This is the ugliest piece of POLL I've ever eaten - Yellow Magic Orchestra's TECHNODELIC

I don’t know this band or album but am curious to check it out. That a title!

WHAT a title!

Here we go!!!

Prediction: Taiso will not win.

However, I cannot guess what will.

What is ILM without a YMO thread in new answers?

WHAT a title!

otm & otm

Haha thread came very close to being called 'wrapped in a POLL-like substance'. But then I thought 'ugliest piece of ...' would encourage folks to listen to the album to find out what the ugliest piece actually is!

I could make a good case for almost every song on this record. The first time I listened to it, I felt very 'WTF' about the music, but was completely drawn in by the strangeness of the lyrics. Those gorgeous, Beatles-y 3-part harmonies singing... *that*. By the second or third listen, it completely clicked, the rhythms had hooked me.

Key is a great deep cut but I’m voting Taiso because it unfailingly makes me dance around

I could make a good case for almost every song on this record

Omit that "almost" and that's me. No exaggeration. What's ridiculous is that sometimes I'm not positive this is in my favorite three YMO records. At the samr time, I wouldn't hesitate to call it in my top ten favorite albums of all time. Like I wrote somewhere in one of these family threads, Hosono broke my ranking brain

But even though I go into raptures about every song on here, I know exactly what my favorite is, because it's (still) my favorite Yellow Magic Orchestra song, period.

Every minute, every second, I can feel it getting closer

Taiso makes me get up and do calisthenics along with the band. Which at my age, is possibly unwise. But maybe if I do Taiso for 4 minutes and 21 seconds every day, I will eventually stop feeling sore!

NuNu, I was about to ask you the title but as soon as you said Every minute, every second, I can feel it getting closer the song automatically started playing in my head.

Jam, Taiso and Key are all strong contenders but I think I need to listen to it about 6 more times to make sure.

Can I get through any thread without shoehorning in a B-T reference? Of course I cannot.

The off-kiltre bassline on 階段 gives me the vibes of the wandering bassline on 神経質な階段 but I don't know if Yutaka is as much of a Hosono stan as his bandmate. Maybe staircases in Japan are just really unstable or it's a common metaphor.

The repeated 'fuku' sample used as percussion on Seoul Music catches me out every time. Is he really saying what I think he's saying? No, no he is not. But they're such a playful band I'm sure they were aware of what it sounds like to an English speaker.

灯 also has such an incredible bassline. Hosono is really showing off on this record! The interplay in the rhythm section is what makes the whole thing so compelling. No matter what style of music they play around with, when Hosono and Takahashi lock tight, literally any kind of strange noises can whirl around them and it still sounds great.

I've tried with this album and so far failed. But Light in Darkness is a fantastic track - the broody synth washes, the pointillist synth sparkles, the fractured drums, the funky wandering bass, all travelling different paths but cohering into something wonderful. I want to hear a thousand different tracks like it but I can only find echoes here and there.

Taiso all day, great video too.

Hosono is really showing off on this record!

BGM was an experiment in extremely simple basslines (rarely more than 3-4 notes, and usually it's Hosono banging the same synth key ten times in a row; simple in terms of notes, I should add, not rhythms) and Technodelic was the pendulum swinging all the way to the other side. Agreed that the Light in Darkness bass is epic beyond words

I could really (or........ should? if not now, when?) write a love letter to every song.

Oh, also: BGM had so few Sakamoto contributions (he was pissed off, depressed, hard to work with, all kinds of bad news) that Producer Hosono decided Technodelic would be Sakamoto-centric, to balance things out (again: pendulum). This worked out great because Sakamoto felt embarrassed about his bad attitude in the BGM sessions, and what he wanted most for the new album was for all three of them to collaborate full force.

That's another reason the band tried to break up after Technodelic: all three were 100% happy with it, and convinced that they'd never top it.

I could really (or........ should? if not now, when?) write a love letter to every song.

Yes! Yes! Please write a love letter to every song on this album.

(Signed, one simple madness man)

the wandering bassline on 神経質な階段

This was amazing (whole song, not only the bassline) and not what I expected. I believe the time has come to recognize the prods I've been receiving from the chronological side of my spirit, give up my trip through your historical write-ups, settle into Aku no Hana, and move forward through Buck-Tick album by album, in order, referencing what you've written as I travel.

And thank you for the enthusiasm! Mission accepted!

Not to derail my own thread, here! But if you do end up doing a chronologial listen, please leave your impressions on the other thread. I think listening to their albums in order is definitely the way to go, once you've been bitten by the B-T bug. Last year, one of the longest-time English-speaking B-T fans organised a series of listening parties where we listened to ALL of the albums in order (and not just the studio albums, but non-album singles, compilations and solo projects, too). It was really interesting to hear how they developed and changed musically over the years. And doubly fun hearing the experiences and contemporary observations of someone who had been a fan for 35+ years.

I think I might also have to do a 'make the case for each song on Technodelic' experiment myself because I am genuinely unable to choose.

Instinctively voted for Key but maybe should've gone with Light & Darkness.

I think I might also have to do a 'make the case for each song on Technodelic' experiment myself because I am genuinely unable to choose.

Do it! It'll be fun!

this being the "Sakamoto-centric" record makes total sense to me, particularly in the way the sampler is used in the rhythms - reminds me a lot of B-2 Unit and Esperanto. "Pure Jam" reminds me of "Riot in Lagos" in how it sounds like something from the early 90s...I first heard it on a compilation and was stunned to find out what year it actually came out in. yes I know YT wrote that one but I'm referring more to the overall sound of it.

that said I have to go for "Gradated Grey" here for personal reasons. by which I mean it's one of those rare songs that just reaches a part of my soul. partly because of the tune itself, partly because of the overall sound. I've heard it performed by Sketch Show and even YMO on their last reunion show but something about the particular digital tones here is really special. I think my obsession with this tune was what won me over on Hosono...I hadn't really connected with his solo career the way I did the others. that obviously is not the case now :)

Wait frogs have you seen Sketch Show and YMO live?

I wish! I'm talking about live recordings.

The 2003 Sketch Show version is very much worth a listen if you like the original. Makes me wish they would've done an album where they re-recorded YMO classics...not that they'd ever do such a thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6JaenTfVnQ

Oh that’s lovely! Somehow warmer and more organic, yet keeps the groovy dance feel. Thanks for posting it!

if anything I've started appreciating these albums more over the years because they all have such a distinct sound to them. every track could be an example but something like Seoul Music, nothing will ever sound like that again. outside of something that's a deliberate throwback. but even then, those often don't sound quite right. you can replicate the sound of the synths but not the limitations that led to them being used the way they are here. and nobody's toying around with this sort of equipment anymore to wring cool sounds out of them. so like that sound in Gradated Grey that comes in every two measures...like a siren smoothed down into a fuzzy little ball...who's making sounds like that right now?

i picked "taiso" bc its transcendent but "seoul music" is a fuckin banger, i love ymo so much

oh and "Key", I remember hearing it for the first time in 2004 or so and thinking "what the hell was that?"...I was getting into Kraftwerk at the same time and as much as I liked them nothing they did really wowed me like that

Pure Jam probably but I'm going to listen to the album today to refresh my memory.

Just checked and I said before on ILX that this was my favourite YMO album, which I don't remember saying and I'm not sure is true... might be though.

This is definitely my favorite YMO

Key is the song that made me fall for them so it has to be that.

This is definitely my favorite YMO

If we're talking pure sonics, I would say Technodelic. B-but the debut has, the Side B suite! A-and BGM has, that epic Chrono Trigger 2300 AD gloom / Johnny the cyborg motorbike's apocalyptic abandon AND Hosonian spiritual weight on top of that; and then Naughty Boy makes me cry, like, seven times a listen. There is no choosing between these four, it cannot be done

But I'd probably go with Omni Sight Seeing above them all if I had to, and my favorite YMO member's favorite project is still (on a guy emotional level) Happy End, and and and I am very, 3?very brok.en

*gut emotional level, but also "guy emotional level" is not wrong because I have the most serious mancrushes on Hosono, Matsumoto, Ohtaki and Suzuki allllll, honestly even Keiichi Suzuki who sat in on piano that one show

which is not to undersell my mancrushes on Takahashi or the Professor, or how beautiful I think Miharu Koshi is

I still have not decided on my favourite YMO album and I'm trying very hard to form my own opinions of them, not just go with the one my own mancrush Hisashi thinks is the best. I think some of the other albums might have higher peaks. But Technodelic has the highest quality across the board. There's no dud or jokey track to skip. (The jokiest track is Taiso and it's a pure banger)

Go, Hosono, go!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgxuHs3Icjg

has never heard taiso or the rest of the album. even without prior knowledge as to which one was the single, taiso still was the standout, imo. gonna try to learn that one on the piano

I agree with Steve Jansen that this is YMO's best album ("cyclical and sexy", he said). Apart from the quality of the compositions, it can hardly be overstated how forward-thinking the arrangements are. At a time when Western musicians were using the colossally expensive Fairlight CMI as a novelty factor (orchestra hits, breaking glass sounds), YMO had realised that their custom-built sampler could be used to create looping textures and even entire backing tracks ("Neue Tanz").
I think its tasteful austerity is why Technodelic has aged so well. It still sounds fresh, nearly 45 years later.

I asked this on the "classic albums" thread but maybe someone can chime in on here. Is "Light in Darkness" the basis for Duran Duran "Rio"? It's that synth sequence over the 16th-note hi hat rhythm.

the first time I heard YMO it was on a comp curated by the Duran Duran guys, just saying

Well, there you go.

I asked this on the "classic albums" thread but maybe someone can chime in on here. Is "Light in Darkness" the basis for Duran Duran "Rio"? It's that synth sequence over the 16th-note hi hat rhythm.

You know, I had not made this connection before - but you are absolutely right. And Duran are huge YMO fans, yes.

There are probably better Duran songs that fit the Light In Darkness template (Rio is very major key while Light in Darkness is very minor and probably more like some of their album cuts). But that template of tight disco drums, chattering tremolo synth with string pads over the top, with squiggles of melodic funk bass. That is all over the first two Duran albums.

(And this observation is actually making me lean even more towards voting for that track)

Yes when I played "Light In Darkness" I was reminded of "Girls On Film" and "Save A Prayer"

Been meaning to send those love letters into this thread but man, moving is hard! Leaves time neither for listening nor writing

The uptick is I've listened to Pure Jam and Neue Tanz, like, twenty times this week

that said I have to go for "Gradated Grey" here for personal reasons. by which I mean it's one of those rare songs that just reaches a part of my soul. partly because of the tune itself, partly because of the overall sound.

I feel the same way. For me it's the most "technodelic" sounding thing on the record, evoking images of a luminous eternal future

There are probably better Duran songs that fit the Light In Darkness template (Rio is very major key while Light in Darkness is very minor and probably more like some of their album cuts).

...but 'Rio' is the one that lifts the exact synth arpeggio, do you really not hear it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osFC1ugUfjI

er, hang on, much of Rio is in a minor key! I think Light in Darkness is also minor but it doesn't have as strong a sense of key (song title probably refers to the maj chords in there) - someone else is more qualified to say
Rio lifts the same sus chord arpeggio pattern but it's over different changes in any case.

Rio is in E-minor (but modulates to A major in the bridge):

https://i.imgur.com/Kmn2MhO.png

the synth arpeggiation in Light In Darkness is a bit different from Rio's:

https://i.imgur.com/LzoGRB0.png

it's in F major and follows a different pattern.

excellent thank you.

so i kinda suck at reading staff notation (especially in the absence of an instrument) but it looks like the same chord voicing and the same rhythm if i’m not mistaken
and the thing that’s different is that the sequence of notes in Rio seems to be more “randomized”
just thinking of how arpeggiators work- couldn’t that randomization just be a function of the gear if they were trying to cop it.

like, you play that chord into the closest arpeggiator on your synth, this is what comes out?
it wasn’t necc meticulously programmed…

or “ranzomized” is prob the wrong word but it’s just a slightly more elaborate sequence than ‘up and then down’

Blimey! You're right the verse synths on Rio are minor and I never noticed that. Always just think of the triumphant chorus - and actually that makes me have a lot more respect for Duran Duran, that the minor-major modulation is so natural. But yeah, it really contributes to the sense of tension and release between verse and chorus!

I do think that the arrangement on the tracks is similar, but just not exactly the same. I think it's clear that Duran were heavily influenced by YMO and I did say that.

On the arpeggios themselves - I understand what you mean by 'randomising' - Duran's arpeggios sound very like the weird effect that the Roland Juno-6 used to do. I had one of these back in about 1987, and looking it up, it seems like Nick Rhodes used them extensively, too:

https://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/juno-6

My memory is that you would turn on the arpeggiator and hold down the notes you wanted in the arpeggio, and it would throw in the intervals in this strange, stepped way, like you're hearing on Rio. The composer didn't do the programming, it was just what the Roland would spit out. Mostly they were very cool sounding - but they often did have this interesting 'broken' quality. They weren't what a human playing an arpeggio would play. They were machine-dreamed arpeggios and could be quite weird in interesting ways.

I don't know what YMO used for their arpeggios, if they actually programmed them by hand or used the default?

Nick Rhodes used a Roland Jupiter-4 for "Rio". Its arpeggiator in "random" mode is indeed what you're hearing. (He acquired a Jupiter-8 during the recording of the album and used its random arpeggiation mode on "Hungry like the Wolf").
YMO's secret weapon was engineer/musician Hideki Matsutake. He was a master of Roland's early sequencers, the MC-8 and MC-4. The band hired him to program their sequences, e.g. "Light in Darkness" and "Behind the Mask". As an aside, he was the owner of the huge Oberheim 8-Voice synth that you can see Akiko Yano using in footage of early YMO live performances.

That would absolutely make sense - that the arpeggio on Rio is that Jupiter randomiser funtion, while Light In Darkness feels far more sequenced and programmed by a human. And it's also mindblowing to me, how fast the technology progressed in such a short period of time.

Here's my track-by-track:

Pure Jam (ジャム; "Jam") - what an incredible opener. I remember being gobsmacked by the sudden Beatle-y 3-part vocal harmonies the first time I played the album. But really it's about the playful interplay between all the whirling, interlocking rhythmic parts. The cycling doo-dawww doo-dawww sample versus the boo-bee-beep electronic bass. And then the little robot bleep-bloop way down in the right channel. How the melody switches between the synth and the vocals (and when the vocals come in, the synth goes to washes and filter sweeps). The surreal lyrics are so perfect - completely mundane and yet 'WTF' because who on earth thinks about the aesthetics of a slice of bread? (Little asides - in German? - coming through on a walkie talkie.) This is on my Short List, definitely!

Neue Tanz (新舞踊; "Shin buyou") - Based on the intro, I always think I don't really like this track, until the weird glass-organ sounding instrument comes in, in the background. That sound (glass harmonica? Neubauten's jet turbine is a similar tonal quality) It's good but it's not a contender for me

Stairs (階段; "Kaidan") - I love the disquieting, off-balance feeling of the metronomic drums versus the slightly off beat samples (tapping in the right, swishing in the left) - it's such a testament to Takahashi that he can be MORE metronomic than the machines? The ominous piano riff in the bass register! The queasy synth pads, wow, so atmospheric! And then suddenly a soft, smooth, classic jazzy piano interlude for no reason - before back to the ominous rolling and swelling. The whole album has a very 'first canto of Dante' feeling - of being lost in a dark wood, but eventually finding a light to guide you out of it. The claustrophobic crowded feeling of this track shows exactly what the album is about escaping.

Seoul Music (京城音楽; "Keijou ongaku") - wow such perfect track sequencing on this album, how 2, 3 and 4 slide directly into one another without me even noticing. I love the 'fuku, fuku, fuku' sample. And the Beatles-y harmonies again, so gorgeous! The interweaving of samples of human exclamations with the very distant-sounding, 'tourist observing' tone of the main vocals is fascinating.

Light in Darkness (灯; "Tomoshibi") - this is rapidly becoming my favourite, for all the reasons discussed above. That amazing arpeggiated sequence. The elegiac, stately string pads. The deep, dark depth charges at the end of each string pad. The funky, funky bassline, drizzled over that tightest of drums. (Again, Takahashi being more of a machine than the machines.) The cycling, bird-call whistle that flies over the track about 1:35 like a seagull catching a breeze - or a guide out of the deep darkness of the previous tracks. There's a sense of clouds lifting on this track, despite the minor tone - light breaking through the clouds. It feels like forward movement, after all the endless static cycling.

Taiso (体操; "Taisō") - here we go! Get up! Move about! Fight that depression! Do your daily exercise, get your steps in. It's so uncharacteristically upbeat for this album, which makes it all the more powerful. That jaunty piano! That marching bassline! The cheerleading exhortations through a bullhorn! In the hands of any other band, this could be so cheesy. But YMO *commit to the bit* so thoroughly. It's such a simple track: piano, bass, drums and a few drifting pads. It's not something I can intellectualise in the way I do other songs. It just works in a way that is so sunshine and delight, despite the slightly pisstaking jokiness

Gradated Grey (灰色の段階; "Grey no dankai") - this song took so long to grow on me, it's far more subtle than the joyful bombast of the single just before it. Again, the track sequence on this album is so perfect - this is like a relapse. Feeling the grey mood sweeping back in after you thought you escaped it. But the reassuring single blasts of the horn-like synth like a fog-horn keeping you from the rocks. The ghost of a bassline. The snatches of melody in the background like a radio playing in another room. The frog/burp noise! After he sings 'back in the tunnel again' the weird distorted noise that comes sliding across the back of the track. The mantra-like chanting of 'every minute, every second'. Strong contender here.

Key (手掛かり; "Tegakari") - this is probably tied with Light In Darkness at the moment. The insistence of that bubbling tremolo synth. Again, with the foghorn blasts! So good! And I love the lyrics - the back and forth between the narrator and the Greek Chorus. They don't feel like external voices, they feel like something inside the narrator's mind, capturing perfectly the internal mental dialogue. The little break after the 'very frightening' line. The bink-gink-gonk metallic sounds giving way to blasts of steam and electric chattering like the inside of some vast machine. This is what I imagine playing a videogame probably sounds like? That sensation of doing quests and running through dark tunnels with odd easter eggs lurking around corners. There's just a perfect synthesis between words and sounds. Fighting your fear and outracing the depression that has been dogging you to grasp for a dream.

Prologue (前奏; "Zensou") / Epilogue (後奏; "Kousou") - I love these little cinematic interludes, machine samples and all. The titles make me wonder if they were originally composed to bookend the album? (B-T did that a lot.) Epilogue in particular is just stately and elegiac and so peaceful. This is the kind of nostalgic, haunting melody that B-T would probably describe as very 'early Showa Era'. Perfect ending to a perfect album, leaving it on this faintly bittersweet note.

So I've narrowed it down to Light In Darkness vs Key (with Pure Jam, Key and Gradated Grey all coming in close behind) but cannot choose between those two

OK I voted

I loved reading those, Ether! Not sure mine could compare.

I do at least want to wax poetic about the lyrics of Key, but my daughter's recovering from a stomach bug that seems to have hopped on over to me so mostly right now I just want to vomit

But reading your descriptions was a panacea and I will probably enjoy revisiting them when healthy too

Oh I'm sorry to hear you're ill, and glad I could provide some distraction. Hope you can come to a decision when you've recoverd a bit

Thanks Ether! Still feeling like Hosono in India, hahaha. -- There's really no turning back, is there? Even my illnesses get subsumed in the legends and tales of the Hosonoverse

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

What!!!!!!

Here we go!!!

Prediction: Taiso will not win.

However, I cannot guess what will.

― TheNuNuNu, Monday, June 16, 2025 5:23 PM (two weeks ago)

Well, that was a thrilling reveal!

I blame Thurston Moore TBH!

Now I wish I’d voted for Pure Jam. But still. I’m happy with the results.

Going to have a think what to poll next!

(I might try to drag people into polling a B-T album if I can)

I was originally set to vote for "Seoul Music" but paying new attention to the album swayed me to "Gradated Grey".

Was sure I voted for ‘Seoul Music’ - oh well. That was my main way into YMO world. I’m slightly more disturbed that I can’t find my copy of ‘Technodelic’ in my fairly well alphabetised collection. Ouch!

(I might try to drag people into polling a B-T album if I can)

Doooooo itttttttt

But not 'til autumn. I won't have much time for exploring new stuff before then, at least not the way I'd like to

I might slip some other chestnut in while you think, Ether... let's see who ninjas their way into New Questions first

Looks like I was the only one who voted for Pure Jam!

The next YMO album I wanted to do was Technodon but I think ILM might be YMO-ed out for a while. Will pick that one up later.

I'm trying to think which B-T album or Softba album would be a good intro for people who haven't heard much before. But the problem is, for both bands, my favourite album is one of the weird, tricky, less popular back catalogue rather than the crowd-pleasers.

But it's really about picking an enticing poll title, hmmm...

ILM? YMO-ed out? I don't believe it!

the right song won :)

surprised only one vote for Pure Jam though, I thought that was gonna walk it.

Technodon would be an interesting one. I have no clue what would win.

I was originally going to vote for Pure Jam but all the Light In Darkness / Duran Duran talk on this thread changed my mind!