"BGM" by the Yellow Magic Orchestra is the greatest electronic pop album ever.

http://img11.nnm.ru/e/1/0/b/a/e10baf5a5a25df58694453ffbc95ab8e_full.jpg

I searched for posts on this album and found a poll and a general YMO thread, but for me this album is so remarkable that it really deserves a thread of its own. I seriously think this is the best techno/electropop album ever made. The production on this shit is so dense that I notice different things about each track depending on what stereo system I'm playing it on.

1. Ballet - I love the rump-shaking beat and the spooky surrealistic lyrics sung by Yuki (who is probably a better vocalist in Japanese than English, but I think his voice has tons of character. The Bryan Ferry comparisons seem lazy)on this. The snare hits are recorded so dry, upfront and middy that they sound like sticks of bamboo cracking and the layers of synths at the end make what would otherwise be repetitive mesmerizing. And that woman speaking French who is in like 10 YMO-related tracks, who is she?

2. Music Plans - More strange English lyrics chorused and vocoded to death (I've listened to this dozens of times and still haven't decoded all of them), apparently about making music itself. The synth textures are more varied and considerately-handled than pretty much anything I've heard — I notice a synth squiggle buried in the mix that I'd never noticed almost every other time I hear it, and any one of the melodies in this could be a hook in itself. Probably my favorite track on the album.

3. Rap Phenomena - The general consensus seems to think this is an ill-advised foray into rap, either forgetting or not knowing that YMO were as famous for their comedy skits as their music. More great production and just lots of fun.

4. Happy End - Probably the weakest track on the album but still fascinating and prescient. Lots of swirling synths and flashes of color with a water-drop drum track under it all — this is "ambient techno" 12 years before the fact.

5. 1000 Knives - I think I prefer Sakamoto's own version, but the one here is a great trove of 808 sounds — and that super-distorted guitar/synth solo!

6. Cue - Another great Yuki vocal with Harry Hosono backing (who also has a very characteristic voice). The fifth-y drone and the insistent bass make this sound hopeful and driving. In fact, it actually makes great driving music!

7. U • T - I don't know what UT stands for, but I imagine this as the theme song to the greatest police drama that never was, with a bizarre middle section with wasp-nesty synths, watery piano and what sounds like a distorted phone conversation.

8. Camouflage - the 808 rhythm on this reminds me of early Aphex twin (like the first Analogue Bubblebath or Selected Ambient Works), and the synths are once again super-layered and varied, with some nice dubby delay effects. The lyrics are short but provocative and imagistic and the bell-like tones closing out the track are gorgeous.

9. Mass - Great sequencer sounds like Tangerine Dream from around the same time and the melodic line sounds an 80s retro-futurist version of the national anthem of some dictatorial country.

10. Loom - the "THX" sound in a watery cave followed by some drones that sound like "On Land" Eno. A slightly anticlimactic ending but still interesting — sounds amazing on headphones!

Hear Hear! My favorite YMO album by a long stretch and the versions they played in their Winter Live tour (see Youtube) are even more stripped down, dark and aggro. Gorgeous music.

I picked this up cheap on vinyl a few weeks back while in Detroit and was especially blown away by the itemized list of their touring gear on the back cover. A synth nerds wet dream for real.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o7FI7VuIu4

Haha, Sakamoto's hair in that video is great, and I love the live percussion and the "Gentlemen Take Polaroids" synth sounds.

yeah the gear list on the back of the vinyl is insane

there's a darkness to this album that was never present in ymo previously, i guess coinciding with their recent friendship with sylvian and japan. bgm and technodelic is kind of their "dark" period. they became conscious of the new romantic and synth pop scenes, began styling their hair and wearing make up; yukiihiro takahashi's croon is stronger and more pronounced, definitely a sylvian influence. there's also an industrial/synth wave influence, a kind of cold and arid european approach

the japan influence is also their in the sense of rhythm, more disjointed and percussive than their earlier disco/lounge hybrids. obv it's all about the 808 on this album, coated in a sheen of thick chorus and gated reverb so it sounds even clankier and mechanical than usual. the prophet 5 also features heavily, lots of glowing cross-mod fx and wide-screen pads. the prophet 5 in its various revisions was probably the most widely used analog synth in japanese pop up until the early 90s, this album solidified that status

it's certainly one of those albums where you hear something new every time you listen. it's somehow incredibly dense yet spacious and airy, credit to hosono-san for the ability to mix so many sounds with such precision. credit should also go to engineer and programmer hideki matsutake, the task of syncing so many machines to tape must've been immense!

ymo were on top of their game at this point -- everything released by ymo and their immediate family between 1981 - 1983 is pure gold. technodelic continues the bgm vibe except with more samples and a pronounced asian feel, lots of gamelan and kecak for example, but it sounds slightly cleaner and more polished, painting over the dark greys of bgm with warmer colours. kinda blows my mind that both albums were released in the same year

btw if you like this period of ymo you should check out testpattern who released on hosono and takahashi's label, yen records

a thread for TESTPATTERN/INTERIOR (cosmic electronic music from japan)

btw the woman speaking french is akiko yano

btw

man "happy end" is such a strange piece of music. there's a different mix included as a bonus track on sakamoto's collab with robin scott, with a deep 808 kick drum pushing it even further into proto-dub techno territory

How I wish somebody would write a book on YMO.

also "rap phenomena" is neither ill-advised or comical -- hosono touches on some pretty deep stuff if you listen to the lyrics. dude was on a higher plane

So happy there's a thread about this album. BGM totally influenced an ep I put out about a year ago and continues to inspire me.. Rio - love your info re: all things YMO. Thanks!

hey i'd love to hear your ep! message me privately if need be!

Hey R1o - the EP is "Down There" as Professor Genius. It's on iTunes, Emusic etc. but pm me and I'll be happy to send you mp3s.

Isn't there an Akiko Yano album from this period where YMO and Japan members collaborated with her? Always wanted to hear that.

you're professor genius? cool music dude

Yes, that's me. But - not wanting to derail this awesome thread - I thinkthere needs to be a comprehensive YMO comp released outside Japan. With live footage, demos, the works. Up there with the Chic Organization box on my list of fantasy comps.

"Isn't there an Akiko Yano album from this period where YMO and Japan members collaborated with her? Always wanted to hear that.

― ¿Can Your Gato Do the Perro? (Capitaine Jay Vee), Tuesday, June 22, 2010 1:28 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark"

yeah her second album ai ga nakucha ne is co-produced by her then husband ryuichi sakamoto, and features cameos from the rest of ymo, david sylvian -- the rhythm section is basically all karn/jansen. i think her first record was also produced by sakamoto but it's in more of a jazz fusion vein

pretty much everything i've head from that period that's related to ymo is excellent and worth hunting down -- a few highlights include miharu koshi's hosono-produced album tutu, all of the yen records stuff, testoattern, imoyagi land etc etc as discussed in the thread i linked above (also bands all produced by hosono), all the takahashi solo records, hosono's philharmony album, the first couple of sandii and the sunsetz albums, the various things hosono produced for jun togawa and the first guernica album, the amazing awe-inspiringly perfect "bamboo houses"/"bamboo music" single by sylvian & sakamoto, sakamoto's left handed dream album and "the arrangement" single, the ippu do stuff and masumi tsuchiya's solo album, and a lot more that i'm forgetting or haven't even heard of yet. bearing in mind that all of this music and more (not to mention three more ymo studio albums!) was produced in a three year period it's quite impressive

someone else said it on here before, but it's such a cool "scene" where you get ymo, japan, bill nelson, masami tsuchiya, percy jones, members of the plastics and many others all hanging out and featuring on each others records

plz excuse the typos^^^

also one of the few 80s music scenes that hasn't been repackaged for 00s hipster beardo types. maybe the music is just too sentimental at times, and the weird bits too infrequent. or is it just too difficult to get hold of this stuff?

it seems like with ymo most people tend to stop at bgm though, and prefer the cosmic disco-lounge of the first two albums. wonder why this is? are the later records just not as easily available?

Natsume, let's be friends (actually--do I know you from the Jihen board?).

Japanese techno-pop is my favorite genre of music. I think the reason it's not more popular is because there's so little information about it that's written in English. Also, I think Westerners are quick to stereotype '70s/'80s Japanese music as carbon copies of Western music, which is simply wrong. Sakamoto gets all the hype (and I love love love his synth and production work), but Hosono is a treasure of a songwriter. He has worked on thousands of songs. His stuff in the early '80s is so unique and magical. Have you heard Miharu Koshi's 'Boy Soprano' album? The production is amazing.

Naughty Boys is my favorite YMO album. I think it's less popular here because it sounds the most J-pop. I think the average music fan simply doesn't connect with music that sounds too "Asian."

hi patrick, i think it was you who wrote about how cool the ymo-family scene is!

I would love to read about any more recommendations anyone might have for more Japanese Techno-Pop/New Wave/J-Pop. I would love to delve further but historical context etc is somewhat hampered by the language barrier.

I would like to rep for this site tho'

http://www.farsidemusic.com/acatalog/index.html

I would like to be able to concentrate on the football and typing simultaneously and without typing 'I would like' too much also.

i only own one miharu koshi album, tutu, which is of course amazing. i think this was made before hosono went all digital so i'd be interested in hearing how boy soprano sounds different. he is a fantastic songwriter of course, and is just as good as sakamoto is at balancing catchy melodies with the weirder sound design and experimental stuff. i love the post-ymo stuff he made with the kurzweil k250, the four experimental/ambient albums collected on the monad box are incredible and just as far ahead of the pack as sakamoto's esperanto (another unfuckwithable record). after that, much like sakamoto he delved deeper into traditional pop structures with alot of success. sakamoto got an oscar for the last emperor and went global, while hosono became a national treasure of japan

patrick, have you heard the apogee and perigee single hosono made with jun togawa? i think it's one of my favourite post-ymo thing of hosono's -- it's almost excessively sentimental, but the pristine production, gorgeous melody and ridiculously good vocal performance from jun togawa is completely addictive and saves it from becoming mere karaoke fodder

I have to track down that Akiko Yano! My fave recent Sakamoto finds are GEMM Collection and Garden Of Light And Life ( I think those titles are correct) Lots of fantastic Fairlight and DX experiments going on there as well as some great J-Pop productions for a variety of vocalists. Oh - and the "Computer Obachan" single is wonderful as well.

Ha I was just going to ask when Patrick was going to pop up :)

One of my favorites in this period as well is Chakra's "Satekoso" LP- (thanks to Patrick actually). I've had some luck with OG LPs of this stuff but that one is waaayyy scarce.

I'm surprised that nobody has made moves to reissue any of this stateside.. especially if you look at the pre-80 side of things, including tin pan hosono solo LPs, etc. seems like it would have a pretty reasonably broad-ranging appeal

I've had this on my list for ages, but have not had luck finding the 2003 remaster for under $30. Just might have to give in and dl it. I've had Solid State Survivor, Technodelic and Naughty Boys for a long time. What else? Is Xoo Multiplies worth hearing?

Not if you can't track down the version of "Tighten Up" elsewhere or have a perverse taste for semi-comprehensible YMO sketch comedy

XP - Patrick, are you the chap that runs Tokyo Recohan by any chance?

I discovered YMO a few years ago and they quickly became one of my favourite bands ever, and opened the doors to this strange undiscovered world of Japanese "technopop" or "techno kayokyoku", new wave, etc.

There's quite a lot of info here: http://artcontext.org/music/artskool/jem/index.html
Also http://park10.wakwak.com/~techno/
But these are by no means complete or error-free

There's also a couple of Yahoo Groups (pretty old-world internet, I know, but still quite active):
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/ymorare
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/ymo

There's a few compilation albums from this era worth finding:
- P-Vine "Techno Kayō" (テクノ歌謡) series (8 albums divided between record labels, no CBS/Sony album though), often weirdly transliterated as "Techno Ca-Yo" (with other mistakes in titles).
- SMEJ compilations "Yellow Magic Kayōkyoku" (イエローマジック歌謡曲) and "Techno Magic Kayōkyoku" (テクノマジック歌謡曲), also the newer "Techno Kayō - The Ultimate Collection 1" (テクノ歌謡 THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION 1)
Unfortunately there's a lot of duplication between these though, and the mastering of the SMEJ albums is pretty bad. Loads of YMO-related stuff here though - Hosono especially composed and produced a ton of pop songs around the late '70s/early '80s.

Other stuff I recommend:
- Hosono's SFX and Making of Non-Standard Music (both on the same CD on earlier issues), also all his pre-YMO albums are quite good too though the first few aren't electronic at all (Cochin Moon is all synth, and Paraiso a bit)
- Pizzicato V - Before they were called "Pizzicato Five" they were on Hosono's Non-Standard label (so he produced) as a synthpop band rich in DX7-ly goodness (different singer too)
- Jullan - very obscure but pretty good synthpop
- Nearly everything on Hosono and Takahashi's short-lived Yen Records - Testpattern, Apogee & Perigee, Miharu Koshi, Jun Togawa, Sheena, Guernica, Hajime Tachibana, Interior, Inoyama-Land, etc.
- Takahashi's solo albums Murdered By The Music (1980), Neuromantic (1981) and What, Me Worry? (1982) (his other Yen-era albums are ok-ish, after that it's all a bit meh)
- The Beatniks "Exitentialism" (1981) - Yukihiro Takahashi and Keiichi Suzuki (Moon Riders)
- Moon Riders albums from this era are pretty good from what I've heard so far (Modern Music and Camera Egal Stylo)
- Plastics
- P-Model
- Sakamoto's Ongaku Zukan (音楽図鑑)/Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia (note the latter title is the European version with significantly different tracklisting) and Miraiha Yarō (未来派野郎, often called "Futurista" although not officially titled this AFAIK)
- Saeko Suzuki
- Chakra (mentioned above)
- Logic System - sequencer guy Hideki Matsutake's solo stuff, his 3 '80s albums are great but don't waste your time looking for anything newer

I'm sure there's others I'm forgetting! YMO's live stuff is also pretty good, quite different sound to their studio work and some interesting improv and changes. Also they used no backing tracks until 1983 - it was all played or seqeunced live (their setup in their 1979 and 1980 tours is quite amazing). Loads of great live bootlegs around as well.

"yeah her second album ai ga nakucha ne is co-produced by her then husband ryuichi sakamoto, and features cameos from the rest of ymo, david sylvian -- the rhythm section is basically all karn/jansen. i think her first record was also produced by sakamoto but it's in more of a jazz fusion vein

― wavestation (r1o natsume), 23 June 2010 13:00 (Yesterday) Bookmark"

Ai ga Nakucha Ne is her sixth studio album, her two albums before that - Gohan ga Dekitayo (1980) and Tadaima (1981) are also quite synth heavy and have lots of input from YMO members and Matsutake. Her earlier albums are also quite good, not much synths (though still some, and at least one Matsutake appearance) but lots of Hosono collaborations. There's also her 1978 live album "Tokyo wa Yoru no Shichi-ji" (東京は夜の７時) which has all YMO members playing throughout. I think her work gets less interesting by the mid-80s though, OSOS (1984) has a couple of good tracks but it goes downhill from there.

@Fastnbulbous: If you like music and like dynamic range don't bother with the 1999 (Toshiba-EMI) or 2003 (SMEJ) remasters, they are awful.

@Bangelo: The Snakeman Show sketches on the Multiplies EP aren't YMO, but they were on the same record label and seemed to like each other so collaborated a lot (e.g. the single "Sakisaka To Momonai No Gokigen Ikaga 1-2-3" (咲坂と桃内のごきげんいかが1・2・3), later covered by Sketch Show). But all the YMO tracks on Multiplies are pretty good if you like their earlier stuff.

"btw the woman speaking french is akiko yano

Suggest Ban Permalink
― wavestation (r1o natsume), 21 June 2010 12:41 (3 days ago)"

It's actually Tomoko Nunoi who's speaking French, same as on La Femme Chinoise (she's credited for that, but not on BGM for some reason).

A little hunting online tonight and I found the Akiko Yano albums from '80 through '82, including Ai Ga Nakucha Ne. These are fantastic. A YMO lover's dream. I was familiar with several tracks on these already but as a whole they are superb. The one with Japan guesting on some tracks is a real odd bird. Great to hear Sylvian and co. backing AY.

you should hunt down masami tsuchiya's rice music as well if you haven't already. bass duties are shared by mick karn and percy jones, drums are all steve jansen. bill nelson plays some guitar and sakamoto contributes a song. it's an amazing album, kinda continues from where japan's tin drum left off. still looking for night mirage by ippu do which is meant to be really good

love that beatniks record. haven't heard much moon riders stuff, what i've heard sounded like quirky devo-esque new wave. keiichi suzuki went on to do the beyond classic earthbound soundtrack for the snes

superb record. bought it on a whim for a couple of bucks a few years ago. wasn't into the ymo i had heard up until that point (s/t, ∞ multiples) but bgm really hit me. in a way, it sounds more expansive and wide-ranging than other synth-pop of its time (i may not be schooled enough to really stand behind that claim).

9. Mass - Great sequencer sounds like Tangerine Dream from around the same time and the melodic line sounds an 80s retro-futurist version of the national anthem of some dictatorial country.

yeah, totally. it sounds like they're almost quoting the imperial death march at points. such a great, weird song.

i picked up naughty boys and service recently and have been really enjoying 'em both. wonderful, slightly strange-sounding pop. i also got bill nelson's a love that whirls and (not surprisingly) it has sort of the same vibe (lotsa layers and all sorts of different synth sounds swarming all over the place w/killer melodies)

cheers to all y'all for the recommendations (not that i'll likely be able to score physical copies of most of them) :)

xpost Yes! Rice Music is excellent. Tsuchiya is/was a hell of a guitar player. I wish Japan would've made an album with him before they split up. His guest playing with them on The Old Grey Whistle Test (or was it TOTP?) is awesome.

Listening to the Ai Ga Nakucha Ne album for the rhird time today as I type. "What's Got In Your Eyes?" is ... Aaaah!

hobbes - I found the Yano stuff for sale online but as super expensive import cd's (I'm in the US ). I went the BAD WAY and found them as free 128 mp3s easily enough on some weird Viet site.

some of these records were released on major labels and were pressed up in quite large numbers, many finding their way over to the west. rice music for example always turns up on vinyl -- currently $5.00 and £4.45 on discogs. the sandii records as well can be found quite easily. i think the rule is, the more members of japan that feature, the more likely it is to turn up on vinyl

Exactly how popular are YMO in Japan itself? Cult hit? Mondo pop band?

Solid State Survivor was the best selling album in Japan in 1980 (over a million copies if you combine LP and cassette sales), Multiplies and Public Pressure also topped the charts that year so they were pretty big then. BGM and Technodelic, however, were commercial suicide in comparison but still peaked at no. 2 and 4 respectively in the Oricon album charts. Their only singles that got in the top 10 were Technopolis (9), and Kimi ni Mune Kyun (2) which was a pretty big success. They played in Nippon Budokan in Tokyo on several occasions in 1980 and 1983, this was probably the biggest venue in the country at the time (it's where The Beatles played in 1966).

Gah, and here I thought no one would respond! Excellent comments and recommendations, guys. I've gotta finally track down Ippu-Do's stuff. I've read a lot about them but for some reason have never actually heard them. Time to remedy that.

Maybe a tough proposition: Name some good post-1984 YMO-related stuff.

i think ryuichi sakamoto's album Beauty from 89 (90?) is pretty nice. "We Love You" is a rolling stones song with robert wyatt and brian wilson singing on it

http://robotsinheat.com/temp/We%20Love%20You.mp3

Have a mix:

http://mysterydriver.tumblr.com/post/798385856/ymomix1

^ awesome. thanks

http://rootstrata.com/rootblog/?p=3706

Fairlights, Mallets and Bamboo- Fourth-world Japan, years 1980-1986
By Spencer Doran

Haruomi Hosono – “Down to the Earth“ from Mercuric Dance
Ryuichi Sakamoto – “A Rain Song” from Esperanto
Mkwaju Ensemble – “Ki-Motion” from Ki Motion
Haruomi Hosono – “Air Condition” from Philharmony
Mariah – “Shisen” from Utakata no Hibi
Yasuaki Shimizu – “(Untitled Pieces for Bridgestone)” from Music for Commercials
Mkwaju Ensemble – “Lemore” from Mkwaju
Seigen Ono – “Mallets” from Seigen
Masahide Sakuma – “WINDOWS/Hi!!” from Masahide Sakuma
Geinoh Yamashirogumi – “Agba’a” from Africa Genjoh
Yasuaki Shimizu – “(Untitled Piece for Tachikawa)” from Music for Commercials
Danceries – “Grasshoppers” from End of Asia
Phew – “Closed” from Phew
Haruomi Hosono – “Windy Land” from The Endless Talking
YMO – “Loom” from BGM

Very nice, thanks.

Brilliant mixes, many thanks!

yeah thanks alll

Corey, did you notice that Ryiuchi Sakamoto is playing the Vic in October?

Thank you for listening! Can't wait to listen to that Jaxon mix!

it's not actually my mix. just found it.

i actually was forwarded your ymo mix from a non ilxor the other day (although he is friends w/dan and jeremy). thought it was pretty cool

Corey, did you notice that Ryiuchi Sakamoto is playing the Vic in October?

No! I'm gotta see that.

err, gonna.

Really digging Miharu Koshi's "Tutu" right now, thanks for the recommendation.

Also really enjoying the first two Logic System albums. Great stuff! Now if I could find those Interior and Testpattern records...

Now I'm trying to find Koshi's "Boy Soprano". Any kind soul want to help me out? ;)

^^ Found it — and just listened to Yano's "Ai ga nakucha ne". So good!

Hey, very interesting thread and Spencer I love that Fairlights mix you made - I actually found it on waxidermy originally.

A little request: would anyone be able to up Koshi's Boy Soprano? Or let me know where to find a link? Because I can't find it *anywhere* and I listened to the one song that's on youtube about 10 times today.

I found it on s0uls33k, if you're not averse to that...

Oh I see now that the Fairlights mix-maker wasn't the dude who posted it. Still a wicked mix, though.

Thanks I'll try s**ls**k again, I tried using it in the past but something wouldn't work for me.

Good thread! I recently got into this album again, my review is on my YMO page here:

http://www.listology.com/jamool/story/yellow-magic-orchestra

I gave it 4.5/5. Although listening further I may just give it the perfect rating. So much depth on that album and some truly haunting pieces. Side 2 is as good as the side 2 of their debut. Really a must-own synth album for any New Wave fans.

jay vee- any chance for a tracklisting on that ymo mix? been listening to it quite a bit lately, good stuffs

it appears to be down

Yikes. Don't know about a tracklisting but would be happy to id any couple of trax for you. I had the mix up for about a month and took it down as soon as I noticed no d/l's. I can Sendspace it for anyone interested.

Chicago DJ Boo Williams dropped 'Computer Games' into a set of mostly deep house at a party I went to on Saturday in London, and it still sounds amazing on a loud system - the crowd lapped it up :-D

I used to have several YMO tracks on my DJ lists. "Firecracker" (the one usually labelled as "Computer Games") is one. "Rydeen" and "Technopolis" are other good ones. There is a Takkyu Ishino (Denki Groove) mix of "Technopolis" that is just ace, brings the house down. Lately I have been trying to mix "Pure Jam" into different things, very great track that's very 90's even though it was released in '81. Great stuff.

Fastnbulbous: Xoo Multiplies is definitely worth seeking out if you have a particularly dry sense of humor. It's kind of a comedy album and the two sketches in English are very funny. Song-wise it's mostly very good. Their cover of "Tighten Up" is a classic. One of my top ten YMO tracks. It's quite hilarious as well in it's own way. I love how after the comedy sketch, one of the Snakeman Show guys says, "Here we go.....again" and the song starts up for a third time.

A word of caution though; make sure you get the Japan release. AFAIK Solid State Survivor wasn't released in the US at first so the US version of Xoo Multiplies is kind of a combination of the two albums, dropping all of the comedy sketches and other unique material. I guess they figured U.S. audiences wouldn't understand it (probably a good call).

but for the audiences that love them, there's the full length album: Snakeman Show Presents Melon and Exotic Sounds Of Watermelon - "Pithecan Thropus Erectus Strike Back", particularly the track "International Dance"

I have that one; it's pretty good. A real trip, too. Their version of "Fly Me To the Moon" is one of the most bizarre things I've ever heard.

Here's a neat discovery: on both sides of BGM, tracks 1-4 are all 4:32-4:35 in length, and 5 is 5:21-5:23. I think that might explain why some of the tracks seem to cut off abruptly. Cool

Listening to the "World Tour 1980" two-disc set — so great!

Can't believe I'd never heard it before, glad I checked the thread...the tracklist is quite interesting, heavy on early Sakamoto stuff, quite a few cover tunes, with Akiko Yano, I think there's a Sandii cover (or is it Sheena?), even a bizarre Beatles cover, and some things that I can't identify ("Maps"). I really dig the cover of "Kang Tong Boy" though I've never heard the original. Even the YMO tunes seem to get overhauled. It's a lot different from the Public Pressure/Faker Holic sets (which I also liked a lot).

Coming to the Hollywood Bowl in September!

At least, this is probably the greatest YMO album ever, although the first two are also great.

Sadly, I feel like a bit too many of the others are being dragged down in quality by way too much Japanese dialogue between the songs. I would guess they would make more sense to Japanese people though.

XP wait waht?

Whoa really?? Are they just going the one US date or are they going on some kind of tour!?

XXP the only one that really gets "dragged down" is Service, but you can just skip the Japanese dialogue bits or program them out. A few of the comedy bits Xoo Multiplies are in Japanese but they're short and actually kind of amusing by themselves. AFAIK almost all of their lyrics are in English besides a couple of songs like "Kimi Ni Mune Kyun"

http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/tickets/performance-detail.cfm?id=4529

Cibo Matto in support too, I'm jealous

Wow really really hope they are doing more US dates. I mean YMO is on a short list of bands that completely shaped my tastes in music, Hosono is particular is like a God to me, and I'm going to miss it? No way! "Additional artists to be announced"? Sounds like a hell of an evening...

A few of the comedy bits Xoo Multiplies are in Japanese but they're short and actually kind of amusing by themselves.

Judging from the amusing English language dialogue in the beginning, I would guess they may be amusing. But I don't understand them.

And with a playtime of less than 30 minutes, there is little music left on "Xoo Multiplies", although what little music is on the album is usually brilliant. Still more of an EPs worth of music than an album though.

But sure... "Japanese are crazy! Japanese are monkeys! Japanese are PIGS! Do you understand?" "No."

I actually searched for more Snakeman Show material hoping to find something else like those two English bits. I didn't really find anything quite like it but I did find this album which was quite interesting:

http://www.discogs.com/Snakeman-Show-Pithecan-Thropus-Erectus/master/288369

All around bizarre album but my favorite thing on it is this weird karaoke version of "Fly Me To The Moon" that strategically bleeps out words to make it sound a lot dirtier than it actually is. Then during the instrumental parts there's this ominous voice that interviews couples on their sex life, with lines like "when you last fuck?" and "would you like a blowjob?"

I've really come around to this album recently, I always thought it was one of their weaker efforts but I think it's just the hardest of their albums to get into. I'm really glad this thread persuaded me to give it another go. I'd now rank BGM as my third favourite album of theirs behind Naughty Boys and Solid State Survivor.

http://www.goldenvoice.com/shows/details/?id=31801&CFC=AEGLIVE_CYELLSFO062711AEG001

SF, The Warfield, June 27

Are they playing anywhere else in the US? Can't find that info

Ah jeez, could have just looked upthread, more CA dates, cool

just one more...

can they play anywhere that's not in CA?

whoa. when i interviewed ryuichi sakamoto five years ago in new york, he told me that YMO would never reunite.

here's the full article i wrote, if you're interested in reading it--it was a feature i wrote for the german magazine groove:

http://www.theoriginalsoundtrack.com/blog/archives/00000615.htm

I'll add that it was Ryuichi who convinced me to leave NYC -- about two hours into our three-hour interview, it shifted to life advice: 'Geeta, if I was your age, I would be living in Berlin!'

not so crazy about that 'hello goodbye' take they did last year or whatever though. will this be good or awful?

Don't know if "BGM" is the 'greatest electronic pop album ever', but it's probably my fave YMO, this or the one after it ("Technodelic" I think?)

revive!!

it looks like it's still only the LA and SF dates. i was thinking they'd play a few more in the US, but oh well.

nice interview - does he actually speak fluent English ?

both this and Technodelic are amazing...BGM goes in more directions and is more innovative, but Technodelic does have my favorite YMO song of all time (Hosono's "Gradated Gray")

yes, he speaks perfect english! he has been living in new york for many years.

that's cool...personally, I'd be more interested in interviewing Hosono, don't get me wrong RS is a genius, I just kinda feel like he may not be the most entertaining person to talk to, know what I mean? he's a great composer but I don't think his personality really comes through in the music.

Geeta, did you catch the HASYMO Meltdown gig? What did you think?

Hey frogbs :)

no, I've never been to the Meltdown fest...

frogbs - I agree, it'd be really interesting to interview Hosono. (Have you ever heard 'Cochin Moon', his fake Bollywood record from the '70s? It's really interesting.) But I really do think that Sakamoto is very interesting, and I do think his personality comes through. He was (and still is) a total pop icon in Japan, and he's an incredibly engaging conversationalist, despite the fact that he wore sunglasses the entire time I talked to him (about three hours or so.) Glad you liked the interview!

yeah, of course I've heard that record. love "Hum Ghar Sajan" so much. for whatever reason his music sticks with me a lot more and displays a lot more emotion. dunno if you've heard the soundtrack he did for "Nokto de la Galaksia Fervojo" but theres this piano piece there called "La Travida Malgojo de Giovanni" that's so totally heartbreaking and disturbed, as good as Sakamoto is, he never got close to that on an emotional level. I've always seen Sakamoto as a very intellecutal type, I'm not surprised he does 3 hour interviews, he seems to be able to wax philosophical forever but ultimately his work doesn't hit me in the same way.

I'm not surprised he does 3 hour interviews

Ha, I think that's my fault, not his. I've done a lot of interviews over the past ten years, and I don't think I've ever done one which was shorter than three hours!

I like asking people questions about all sorts of things--not just their music but trying to get a better sense of their lives. When I interviewed Blixa Bargeld in his kitchen, eight years ago, we talked about cooking, pyrotechnics, and Russolo while drinking sake out of crystal goblets...when I interviewed David Byrne, we talked about our favorite neuroscience textbooks...etc.

revive!!

apparently Yoko Ono joined YMO on stage last night in LA:

http://laweekly.tumblr.com/post/6975129683/yoko-ono-on-stage-with-yellow-magic-orchestra-los

that must have been the Cornelius connection. you could hear Cornelius on guitar; Fennesz I wasn't even sure was in the band until they all took a bow (although there were two songs with some odd noisy high-end sounds in there that in hindsight must have been him)

I don't know what else to say, I loved it. After the initial drone, they opened with 'Firecracker' and went straight into 'Behind the Mask' and then 'Riot in Lagos'

They sounded great and it meant so much

details, milton, details! come on, i'm living vicariously through this

A friend picked up the tour program for me. Supposed to be lovely. I anticipate!

Milton - did they break out the old gear?

Gaw'd bless D.A.D.

http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=362959

LA:

Firecracker
Behind The Mask
Riot in Lagos
City of Light
Tokyo Town Pages
Seoul Music
Taiso
Tibetan Dance
1000 Knives
Cosmic Surfin'
Tong Poo
Rydeen
It's Been Very Hard (Yoko)
Hello Goodbye

Incredible to see. Bit of a lag in the middle with some of the mellower material which didn't lend very well to a big crowd (many of whom I think were not terribly familiar w/YMO...Cibo Matto probably got the biggest response). But the run of 100 Knives thru Rydeen was just unreal, so satisfying. Hosono plays bass like a motherfucker.

Also Yoko went 100% Full On Yoko which was truly amazing to see in an outdoor stadium setting

Didn't look like they were using real synths. Looked like Buffalo Daughter had a Minimoog tho.

footage from the SF show last night is showing up on youtube! here's 'firecracker'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeB5pH2rO58

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbV5HYj6G40

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UquSsGx0nI

man, that's all i can find--someone just posted "cue" but it's sideways!!

yes!

Sakamoto had a battery of synths including I think a Prophet 5, which would be an impressive thing to tour with (though I'm not sure he played it that much)

i should have just changed my flight so i could've made this gig

dig the spaced-out disco vibe for "behind the mask" in LA a couple of days ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSCO6rNDVxk

more clips surfacing from the show in SF

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpflqAnd2dc

yoko clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcM8i8zQcF0

It's got to be just a matter of time before they announce a London date, surely.

That "Behind The Mask" posted above is great. Sounds almost like the album except a bit slower. Good to see they put away the minimal/glitch tendencies for this string of shows and went all-out lush.

I had no idea there was a DVD of the 2008 London shows ('POSTYMO')

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcDcJvUi_2I

Though I think for fun these CA shows are an improvement over 2008

Not from any of the recent shows but still a gorgeous live version of one of their best newer compositions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FTQk9qWv6g&feature=related

There are two of those HASYMO DVDs, can't quite recall where the other gig was filmed

In Spain I think? Gijonymo or something.

When City of Light came out I thought it was really slight, but now I think it's fantastic

My favorite Behind the Mask, from 93

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFdC7A69rDQ

From the Warfield SF show, Seoul Music in great sound quality - begins at 1:12. I don't know if this was broadcast in Japan from rehearsal, or if somebody recorded soundboard for later FM broadcast or what.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8QFEEHH6kU

keith emerson (?!) with sakamoto backstage at the warfield:

http://twitpic.com/5j8zs5

huh, that didn't work--damn you, nu-ilx: http://twitpic.com/5j8zs5

YMO in the studio, early 1980s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgkj7-VCmEw

I wish so hard for an "official" release of the SF show. I remember hearing a boot of Sketch Show playing "Gradated Gray" and it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. Such an underrated tune.

YMO as covered by... KEANE??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A59Yps4pQq8

Not the weirdest cover when you consider Clapton did "Behind the Mask."

idd

weirdest thing to me has gotta be that "behind the mask" almost made it onto thriller

...which got re-recorded by Phil Collins and sung by Eric Clapton. Point: Clapton's version.

anyone seen the ridiculous "Kimi Ni Mune Kyun" video? really cheaply made but it's hilarious. i've never seen such miserable dancers!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HTyPPELmY0&feature=player_embedded

ha! that is really endearing.

Yeah I saw that a while ago, one of those clips that sums up exactly why I love a band so much.

i love how they apparently didn't even bother to do a second take on any of it, it's just so terribly made (then again, what videos in 1983 weren't?)

The Taiso video is pretty funny too.

hahhaa, forgot about this video. even the camera angle is terrible. kind of 3 feet above them, so it feels like you're watching your children doing the worst dance ever

i guess they were trying to play up the image of being "fun boys"

they should've change their name to fun boy 3

possibly a stupid question, but what is the "fun boy" image?

you know — they are boys, they like to have fun

it looks like they are being forced to have fun at gunpoint

I prefer YMO as waxy aliens meself.

its really kind of amazing how many radical changes in style these guys went through in the span of only 5 years

hahaha, sorry, i didn't know if "fun boys" was a japanese thing in the 80s or something

mei fun boys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3JulFmtvgM

the 'wild ambitions' video from the YMO movie is really awesome. just hosono and a kid, hangin, learnin thangs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeMVSNTogG8

love the archery part!

cool alt. mix of the song too.

awesome - that's definitely my favorite tune on Naughty Boys, an album that I think gets underrated in general.

yeah, agreed on naughty boys and "wild ambitions". but the album does get a little soggy in the middle imo!

also, the 30 sec version of "you've got to help yourself" is hilarious

it is but i'd love it if the real version were on there. i'm not too fond of Service. that said it doesn't need it...I don't feel it lags at all

yeah, service is easily their weakest.

as for naughty boys, they're not bad or anything, but I feel like "ongaku"/"opened my eyes"/"lotus love" are the low points of the album and bookended by better tracks.

ongaku! the e-bow!

Alright, I'll give you that one!

i like all three of those - "Ongaku" is gorgeous - but I have to say the new version they are doing of that as HASYMO knocks it out of the park
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFs880dNtmM

as for "Lotus Love", it's a real oddity, sort of downtempo in a weird way, as though it's about to fall apart at any time. it's also one I really like but I really dig it any time Hosono tries to write a pop song

"ongaku" is def better than I remembered. so, you guys got me there. but I can't say I prefer the HASYMO version. guess I'm just not really a fan of the smooth, glitched-out, old man YMO rearrangements. they always strike me as pleasant enough but not much more than that. I've never heard one I'd listen to over one of the original tracks

still think "opened my eyes" is not so hot (worst track on the album imo) and "lotus love" is decent and would sound cool if it played while I explored some ancient mine in a dragon quest game.

i like the old man YMO stuff! just not so much when they do actual YMO tunes, outside of "Ongaku" and "Gradated Gray". i will say that the Sketch Show/HASYMO era is so much different than what they did in the 80's that it's not really fair to compare them.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0laEwhW2vqw

happy end and 1000 knives sound esp. good in 8-bit mode

someone on the excellent kayokyoplus blog translated that weird middle section of "U-T":

Hosono: Hello, I'm your host, Haruomi 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....do you know about U.T.?

Takahashi: Well, I know YT, but this is the first time to hear UT.

Hosono: Ah, really? Well, then, Mr. Sakamoto, what is the meaning of UT?

Sakamoto: Yes, that refers to super global existence.

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

Takahashi: Yes. It is amazing.

Hosono: Ohhhh....will you listen to this song on the "BGM"album?

Takahashi/Sakamoto: ARE YOU KIDDING?

one weird fact about this album is that 8 of the 10 tracks are between 4:30-4:40 in length!! and the other two are 5:21 and 5:23 in length. very bizarre consistent total length, despite the tracks being anything but formulaic.

4:35 ballet
4:34 music plans
4:33 rap phenomena
4:33 happy end
5:23 1000 knives
4:33 cue
4:34 U T
4:35 camouflage
4:32 mass
5:21 loom

(track times via spotify)

both sides begin with 4-minute tracks and conclude with a 5-minute track.

anyway, weird.

and really, i'm sure all of those track lengths could be a second or two off in either direction. were they trying to make them all 4'33?

*television voice*
next week, on YMO mysteries

well spotted!

yea I noticed that too. pretty cool since a lot of those tunes have pretty rigid structures. feel like this album could really use a 33 1/3 book, it feels like there are so many stories behind it

33 1/3 have started a Japan series and there's a YMO one on the way, not stated which rekkid yet though.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/series/33-13-japan/

_9. Mass - Great sequencer sounds like Tangerine Dream from around the same time and the melodic line sounds an 80s retro-futurist version of the national anthem of some dictatorial country._


yeah, totally. it sounds like they're almost quoting the imperial death march at points. such a great, weird song.

Posted these on the Hosono thread, but a couple of YMO performances from the Hosono TV special that broadcast in Japan on 2nd January have appeared on Youtube. Includes Gen Hoshino guesting on Firecracker!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_EnF3xN3CA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qpf0uehEJlM

awesome thanks!

Wow, excellent catch on 4'33! Surely it's a John Cage reference! B.ack G.round M.usic !

listening to this with a little 420 and holy hell does it sound weird. all those freaky vocal effects and strange lyrics about metaphysics. the massive amounts of reverb. all those sad, mangled melodies. the really uh...random sense of rhythm on a few tracks. even "Cue", a song I've heard performed a dozen times by a variety of artists, sounds particularly paranoid and disturbed here. I love this album but it's also sort of a nightmare isn't it?

Agreed. I recently started getting into YMO and find this a peculiarly compelling album in that I've played it more than any other this year despite not really falling in love with it. "Cue" sounds like the fading human element working to reconcile himself to life as grinding machine repetition, as if reminding himself that this was, after all, his aspiration.

BGM is really very unique. All the detuned sounds and strange arrangements -- I've rarely heard anything like it.

Yasuaki Shimizu was friends with Ryuichi Sakamoto, and apparently took a lot of notes. Lots of innovative, post-BGM production on stuff he did with Yumi Murata, Jimmy Murakawa or Kazumi Band.

I've also been listening to Shinobu Narita, who had two bands: 4-D and Urban Dance (1, 2). His stuff also blends catch pop melodies with these chromatic, detuned sounds and slightly dissonant accompaniment in places.

I know ILX prefers 80s YMO to late 70s, so I hope you guys like these recommendations.

Whoops, I linked to Urban Dance when I meant to link to Shinobu.

you know what stresses me out? trying to figure out which ymo thread to bump. especially for today's situation, when i want to talk about technodelic, which is not BGM (which is not the greatest electronic pop album ever, although it's fantastic).

i came home to find 3 records that i recently ordered from discogs, all initial pressings with the obi and original liner notes, in fantastic shape:

takahashi - what me, worry?
takahashi - neuromantic (a contender for greatest electronic pop album ever. my old copy was scratchy and skipped in multiple spots during 'drip dry eyes', which is just unacceptable)

and of course, ymo's Technodelic. i only have three things to share, all of which you may already know:

1) according to wikipedia.org, "[Technodelic] is considered the first released album to feature mostly samples and loops, influencing the heavy use of sampling and looping in popular music." i didn't know that! that led me to

2) an interesting red bull music academy overview of YMO gear from a few years back, which talks a little bit about how ymo began to move from synthesizers to computers, digital sequencers, and samplers. there are also some interesting (and unsourced) tidbits about the influence of kraftwerk and devo in their early years. an excerpt:

The centerpiece of early YMO sets was a giant modular synthesizer, the Moog III-C; affectionately known to people in the scene back then as the “dresser.” It was the personal possession of the “fourth member” of YMO, engineer and programmer while on tour, Hideki Matsutake. He began his career as an assistant to Isao Tomita, and became a programmer at the dawning of electronic music in Japan. Matsutake synthesized music for TV commercials as well as doing electronic cover albums of the Beatles and various oldies before linking with the band. The first time Matsutake was called on was for the second recording session of the debut single, “Firecracker” (later included in the album Yellow Magic Orchestra). The first recording session, which Matsutake was not a part of, was said to have been done without the use of a computer but instead with an Arp Solina in a fusion style.

YMO didn’t think to use a computer in the beginning because Haruomi Hosono, Yukihiro Takahashi, and Ryuichi Sakamoto were all highly skilled players. In 1977, when Hosono had begun to formulate the idea for a new disco instrumental group, he first approached Tatsuo Hayashi of Tin Pan Alley and Hiroshi Sato of Huckle Buck, players active in the fusion genre at the time. However, when these invitations were turned down, Hosono called on two players who were still relatively unknown, Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto. In an era when the majority of drummers refused to play while keeping time to the clicks from a rhythm box, Takahashi’s boundless curiosity enabled him to session with enthusiasm. Sakamoto, meanwhile, was an arranger who had finished graduate school at Tokyo University of the Arts, and was in the process of recording a solo project, A Thousand Knives, which was being created on the then brand new Roland MC-8.

The Roland MC-8 was the world’s first ten key input digital sequencer. It was an invention of a bygone era which quantified note information (a quarter note = 48) and inputs were punched in via a calculator type keypad. The reason why Sakamoto had no qualms about computer recordings was that he studied and experimented with the works of Iannis Xenakis, among others, while at university. Sakamoto probably was the only session musician that Hosono knew who had a thorough knowledge of computers at the time that was able to apply that knowledge to popular music.

The spark which led to Hosono’s use of a computer during the second recording of “Firecracker” was his discovery of Kraftwerk. Hosono was drawn to the German group’s method of recreating a perfected groove, expressed through a machine, which eliminated the subtle variations in timing that occurs when an instrument is performed by a human being. Matsutake was incorporated as a programmer due to his involvement in Sakamoto’s solo project. The swingy funk element present throughout their first album Yellow Magic Orchestra was expressed by programming through subtle variations of the input (if a quarter note = “48” they used inputs such as “45” and “47” to produce swing).

One reason Hosono wanted to create an instrumental group was that it got around the language barrier. He saw Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder’s ability to use computer created music to overcome the handicaps that prevented most foreign acts from being able to make it in America. Luck was also on their side, as shortly after their debut they received a call from A&M Records about releasing their record in the United States. As YMO gained traction, they were struck anew by the music of Devo, a post-punk group from Ohio. YMO quickly emulated Devo’s mutant-like sounds and synth overlays, abandoning their original philosophy of hermetically sealed computer compositions. This change in direction became YMO’s second album, Solid State Survivor.

3) the original issue of Technodelic is GORGEOUS. it's not this, which is the one that i most often see:

https://i.imgur.com/jr8yYRN.jpg

instead, it turns out the original cover is:

https://i.imgur.com/Kol8q52.jpg

i hear you saying "yes, i know that. i know everything about technodelic. in fact i was the audio engineer on that album and also contributed important ideas to the art direction on th-"

but did you know there's also an amazing foldout booklet, roughly 8"x11", that's included inside? i found one place on the internet that had some scans:

https://i.imgur.com/g3jsttf.png

https://i.imgur.com/TP2Dyvk.png

https://i.imgur.com/6tCoKDI.png

https://i.imgur.com/HpgVtRU.png

i especially love that last image. that is my dream desk for work. notice that in this dream work situation, i use a large box with a giant dial on it instead of a computer.

4) i lied, here is a fourth thing. this is also something you all already know, but the original pressing of Neuromantic ALSO has a really cool foldout liner notes. this came out the same year as technodelic (1981):

https://i.imgur.com/nQfgFjx.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/qXW1jHm.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/TJ4q2mj.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/AhJri3z.jpg

i am having a very good ymo-tangential day, and i hope you are too

one more:

https://i.imgur.com/K6pHl5K.jpg

btw, i got all of these records for about $20 a pop at this discogs store: https://www.discogs.com/seller/teebeetee/profile

each one came in absolutely perfect condition, even though the condition of all three items was described as

Media Condition: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Sleeve Condition: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Media: EX (some hairlines. some foxing spots on labels.) / Sleeve (with insert & obi): EX (some foxing spots & some wear)

A+ seller, would buy again, and if i ever find this person's store in Tokyo I'm going to go bankrupt, and by that i mean i'd spend $200

This is a great thread, you chose wisely :)

amazing

Ah yeah my "Neuromantic" has the booklet as well! Still love BGM above all other YMO albums, personally.

actually did not know a lot of that

a Hayashi/Sato/Hosono YMO would've been something to hear. super thankful it didn't happen though

YMO records are pretty tough to find around here. I got BGM & the US version of Xoo Multiplies but other than that I've never seen one. Much less a YT solo album. I've heard the s/t album makes its way around sometimes but it must get snapped up quick.

currently listening to YT's recent live album "One Fine Night", which spans his entire career in 33 songs...very nice

Still can't quite believe that I saw them together at the London Hosono gig, even though I saw the HAS/YMO Meltdown thing in 2008, which was a bit limp to be honest.

that's so awesome KM

:)

this is going to be a very ymo year because my partner is now super into that whole scene and has started finding and recommending things for me to check out. i feel like we're now experiencing exponential growth :) it also helps that after years of repetition and reading this and other threads, i'm finally beginning to put the pieces together. like i was reading some more about hideki matsutake (the "4th member of YMO" who was basically their resident computer programmer nerd for their early albums), and then realized he recorded as Logic System, and it's just so much more satisfying to understand that connection on a slightly deeper level.

what a kickass album cover (1982)

https://i.imgur.com/IibvSLc.jpg

Yeah I love that cover. “Clash” off the first album is amazing if you slow it down (thank u DJ Harvey)

great posts, btw, Karl

This solo album of his: https://www.discogs.com/松武秀樹-今藤小苗長十郎-小松原まさし-江戸-Edo/master/902345

Is cool sort of 70s style electronic mixed with some trad Japanese sounds. Very fun listen if you’re into like the epic euro kind of electronic stuff that preceded YMO (TD, schulze, vangelis etc)

Acc to Discogs I think all the YMO albums were reissued last year on vinyl. Some of them have weird super pixelated covers. They’re official though, looks like. Haven’t seen em in stores myself (I see the early hosono albums everywhere which bemuses me)

yeah, I've seen those around in a few stores. so expensive! and since the old pressings are not exactly uncommon and sound nice enough to my ears, I think I'll pass.

even though I saw the HAS/YMO Meltdown thing in 2008, which was a bit limp to be honest.

well, now I don't feel so bad for missing it!

not much of a fan of the recordings from that era either. it's cool that they didn't want to repeat themselves but... I don't find those rearrangements very satisfying at all. like, this isn't bad or anything but I can't really think of any situation where I'd prefer to listen to this version of "rydeen" instead of the original -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po1rPMoGXm4

your experience as original bgm must be different from the average person, but yeah they are expensive! i prefer to hang back and eventually become a world traveler to that record store in tokyo buy $200 worth of it, possibly even $250

i don't know if you lot saw this already, but you might be interested in the studio mule album 'bgm' that came out last summer which had covers of ymo ('ballet'), mariah, taeko ohnuki etc. rediscovered it the other day while i was going through stuff i'd saved on spotify. it's very pleasant btw

https://thevinylfactory.com/news/obscure-japanese-gems-reworked-studio-mule-band-album-bgm/

https://open.spotify.com/album/4O0IKN2qIUKd5e6x1v23mW?si=Q5OQSsBHRZ-vTjGMynwWbQ

your experience as original bgm must be different from the average person, but yeah they are expensive!

heh. well, ymo-related stuff has gotten much pricier the last few years but... those were something like 50¥+ a pop when I saw em. and the covers are ugly! seems like weird rabid collector bait.

it's missing a ton (and much of it isn't available), but here's a first stab at a ymo + solo chronological playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3wiA1XXpeNR07R680rvJRg?si=j0zTWq5ISA-FN-hhl0Kmvw

Acc to Discogs I think all the YMO albums were reissued last year on vinyl. Some of them have weird super pixelated covers. They’re official though, looks like. Haven’t seen em in stores myself (I see the early hosono albums everywhere which bemuses me)

Ah thanks for the info

How I wish somebody would write a book on YMO.

― disastrous sixth series (MaresNest), Monday, June 21, 2010 9:39 AM (nine years ago)

did this ever happen? or at least on one of the members? did anyone ever do a 33 1/3? i would devour that shit

Not in Eigo, to my knowledge.

Here's where they seem to be at with the 33 1/3 Japanese Music series.

http://www.norikomanabe.com/33-1-3-japan

It's maddening to me, cause their whole story is so fucking deep, you could write acres of material about each member's solo work and pre-YMO work alone.

Just listened to BGM immediately followed by Technodelic and I gotta say, while the former is cool weird, the latter is them going to the next level entirely. I love the fusion of their style with Bill Nelson and Japan's post-punkness. So many cool sounds and ideas all jumbled together.

We should poll them, who would win, Hosono?

Totally agreed about how odd it is there's not a book on these guys yet. Don't know if the recent surge in interest piqued some interest in writing it over in Japan, but like MN said, there is sooo much to write about!

Hosono would probably win, yeah.

YMO poll: Sakamoto vs. Hosono vs. Takahashi

Ah, there we go :)

Still, my memory lapse has sent me off to listen to Bon Voyage Co whilst tidying the house

thread title is still accurate

the part on "Rap Phenomena" where Hosono loops himself going "WOOP WOOP WOOP WOOP" is so fucking funny

he sounds so despondent telling everybody to rap

How I wish somebody would write a book on YMO.

― disastrous sixth series (MaresNest), Monday, June 21, 2010 7:39 AM (ten years ago)

otm

Surely it must already exist, and needs to be translated?

If anything they taught us about the free market is correct, even one thing, this book has to be out there already. Otherwise, maybe the uncomfortable feeling we’ve all had over the years is actually the free hand, harassing

I had a mooch around the book dept in Disc Union in Shibuya a few years back, there looked to be some YMO related books there but the poor chap behind the counter's eigo was non-existent and he was petrified of the wacky westerner asking daft questions.

There's a chapter on Happy End/YMO/etc. in Michael K. Bourdagh's Sayonora Amerika, Sayonora Nippon: A Geopolitical Prehistory of J-Pop. I got it out of the library just to read that chapter, and now I have to say I can't remember much about it! It was engaging Japanese pop's ambivalent relationship to the West post-WWII, which seems pretty obviously key to what YMO was. But I think I wanted a bit more of your conventional rock biography stuff, about recording the albums, relationships in the band, the industry, etc.

I'd like to think that W David Marx would be a good candidate, his book 'Ametora' is fascinating and his music blog writings were always pretty great.

http://neojaponisme.com/category/music-3/

Japanese pop's ambivalent relationship to the West post-WWII, which seems pretty obviously key to what YMO was

Can you elaborate on this point?

Maybe calling it "key" or speaking of "the West" here is imprecise, but something of the sort was certainly part of the group's conceptual foundation. Calling themselves Yellow Magic Orchestra ironically incorporates Western racism into the name of the group. They do giddily ironic covers of "oriental" easy listening exotica on synthesizers. Their techno-futurism conjures Japan's newfound position as a producer of premier appliances and automobiles such that the country is admired but feared and loathed as a source of economic threat and potential decline in US hegemony. Some of this is gestured at pretty clearly in the English-language skits on X∞Multiplies. Mind you, I don't perceive this theme so much after that point — someone who knows the history/Japanese would be better equipped to address the question. I'd like to read that book too!

here's one cool thing I just discovered - you know that bit on "Ballet" where the French woman (same one from "La Femme Chinoise"??) has that speaking bit? well, apparently this is what she's saying:

Je suis fatiguée du même vieux chaos
J'en suis malade
Il devrait y avoir une sortie à ce cul-de-sac

which is the same as the bridge from "Cue"

I’m sick and tired of the same old chaos
there must be a way out of this cul-de-sac.

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/yellow-magic-orchestra-bgm/

pretty nice write up, hope this encourages a few more people to check it out

Enjoyed that, interesting to see that the writer quotes from a Peter Barakan interview I did a few years back, kinda emblematic of the paucity of information on the group in English, frustrating given their stature, collectively and otherwise.

I never knew Sakamoto sat out for a big part of the album’s writing process!

Happy 40th!

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1373528906315278&set=gm.4276693085709147

Listened to YMO a lot last week and I think "Technodelic" is my favourite. "BGM" second. I'm not really a big fan of the first two albums, tbh.

I kinda feel that a lot of the first two records comes alive in a concert setting.

their first one is my least listened ymo I think. I listened to SSS about a trillion times while playing Super Nintendo (in college, as a burnout)

I've been on a YMO kick recently (again) and was thinking about how I'd rank their albums. I think it would be something like this.

Naughty Boys
Solid State Survivor
BGM
Service (this jumped up my list recently, especially as I discovered the European version on vinyl which doesn't feature the skits)
Technodelic
Yellow Magic Orchestra
Multiplies

I still haven't heard the reunion album.

My latest discovery is how great the Naughty Boys instrumentals are. Such joyful music.

I really like "Multiples"!

Oh I do really like it too. They're a rare band where I kind of love all the albums I've heard by them. That's just the one I play the least.

currently:

BGM
Technodelic
Solid State Survivor
Naughty Boys
Service
S/T

but any of those top 4 have been my favorite at some point

x00Multiplies is a hard one to rank. depends on which version. the american version has an unstoppable tracklist and is fun to listen to, but also has repeats from other releases

I'd probably rank 'em like this:

BGM
Naughty Boys
Technodelic
s/t
Solid State Survivor
Service
Xoo Multiplies
Technodon

I know BGM is my favorite - I happen to agree with the thread title, but #2-5 are pretty interchangeable, they're all more or less perfect albums in my book

I'm probably underrating Service - I also recently discovered the Euro version which has got me listening to it again. it's not as fun as Naughty Boys but the songs are remarkably sophisticated, particularly given that it was kind of a cash in to begin with.

Xoo Multiplies is a lot of fun (particularly the first side) - I feel kind of weird laughing at it (basically all the humor stems off Western perceptions of Japanese people, right?) but it's so bizarre and idiosyncratic that I can't help it. That said it's not really much of an album, it's basically just got 4 songs on it

Technodon is okay, but as the members themselves admitted they were all in sorta different places musically at that point so it's no secret why it didn't quite work out. It's got a handful of good tracks on it though. I think the two albums done under the Sketch Show name do the band a lot more justice but Sakamoto wasn't on those so I guess they don't count.

of course it's also neat that there are a bunch of solo albums released concurrently which generally feature all the YMO members anyway, and generally tend to be excellent - Hosono's Paraiso & Cochin Moon are amazing proto-YMO albums, Takahashi's Murdered by the Music is a great companion to Xoo Multiplies (but with a lot more actual songs, naturally), Sakamoto's Thousand Knives & B-2 Unit + Hosono's Philharmony are all fascinating experimental electronic LPs, Takahashi's Neuromantic & What, Me Worry? both feature very good technopop songwriting, and of course the album he did as The Beatniks with Keiichi Suzuki is mesmerizing and surprisingly weird, and then there's Hideki Matsutake's Logic....basically whatever facets of YMO you like, there are albums expanding on it

Yeah, I completely agree that the "extended universe" of YMO is a totally integral part of the discography - I think in part because YMO were less of a "band" (in the trad/romanticised sense) and more of a project that went through multiple evolutions anyway. I certainly don't think any of the members would have considered the continual cross-collaboration on non-YMO projects as being secondary or peripheral. When you look at their astoundingly productive 1981 alone (with BGM, Technodelic, Hidariude No Yume AND Neuromantic), I think all those albums are clearly part of the same body of work.

I tend to listen to the S/T and SSS the least - obviously they're chock-full of classics, but the exotica-pastiche-meets-Kraftwerk concept is pretty rigid and a good deal less interesting to me than when they're following their noses to the cutting edge a little more with BGM and Technodelic.

The Sketch Show / CHASM period culminates in the London/Gijon gigs in 2008 that sees a lot of HASYMO, Sketch Show, solo material and a couple of YMO tunes performed under the umbrella of... Yellow Magic Orchestra. So in a sense it's the same as how they've always gone about things.

Agreed and I think you could also add two Akiko Yano albums in there, Gohan Ga Dekitayo & Tadaiama. even though the songwriting is mostly hers I think the sound is very influenced by what YMO was doing at the time. of course she was sort of an honorary member of the group at the time.

Hidariude No Yume always felt separate from everything else somehow, I always thought of that album as Sakamoto trying to break free of YMO and start his own solo art-pop career with a bunch of high-profile collaborators. A bunch of well known musicians were trying to incorporate "worldly" influences into their work around then - Peter Gabriel, Talking Heads, everything Adrian Belew touched - that album seems to fit more into that scene than anything YMO. And I think at this point Sakamoto felt like he was kind of done with YMO anyway.

"Venezia", from Hidariude no Yume, is one of my very favorite YMO universe songs, and the whole album is brilliant

the little bass fill at about 1:13 in is just perfect

lol the very mention of Venice in any context sticks that song in my head for an entire week

it irritates me that the recent 2xLP reissue used the extra space for instrumentals (the album's mostly instrumental anyway! who needs that??) instead of throwing on all the stuff from The Arrangement. as you probably know "War Head" is the most brilliant thing but it just remains this weird B-side

i was trying to make a chronological YMO-universe spotify playlist recently. I gave up out of laziness and also all the things that were grayed out. but i remember that the Arrangement was one of the biggest new-to-me discoveries out of the whole exercise

still true

i will bump this thread every month until it no longer is

at that point, i will let you know that you were correct before and keep bumping it

i'm not sure it's the #1 of all-time at the moment, but it's close enough, and i will elevate my love if and when i need to

why don't you tell me what #1 is then

I don't mean that in an aggressive way

lol

i'm not sure, it's not like there's one that immediately jumps out to me as an obvious candidate. but even among ymo and alumni there are a lot of contenders

i guess one obvious contender (one that would beat ymo in most non-ilm polls, and probably here too) is kraftwerk. i have trouble ever relegating computer world to anything but top 3 status

you know one thing I never realized was how much YT's concurrent solo albums reflected pretty much exactly where YMO was at

Murdered by the Music = Xoo Multiplies
Neuromantic & Exitentialism = BGM
What, Me Worry = Service

not just the same style, but some of the same synths & rhythms. I think some of the exact drum patterns on BGM show up on Neuromantic

maybe big science, on some days. does bjork's post or homogenic count as electronic pop?

xp and neuromantic is still my #1 contender for my fav over BGM! it's so fucking good

good question. i will listen to them again and get back to you

i mean, they gotta

i'm sure there's lots of stuff from the least 25 years that contends but you have to let that stuff marinate for generations

right I suppose the definition of "electronic pop" changes along with the technology itself. nobody was really making YMO/Kraftwerk style music when Bjork was doing her thing. that sound has come back somewhat recently but mostly as stuff like Perfume which is in a different spirit. the new Kate NV too, I was thinking that album would deserve a mention in a discussion like this but obviously you don't wanna limit yourself to just stuff like that. if Bjork counts I'd argue that something like Underworld or Denki Groove counts too and suddenly I'm off making dumb mental lists. that said BGM still comes out on top

https://reverb.com/news/the-gear-of-yellow-magic-orchestra

my favourite ymo album has always been naughty boys, the moment where they fully embrace making pop music

i may have been hyperbolic in my praise but this is still all-time for me, all killer no filler

absolutely classic

Rap Phenomena is kind of unbelievable isn't it? It sounds like a parody of electro hip-hop, but it was released in 1981. Before Flash, Run DMC, Planet Rock, or any of that. It was just like, Sugarhill and Kurtis Blow back then. It's like it's making fun of something which doesn't exist yet. Also the lyrics are fucking wild. I know people think it's a weak spot on this album but I kinda love it!

i've heard it called parody before but it's never struck me as such. it's a fantastic track, not weak at all.

as probably everyone who gets really into ymo feels, it's just utterly unbelievable that both bgm and technodelic came out in the same year. and they're so different, too.

just learned ryuichi has stage 4 cancer. my chest feels tight. i'm not ready to lose him.

even crazier considering that Yukihiro Takahashi also did Neuromantic (his best solo LP!) and the Beatniks first album with Keiichi Suzuki (also incredibly good!) the same year!! Sakamoto also released Left-Handed Dream that year, which feels like a totally separate thing from YMO. Hosono was incredibly proactive as a songwriter & producer in '81 as well. just a crazy amount of creativity in a short period, can't think of anything else that compares besides, I dunno, The Beatles

even crazier considering that Yukihiro Takahashi also did Neuromantic (his best solo LP!)

indeed, just bonkers. i know i've said it a million times, but i will never pass up the opportunity to say that Neuromantic is also, possibly, the greatest YMO-related release of them all. so good

i'm sorry to hear about sakamoto. I've been listening to his recent music a lot recently, particularly his "Playing the Piano 12122020" release, which is what it sounds like. I remember when that came out, several months into the pandemic, how bleak the world felt, and what a quiet gift that his music was. It still resonates with me, the melancholy of that time is still there (in the world, in his music).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRwNKAGp2eY

wow, that's the last YMO song I thought I'd see a cover of. looks like they have a bunch of YMO covers, in fact it seems to be all they do :)

been thinking a lot about this and the thread title is still accurate

RELEASE THE YMO BIO

listen to the Music Plans beat for a minute, like just focus on nothing but that. it's wild. I wonder if all those loops are out of sync because somehow it sounds like it never repeats.

tbh, i hear the drum loop. but *puts on shades* i play the drums so. definitely an odd one in that the snare/claps are on the 1 of each measure rather than the usual 2 and 4

god "Cue" makes me miss a certain friend of mine. we used to listen to this all the time and when we played poker and we needed a queen we'd always sing "give me a Q" in our wobbliest YT voice. it was a joke that obviously only the two of us found funny which confused everyone else at the table. he's still alive by the way he just got kind of weird and religious

yeah I'm listening again and I think it kind of tricks my brain into thinking the beat is in a different place in each loop in the same way those M.C. Escher paintings make you feel like every staircase goes upward

Give meeee a Q
I think I neaaaaaarly found you

btw something very brilliant about this album is how both sides begin with more or less "normal" pop songs after which the music begins to get weird in ways that are first subtle and then very obvious.

and maybe I'm imagining things but I think there are parallels between the two sides. A1 is "Ballet" which in the bridge features a French phrase that translates to:

"I am tired of the same old chaos/I am sick/There should be an exit in this cul-de-sac."

and of course B1 is "Cue" and you know what the bridge is there.

then A4 is what sounds like a Hosono track but is actually Sakamoto. which is balanced by B4 which sounds like a dramatic Sakamoto composition but is actually Hosono. the clue is the fact that the one on Side A is called "Happy End"

not to mention the fact that the track lengths are identical from one side to the other

Listening to "Cue" right now, oddly enough.