Yellow Magic Orchestra

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Yellow Magic Orchestra
Yellow Magic Orchestra, 1983. L to R: Haruomi Hosono, Ryuuichi Sakamoto, Yukihiro Takahashi
Country	Tokyo, Japan
Years active	1978—1983,1993
Genres	electropop
Labels	Alfa Records
Past members	Haruomi Hosono Yukihiro Takahashi Ryuichi Sakamoto

Yellow Magic Orchestra were a Japanese electropop band, formed in 1978.

The principal members were Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards).

The band was originally conceived as a one-off studio project by Hosono, the other two members being recruited session musicians - the idea was to produce an album fusing orientalist exotica (cf their cover version of Martin Denny's Firecracker) with modern electronics. However the first album (with its cutting-edge production) was very popular, and the studio project grew into a fully fledged touring band and career for its three members.

Making abundant use of new synthesizers, samplers, digital and computer recording technology as it became available, their popularity and influence extended beyond Japan. Generally the band are highly regarded as pioneers of electronic music, and continue to be remixed and sampled by modern artists.

The band had stopped working together by 1984, the three members returning to their solo careers. They released a one-off reunion album, Technodon, in 1993.

The early 2000s saw Hosono & Takahashi reunited in a project called Sketch Show. On a number of occasions Ryuichi Sakamoto has joined in on Sketch Show performances and recording sessions. He later proposed they rename the unit "Human Audio Sponge" when he participates.

1 Trivia
2 Original Singles
3 Original albums
4 Live albums
5 Best of albums
6 External Links
7 See also

[edit] Trivia

Hideki Matsutake of the Japanese electric band Logic System (band) has been believed to be the fourth member of Y.M.O.; he had been a computer programer for Y.M.O.
Towa Tei used to submit his demo reels to Ryuichi Sakamoto's radio show when he was a teenager. Towa Tei later became a member of American dance music group Deee-Lite.
American sc-fi novelist Bruce Sterling is a big fan of the band.
Señor Coconut released an album of Y.M.O. covers and collaborations called "Yellow Fever" in 2006.
The album "Technodon" features collaborations with the writers William Gibson and William Burroughs, both reading extracts from their works with Y.M.O. backing
The group have reunited in 2007 for an advertising campaign for Kirin and scored a No1 on various Japanese download charts (including iTunes) with the song "Rydeen 79/07"

[edit] Original Singles

Firecracker (1979, US)
Yellow Magic (Tong Poo) (1979, UK)
Technopolis (1979, Japan)
La Femme Chinoise (1979, UK)
Computer Game (1980, UK, Italy, Spain)
Rydeen (1980, Japan 1982, UK)
Behind the Mask (1980, UK, US, Italy)
Nice Age (1980, UK, Holland)
Tighten Up (1980, US, Japan, 1981, UK)
Cue (1981, Japan)
Mass (1981, Japan)
Taiso (1982, Australia, Japan)
Pure Jam (1982, Spain)
Kimi ni Munekyun (1983, Japan)
Kageki na Shukujo (1983, Japan)
Ishin Denshin (You've Got To Help Yourself) (1983, Japan)
Every Time I Look Around (I Hear The Madmen Call) (1983, Holland)
Reconstructions EP (1992, UK)
Pocketful of Rainbows (1993, Japan)
Be A Superman (1993, Japan)
Rydeen 79/07 (2007, Japan) - download only release as of 10th March 2007.

[edit] Original albums

Yellow Magic Orchestra 1978 (This original version was released in Japan)
Yellow Magic Orchestra (US release), 1979 (This version was remixed for release in the USA and also featured new cover art)
Solid State Survivor, 1979
×∞ Multiplies (mini-album) 1980 (a compilation album with the same title & artwork but different track listing was released in the USA)
BGM, 1981
Technodelic, 1981
Naughty Boys, 1983
Naughty Boys Instrumental, 1983
Service, 1983
Technodon, 1993