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

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.