Yukihiro Takahashi: S & D

Anyway i like DONE so... fell free to E-Mail Me Anyone, E-Mail adress above. Thankyou

P-UNIT

P-UNIT

Neuromantic

I just dug up a solo record by Takahashi, from the back of my closet. From 1981, I think? I can't remember much about it, to be honest, but the first track is essentially YMO--the credits list Hosono and Sakamoto ('on Fairlight'!)

Neuromantic

this is my all time takachan jam

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

the synths in the chorus are so sick

Who wrote the lyrics for that? They don't seem like they were written by an English-speaker. Either way yeah thats one of his best

ha! there's something very '80s Bowie about that video clip

wow! That's Bill Nelson playing guitar!

both Sakamoto and Takahashi seemed to imitate Bowie at some stage - look at "Left Handed Dream"

turns out Peter Barakan wrote the lyrics to that song which is weird b/c they're oddly clumsy. i love when Japanese bands write their own English lyrics, it results in things like "fall in love with elevator/see you later, re-frig-u-ra-ator"

another great album to search out is the beatniks. Takahashi & Keiichi Suzuki

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iLNQcTkETI

has anyone heard YT's later stuff?

I have some of his 80's and 90's albums and they're usually decent with at least one awesome tune on each. His stuff with Hosono as "Sketch Show" is really great and I've heard his later solo albums all sound like that

three days to SF YMO show

damn it if I was within like 16 hours driving distance to that i'd be there

COME TO CHICAGO OR MINNESOTA OR SOMETHING

im actually really bummed out about this. this might be the last chance americans get to see YMO

I expect the US YMO shows will be close to what they've been doing live for the past few years: acoustic reinterpretations with some glitchy elements. Very stripped down. Light on synths. Therefore a big yawn IMHO.

Hate to be a party poop but - you know - I could be proven wrong. i hope so!

i like the sketch show albums and the HASYMO singles but I don't see them working live at all. the LONDONYMO disc didn't even feel live but it was a really good listen regardless

the World Happiness set they did last year was something different and probably closer to your liking

saw some live clips from a few years ago and it sounded like bad lite jazz. and i like lite jazz.

oh, and some shitty beatles coverzzzz

i dig that Beatniks record

when i saw YMO a few years ago it was like weird glitchy minimalist lounge music w/ epic visuals, though think it was technically HASYMO. def completely electronic. it was pretty good but not something i'd usually seek out. the version of "Ongaku" was completely amazing

I regret not buying tickets and flying to LA from from NY for this. As frogbs said, they're moving away for the glitchy Sketch Show sound. I saw a photo of them rehearsing and there's a Prophet 5, so there ya go!

I can't believe I started this thread 7 years ago. I'm still as big a fan as ever.

Rehearsal Pics!

That's Bill Nelson playing guitar!

Yeah, Takahashi featured on Bill's excellent "Chimera" EP along with Mick Karn.

Just saw this Pocky ad with YMO (×∞ Multiplies-inspired design--I dig it)

http://pocky.jp/index.html

are you in the J, geeta?

lol at hosono napping in those rehearsal pix

has anyone heard YT's later stuff?

i really like his 2009 album 'Page By Page', has collaborations with Cornelius, Steve Jansen, Lali Puna

are you in the J, geeta?

ha, i wish--I've never been to Japan (will hopefully remedy that sometime soon)

you lucky sods who are going to the LA or SF shows over the next couple of days, report back

ha ha the Pocky ad is still blowing my mind!!

make sure your speakers are on, 'Rydeen' is the soundtrack

new Beatniks album coming soon, that's unexpected
apparently Towa Tei did a track with him on his new album. awesome how Towa keeps paying respects to YMO, I think all three members have guested on an album at some point. you can clearly hear Hosono doing backing vocals on "G.B.I." but he's uncredited

as for as the albums go - his late 80's/early 90's work seems a little weak, but the 'new' version of "Betsu-ni" from A Day in the Next Life is so incredibly beautiful

I'd be interested in giving that Beatniks album a listen. There was a few weeks earlier this year when all I listened to were the four albums he did from Murdered By The Music to Tomorrow's Just Another Day. It was amazing finding basically a bunch of other brilliant YMO albums, especially as Naughty Boys is my favourite and they're quite similar.

This is one of my favourite songs from those albums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbAoCw1gSgU&feature=related

So many great tracks though, School Of Though, Drip Dry Eyes, Blue Colour Woker, My Bright Tomorrow and Kagerou especially.

The great thing about What, Me Worry? is all the guest vocalists that kinda take the pressure off Takahashi. His voice is decent but I don't know if I like it to carry a whole album. That said I think it did improve a little as he went on.

That is a great album but I've never really had a problem with his vocals. My favourite YMO song is Opened My Eyes which is made by his vocal, especially the way he sings " I couldn't sleep in my bed at night, I didn't have any appetite for anything"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZSUEJgM47Q

The new Beatniks album came as a surprise to me as well (Amazon Japan is good at notifying me). I pre-ordered it this morning!

IMO his best vocal is that garbled up thing he does in "Camoflauge"
I dunno, I did get annoyed by the way he seems to add an extra syllable to some of his words. That said the vocals in "It's Gonna Work Out" are pretty ace. As long as he stays within his limitations he does fine.

kitchen you've heard "Exitenialism" haven't you?

Neuromantic is a masterpiece

p much

http://www.discogs.com/Yukihiro-Takahashi-Live-1998-Run-After-You/release/782065

Been geeking out over this one lately. I like YT's work in general but I have tended to notice that many of his albums are a little uneven, and almost all of them feature at least one or two totally knockout tracks. Here's a 1998 live release that focuses a lot on his mid-to-late 90's work, but with some great callbacks to his early solo albums ("Something in the Air" and "Kid-Nap the Dreamer"). His work certainly took a turn for the more mature crowd (in other words: kinda boring) but the songs on here are almost universally gorgeous, alternating between big, powerful ballads and really pleasant pop songs. Production is great and Yuki himself sounds about as good as he ever has. Check it out!!

finally listening to What Me Worry? after being obsessed with Neuromantic for several months. It's great! "This Strange Obsession" seriously should have been a massive global hit.

"flashback" is the bomb

try "murdered by the music" next!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVWwb8LQCpM

yeah "murdered by the music" is great - kind of like a more fleshed out companion album to Xoo Multiplies

"school of thought" is so good, the main synth riff kinda reminds me of sparks for some reason.

Takahashi, Towa Tei, Yoshinori Sunahara (ex-Denki Groove), Cornelius, Tomohiko Gondo, and Leo Imai to form a supergroup, good God:

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2014/07/15/music/ymos-yukihiro-takahashi-recruits-towa-tei-cornelius-yoshinori-sunahara-tomohiko-gondo-and-leo-imai-for-an-impressive-supergroup/#.U8XjdCj23QU

Towa Tei ft. Yukihiro Takahashi and Kiko Mizuhara - "The Burning Plain"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=769QwzmW22Q

Great song. Amusingly enough the song is about the act of watching the movie rather than the movie itself.

have you heard his metafive supergroup album? towa tei is in that one too. and cornelius.

http://coolestsound.jp/Takahashi_Yukihiro_Metafive_Techno_Recital_Takahas/2014.07.20/010395/

Had no idea they actually released something - will try to grab as soon as I can find a cheaper copy ;) The trailer sounds good. The In Phase release seems interesting too, I dig the more mature stuff too so long as the songwriting is there. I've posted about his "Run After You" live release which is maybe my favorite YT album overall but I don't think anyone knows those songs.

Lately I've been obsessed with a song called "'00" from his 1999 album The Dearest Fool. Can't find it on Youtube but it's really neat, has a really similar groove to "Jumbo" by Underworld

yeah, agreed, trailer sounds pretty good. def curious but these things are always a little disappointing...

then again, there's also a song credited to the metafive group that was used in the new ghost in the shell series and it's actually quite good imo. production sounds a bit like some of cornelius' work on the salyu x salyu album. you can hear that one here:
http://cornelius-kokakua-sound.com/#splitspirit

actually still haven't heard much YT solo stuff outside of neuromantic. one day!

with subtitles here

Interested to see this. Thanks, visiting!

Sites like that drive me up a wall. Tried a few different things to download the video and only something called "Internet Download Manager" worked. Can upload in 720p to whatever sharing site if anyone wants.

(really doesn't seem to be any way to get it legitimately with subtitles)

visiting, thanks for that link! that bottle of wine they're thinking of opening near the beginning, 300K yen...that's 367K yen today, or $2800 US dollars :-o

Can upload in 720p to whatever sharing site if anyone wants

Don't think anyone here will say no.

Absolutely, I found a pretty good rip of it but with no .srt, so I'd love to watch it in any format

what's a good site to send a file that big these days? that's not blocked for many. can do in 9hrs or so.

I like Fromsmash, it has the same 7 day limit but I find it's less flakey than Wetransfer

ok will do thanks

fwiw i think only "server 2" on the pirate site had it in the higher res. Looks nice.

ok here's download link, good til Jan 31 evening

FUCK YEAH

*chants* M-V-P! M-V-P!

*pounding of fists on the table, bedlam rising*

can do in 9hrs or so.

― maf you one two (maffew12), Tuesday, January 24, 2023 5:32 AM (nine hours ago)

*multiple people begin writing wikipedia entry*

the file works well for me, playback via VLC. thanks maffew12!

Roxor. Will grab it later! Deeply appreciated.

amazing! many thanks

According to japanese wikipedia, YT did this movie in response to RS having starred in Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence.

haha yep c'mon if I were him I'd also be offended if RS was considered the movie star in YMO. no offense obv

anyway wanted to post this track, one of the last things he's on. god I love his "make some noise" sample

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j95nu5jSHo

Thanks so much, maffew!

Yukihiro tribute for the next hour on NTS channel 1, starting right now!

oh damn whatever's playing now is excellent, anyone know what it is?? do they release tracklists after?

It's fantastic - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uedrxUW8exo

The guy's channel is great btw, well worth checking out.

oh wow a live "Nice Age", never heard this before. Akiko's on it

awww man this is great

I actually know who this DJ is! Towa Tei did a song with them and the video is mesmerizing. YT appears...as the robot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lgUz4t9fJw

Thanks listening now!

Right now it's "River in the Ocean" by The Beatniks. idk how many ILXors know this record but it's really great, this song in particular is great. and to think it wasn't even on the original version!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y-Rvgtgfjk

(also worth mentioning: this album came out the same year as BGM, Technodelic, and Neuromantic...what an insane year that was for him)

Really enjoyed that! Tracklist normally gets added when the show is archived, will post a link when it goes up

could someone please re-up the poisson d'avril movie?
i always enjoyed the soundtrack and came too late for the link posted a few posts up...

best ymo members with a better solo output: takahashi and hosono

XP - Here y'go - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/eg69fi25suep02a100xmn/h?dl=0&rlkey=8613qupgg3bl7btlitu8qmzzq

whoa!
1000 Dank!!!
(̶◉͛‿◉̶)

Cheese & wine party w/Yuki (and eng subs) count me in!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll86KLqZFTg

A master of French cuisine!

its recently occurred to me how many of his lyrics I absolutely love. I know they're translated by Modell and Barakan but they kinda try to keep the structure of the original which results in a lot of cool and odd phrases. "Feel like I've been through a washing machine", "It doesn't take a genius to know", "I think I'm out on a winning streak", "This must be the ugliest piece of bread I've ever eaten", pretty much everything on "It's All Gonna Work Out", etc.

the strangest of the strangers...secondhand teenagers

Finally watched the movie. it is insane! highly recommended.

The link from poster visiting is fine if you've got an ad blocker

oh yeah, I forgot to report back but watched that basically immediately after grabbing it. a total blast! the kind of thing I'd picture grabbing at the video store and seeing a quote like "a truly delightful romp!" on the cover.

re: movie + the wine and cheese vid - was mr. yt known for being a francophile or something? or maybe everyone was in the 80s...

also recently watched obayashi's the island closest to heaven, he's in that one too, tho briefly. loved it, in any case.

back cover of his first album
https://i.discogs.com/YG39ydbuIyKovYS8vw5CTfGfyolRrPKJeY7YgTv5QcI/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTc3NjMx/MC0xMzk0MDY5MjM4/LTIzMzguanBlZw.jpeg

was mr. yt known for being a francophile or something?

well Keiichi Suzuki (the other half of Beatniks and one of his best friends) for sure was. plus there's the whole first album thing.

well, here's where I admit I've never listened to the first YT record...

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

Also 71 today!

lol he calls Steve Jansen "Steve-O"

The Alfa YT channel is v underrated, so much great stuff in there.

Here's a translation of Sayonara, one of the two Japanese songs on What, Me Worry?

...

(spoken)
It's really such good, bright weather...
The sun's glare casts a shadow behind the two of us.

(sung)
You swing your hand so broadly it seems it's about to fall off.
I close my dazzled eyes.
Such nice weather
and I'm going to say goodbye...

A bright goodbye
A bright goodbye

(spoken)
In such good, quiet weather,
the cicadas are singing a little too loud...

(sung)
You swing your hand so broadly it seems it's about to fall off.
I'll be alright -- for sure I'll be alright.
I'm going to say goodbye sadly to you,
bathed as you are in the bright light.

A bright goodbye
A bright goodbye

...

This song could bring me to tears before I even attended to the lyrics; how much more so, now? I love you forever, YT.

And the other, Flashback (Sakamoto's music, Takahashi's words). Didn't quite cry while translating this one, but a couple times I had to stop and say, "Holy fuck." There are elegant elements of the Japanese that I couldn't get across in English -- places where Takahashi's text is poignantly succinct, or beautifully vague, or drifts off in just the right way.

...

A phantasm drifts at the edge of the water,
rustling faintly and sadly in the weeds.
Back then every day was like a dream.
That fragrance always flooding everything.

In the full light of a lovely morning,
my heart cracked. Come, let's find somewhere to throw it away.

And honestly, I didn't understand any of it,
any of the absurd falsehoods spoken over and over and over again.
To this day, I try and summon the faded images of what I witnessed --
though, where...? I can't remember.

Deep in the tender twilight,
my heart cracked. Come, let's find somewhere to throw it away.

[instrumental verse]

To this day, I try and summon the faded images of what I witnessed --
though, where...? I can't remember.

Deep in the tender twilight,
my heart cracked. Come, let's find somewhere to throw it away.

To this day, I try and remember
the fading colors, the timeworn tale, the customary scene.

A phantasm drifts at the edge of the water,
rustling faintly and sadly in the weeds.
Back then every day was like a dream.
Always that faint fragrance in the shadow of the flowers.

Love this. Hosono looks so happy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzIpofcS3e0