very good. not surprising that the YMO reunion album was kind of a dud. for what it's worth Takahashi had a bit of a career renaissance in the 90's; his late 80's period is where he really fell off, but from like '95 on he really seemed to find himself again. he has a song that's like a half-cover of Underworld's "Jumbo", it's incredible.

really wish Sketch Show would've gone beyond the two albums. I thought Loophole was really special.

Pacific is bad smooth ez jazz "fusion" (speaking as someone who likes that kind of stuff) BUT the early version of "cosmic surfing" (the only electronic song on the album) is vital to the YMO story

Love "Loophole". To me the last great YMO tune was this
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mnPkiVRbJts

omg no pacific is the best kind of library jazz

to each his own, it gets much too "sweet" for my tastes

yeah, was hoping more for American Garage circa Metheny vibes but listening now, it's nowhere near as awesome as that. Not hating it though, it might perfectly slot into my life at a late date, but right now there's too much other stuff on this thread to binge on

I'd highly recommend asami kado's la fleur bleue. takahashi produced that one & it's basically the optimal ver of his more sentimental style. great record.

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

he does backing vocals on this too right? definitely sounds like a number of YT tunes.

I'm guessing most of you have heard this, but if not - Akiko Yano's "Rose Garden" is on another planet. Up there with anything YMO themselves did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRSm1osRINo

sure sounds like it but I've never been able to find a physical copy for a reasonable price :-/

tadaima is so great.

anyone familiar with her stuff from the 90s on? I caught her live a few years ago and it was she was def in jazzy singer songwriter mode. it was fun but I for sure gravitate towards her electronic records & I get the sense that's the style for much of her later material. but I'd be interested in some highlights if anyone knows this stuff.

mega dated 90s fun with photoshop techno cover for go girl is making me want to start there:
https://www.discogs.com/Akiko-Yano-Go-Girl/release/3731210

These Miharu Koshi records may be of related interest too, if you didn't already know them.

there are some really cool music videos of her on youtube