Whenever I see the footage of them playing in the US or Europe from that era I always wonder who their crowd was at that time.
"firecracker" was a hit in black communities iirc & a big influence on early hip hop etc.
― ufo, Friday, 23 July 2021 17:55 (two years ago) link
I have a recollection of The Plastics doing Copy on some US Punk documentary film? I think they lived in NYC for a while.
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Friday, 23 July 2021 18:25 (two years ago) link
Yes! Thanks
― Maresn3st, Friday, 23 July 2021 18:48 (two years ago) link
iirc Grandmaster Flash always had "Firecracker" in his DJ set. and the group *somehow* wound up on Soul Train
― frogbs, Friday, 23 July 2021 20:17 (two years ago) link
These snaps are so great they give me goosebumps -
An homage to the lost days of the Shinkansen dining car~time to relax transiting between cities after a rushed early hotel departure~as hangover gives way to appetite and the option to enjoy a tasty spaghetti meat sauce, Japanese curry or failing the constitution a simple omrice pic.twitter.com/ZTejyQjaj6— Steve Jansen (@istevejansen) August 15, 2021
― Maresn3st, Sunday, 15 August 2021 19:59 (two years ago) link
cool to hear "tong poo" and "firecracker" soundtrack junya watanabe's ss22 show, the former seems to be a newly arranged version by sakamoto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t0r0kuC5ts
― missingNO, Wednesday, 20 October 2021 01:21 (two years ago) link
holy shit how did i not know that akiko yano did an album with (the band) japan?
― diamonddave85 (diamonddave85), Thursday, 21 October 2021 20:46 (two years ago) link
Fun Fact: Kazemachi Roman by Happy End and Technodelic were released 10 years apart. That is the same amount of time from when "Party Rock Anthem" was released to now.
― frogbs, Tuesday, 23 November 2021 22:41 (two years ago) link
awesome photo, looks like something out of the Beastie Boys Book
https://i.imgur.com/wVBP6Kp.jpg
― frogbs, Monday, 31 January 2022 16:52 (two years ago) link
Sakamoto was a judge on Iron Chef Japan!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR76FyJdCmo
― Karl Malone, Saturday, 16 April 2022 04:09 (two years ago) link
so was akiko yano!
― visiting, Saturday, 16 April 2022 04:16 (two years ago) link
“Of the three dishes for today, I like this one the best. But you know, the relationship between the prawn and the shark fins in this dish, well you know, it’s a little…dissonant.“
- ryuichi sakamoto
― Karl Malone, Saturday, 16 April 2022 04:44 (two years ago) link
With Throbbing Gristle
https://64.media.tumblr.com/eb0f480d76c4e8645eb977a84c1cff2b/af11579342429de0-4d/s1280x1920/458e25075e57fb5ed9d299dbd4903a314f740689.jpg
― Kim Kimberly, Sunday, 1 May 2022 20:13 (two years ago) link
Woah! Lucky Gen got a YMO shirt too. Maybe they made him a special GPO one?
― stirmonster, Sunday, 1 May 2022 20:43 (two years ago) link
I wonder if this was backstage after the Hammersmith Odeon gig in 1980
― Maresn3st, Sunday, 1 May 2022 20:49 (two years ago) link
I'd seen a photo of Gen in the YMO shirt before and had always wondered about it.
― visiting, Sunday, 1 May 2022 23:20 (two years ago) link
https://i.discogs.com/uR_oYov9lZowGSCOYNZAOxjazFjtm4_Fz-l8nyYxUbg/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:597/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTIxOTEy/Ni0xMzU3NTU4NDky/LTM5MDMuanBlZw.jpeg
― Was Hitler a Hobbit? (Tom D.), Monday, 2 May 2022 09:44 (two years ago) link
I don't wonder if you could buy them at gigs, perhaps from the merch stall.
I know they packaged those shirts later on with the Ultimate Collection box set.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UC-YMO-Premium-Ultimate-Collection-of-Yellow-Magic-Orchestra-Limited-T-shirt-/313470319914
― Maresn3st, Monday, 2 May 2022 10:06 (two years ago) link
i have probably looked at that TG Greatest Hits sleeve 100s of times but somehow never noticed the YMO shirt. x post.
― stirmonster, Monday, 2 May 2022 10:35 (two years ago) link
Not really great news
https://www.brooklynvegan.com/ryuichi-sakamoto-battling-stage-4-cancer-report/
― the classic emerson lake & palmer line-up (Matt #2), Wednesday, 8 June 2022 19:28 (one year ago) link
Awful news.
― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Wednesday, 8 June 2022 19:38 (one year ago) link
When I see a YMO thread bumped, I always have a little fluttery moment where I think that it may be sad news about him or about Yuki, boomer-era Japan is going to go into major mourning when he goes.
― Maresn3st, Wednesday, 8 June 2022 19:45 (one year ago) link
actually makes me feel guilty about bumping them all the time. I think the same when these threads get bumped.
I'm a member of a few YMO groups on FB so I kinda knew something wasn't right, but it's hard to tell when everything is translated from Japanese. I thought the "I hope to make music until the end" quote was from Takahashi, who just turned 70. he seemed to be doing okay, though. but he's not performing live at the moment which is a bit troubling. him and YT are such restless musicians that you know something's up when they take some time off.
― frogbs, Wednesday, 8 June 2022 19:50 (one year ago) link
Don't Panic!
I just thought I'd share this w/you all.
"A recording of YMO's first-ever show together, from shortly after they released their first album. You will notice that it does not contain any of Ryuichi Sakamoto's solo stuff (from 1000 Knives) like the other concerts from '78 do. To make things even more unusual, Makoto Yano (Akiko's first husband) plays keyboards here. Furthermore, this is the only recording I know of that contains live versions of 'Simoon' and 'Mad Pierrot'."
https://fromsmash.com/WW4oHf0fSv-bt
It's really great, btw
― MaresNest, Friday, 8 July 2022 16:51 (one year ago) link
oh wow, never heard a boot that early. "Simoon" is uh...pretty woozy. interesting that they had "Behind the Mask" worked out already.
― frogbs, Friday, 8 July 2022 19:44 (one year ago) link
Me too, the earliest one I'd heard was from the Kinokuniya Hall in Tokyo, a couple of months later with its lovely disco fantasia version of Tong Poo and Sakamoto's keys distorting throughout.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ55qxrzh4w
― MaresNest, Friday, 8 July 2022 19:52 (one year ago) link
Hosono turns 75 today!!
― frogbs, Saturday, 9 July 2022 04:13 (one year ago) link
Let's just dwell for one moment on how epic Harry is, I mean, he's bloody legendary.
― MaresNest, Saturday, 9 July 2022 10:38 (one year ago) link
I had a very strange YMO related dream the other day
I was a member of a Facebook group called "YMO Tongposting" (or something like that) which was mostly memes about "Yukihiro Takahashi's Sexual Voice Message" and I came up with an idea for a meme that would get a thousand likes, it was a video of the three members of YMO on Wheel of Fortune and every time one of them was up they would say "give me a Q" like in "Cue" and Pat Sajak would keep going "sorry, no Qs" and then eventually "do you have any guesses other than Q?" and the three would say "Q! Q! Q!" like in "Kimi Ni Mune Kyun". I posted it and it got thousands of likes and in the comments a bunch of photos of YT with his arms folded and the text "Yukihiro Takahashi Fact Check: True"
ok I know this shit belongs in a fanboy Discord but I was just impressed I came up with a pretty fully formed (if extremely niche) joke in my dreams. I had to document it somewhere
― frogbs, Wednesday, 28 September 2022 03:20 (one year ago) link
i 100% get all of that, haha
― Karl Malone, Wednesday, 28 September 2022 03:26 (one year ago) link
That is amazing lol
― Kim Kimberly, Wednesday, 28 September 2022 03:37 (one year ago) link
As a Brit, I don't really get the full picture but I sense the greatness.
― MaresNest, Thursday, 29 September 2022 14:40 (one year ago) link
is there any band (let alone only three-member) that did more great things as a group and among their various side projects and solo careers?
Realised the other day that one contender for this would be Tropicalia, if you count them as a band (which is a stretch I admit).
― Daniel_Rf, Monday, 10 October 2022 13:24 (one year ago) link
TG, albeit they were 4.
― stirmonster, Monday, 10 October 2022 15:11 (one year ago) link
the 10cc folks wrote/produced all kinds of bubblegum singles and stuff, right?
― lets hear some blues on those synths (brimstead), Monday, 10 October 2022 15:34 (one year ago) link
Japanese sources are reporting that Yukihiro Takahashi, the former Yellow Magic Orchestra drummer and lead vocalist, has died. He was 70. He had an operation to remove a brain tumour in 2020, and in 2021 revealed further health problems. A sad loss of a prolific talent. pic.twitter.com/Fp9FZ0a9F2— Electronic Sound (@ElectronicMagUK) January 14, 2023
damn, rip
― ufo, Saturday, 14 January 2023 19:42 (one year ago) link
Feeling sad about YT, and worried RS is the next shoe to drop. I hope not.
I'm not sure why I never posted this, but it's embedded into my memory from a very young age. It was a direct-to-VHS movie called "Where The Toys Come From" and the music was composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Akiko Yano.
(Spoiler alert, the toys come from Japan)
There's this song—I can't remember the name—but it's a sequence YMO used to perform live, and there's variation of it on one of the Akiko Yano albums. Anyway, another version of this appears in Where The Toys Come From, when they travel to Japan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLDoKgFw9RI
And then the closing credits feature a Sakamoto / Yano collaboration where she sings about toys:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTmD8FQKHmY
I'm pretty sure this is the only context where this song ever appears, so those if you interested in rare YMO memorabilia may find this interesting.
― Publicradio (3×5), Tuesday, 31 January 2023 19:35 (one year ago) link
I never realised there was a noodly techno 90s reformation! I quite like it actually, guessing this might be the encore?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfY9AKKK28M
― end-times league extra (Matt #2), Monday, 13 February 2023 00:25 (one year ago) link
Technodon! the YMO record with lots of guest voices, good concert that too, Technodon In Tokyo Dome
― MaresNest, Monday, 13 February 2023 00:37 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtnifKDe4zY
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 14 February 2023 15:16 (one year ago) link
I watched that entire concert the other day. it must've been so cool to have actually been there. as mentioned in the top comment Sakamoto slipping "Cosmic Surfin" in at 7:27 to the surprise of the other band members is such a cool moment. definitely my favorite version of "Behind the Mask" - it's kind of a bummer that they didn't record a technofied remake album the way Kraftwerk and Telex did.
― frogbs, Tuesday, 14 February 2023 15:28 (one year ago) link
also I think I finally realized what makes Naughty Boys such a special album, it's the fact that it's basically 40 minutes worth of advertising jingles. every single sound on it shimmers, all those drum rolls just pop out of the speakers, even the vocals are surprisingly tuneful. and tons of reverb on everything which makes it all a bit surreal. it just fires off so much serotonin. no wonder these guys got so much work doing commercials and soundtracks.
― frogbs, Tuesday, 14 February 2023 16:02 (one year ago) link
I can’t recommend this compilation of RS’s advert work highly enough:https://www.discogs.com/release/2283320-Ryuichi-Sakamoto-Works-I-CM
― not too strange just bad audio (brimstead), Tuesday, 14 February 2023 20:35 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qHvgf89FuI
― MaresNest, Saturday, 2 September 2023 10:50 (eight months ago) link
lmao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0V_whX77j4
― frogbs, Thursday, 7 December 2023 02:32 (five months ago) link
Exactly.
― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Thursday, 7 December 2023 11:48 (five months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPv794U09Ek
― MaresNest, Friday, 8 December 2023 12:58 (five months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNA2ArzxmWI
Very Japanese commitment to detail here
― MaresNest, Monday, 11 December 2023 18:56 (five months ago) link
How is it so easy for these guys to melt my heart? Is it just the accumulated weight of all those years of friendship? Hosono and Takahashi doing the Flying Saucer arrangement of Sports Men:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiDbcy-nfpg
Watching Takahashi play drums is one of the chief delights of the Internet age, this we all know. I didn't know that he can lay the charm on just as thick when all he's doing is singing harmony.
― TheNuNuNu, Monday, 15 January 2024 10:55 (four months ago) link
Naughty Boys has been smashing my mind into splinters. Godly album.
Here's my attempt at a translation of Sakamoto's lyrics for Kai-Koh ("Chance Encounter"). My Japanese is a work-in-progress but in this case (and all of Naughty Boys!) I can compare it against a fan translation into Chinese.
...
I can't singany more beautiful love songs.I've been walking alone, on foot.And I'm saying goodbye to the person I've been until now.
I've run too far away.There is nothing left at all now.I can't stay here.And I'm saying goodbye to the person I've been until now.
[repeat first verse]
Go figure that THE most propulsive and thrilling song on the album (okay that's arguable) has crushingly sad lyrics.
― TheNuNuNu, Friday, 26 January 2024 14:32 (three months ago) link