Technodelic

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Technodelic
File:YMOtechnodelic.JPG
Studio album by Yellow Magic Orchestra
Released November 21, 1981
Recorded March 21 – October 13, 1981
Studio Alfa Studio "A", Shibaura, Minato, Tokyo
Genre
Length 43:29
Label Alfa
Producer
Yellow Magic Orchestra chronology
BGM
(1981)BGM1981		 Technodelic
(1981)		 Naughty Boys
(1983)Naughty Boys1983
Singles from Technodelic
  1. "Pure Jam"
    Released: 1982
  2. "Taiso"
    Released: 1982
Alternative cover
The first press (1981)
The first press (1981)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4/5 stars[1]

Technodelic is the fifth studio album by Yellow Magic Orchestra, released in 1981. The album is notable for its experimental and heavy use of samplers which were not commonly used until the mid-to-late 1980s, resulting in a more minimalist sound compared to their previous work.

It is considered the first released album to feature mostly samples and loops, influencing the heavy use of sampling and looping in popular music.[2] Yellow Magic Orchestra's approach to sampling music was a precursor to the contemporary approach of constructing music by cutting fragments of sounds and looping them using computer technology.[3]

Production

Most of the sampling was made with an LMD-649 - a hand-made sampler developed by Toshiba-EMI engineer Kenji Murata, and a much cheaper alternative to the Linn LM-1 drum machine and Fairlight CMI sampling synthesizer available at the time. Notable samples used include Indonesian kecak chanting (Neue Tanz), gamelan and short looped vocals ("paa", "fuku", "chiki") for percussion in "Seoul Music," and the final two tracks feature factory noises. The album also features use of speech through a two-way radio, a prepared piano, Prophet-5 synthesizers, and a TR-808 drum machine. In another departure from previous albums, Haruomi Hosono has a more prominent role playing the bass guitar as opposed to playing bass lines on synthesizers (this trend appears again on the album Service).

As with many of YMO's releases, song titles are printed in both Japanese and English. For "Seoul Music", the kanji "京城" are used, referring to Gyeongseong (경성; known as Keijou in Japan), the name of Seoul when Korea was under Japanese rule. "灯" simply translates to "Light". "Neue Tanz" is German for "New Dance", while "Taisō" is Japanese for "gymnastics" or "calisthenics".

Track listing

Side one
No. Title Lyrics Music Length
1. "Pure Jam" (ジャム; "Jam") Yukihiro Takahashi
Peter Barakan		 Takahashi 4:30
2. "Neue Tanz" (新舞踊; "Shin buyou") Yellow Magic Orchestra YMO 4:58
3. "Stairs" (階段; "Kaidan") Takahashi, Barakan Takahashi 4:14
4. "Seoul Music" (京城音楽; "Keijou ongaku") Ryuichi Sakamoto, Takahashi, Barakan Sakamoto, Takahashi 4:46
5. "Light in Darkness" (灯; "Tomoshibi")   Takahashi, Sakamoto 3:40
Side two
No. Title Lyrics Music Length
1. "Taiso" (体操; "Taisō") YMO YMO 4:21
2. "Graduated Grey" (灰色（グレイ）の段階; "Grey no dankai") Haruomi Hosono Hosono 5:33
3. "Key" (手掛かり; "Tegakari") Hosono, Takahashi, Barakan Hosono, Takahashi 4:32
4. "Prologue" (前奏; "Zensou")   Sakamoto 2:31
5. "Epilogue" (後奏; "Kousou")   Sakamoto 4:21

Personnel

Yellow Magic Orchestra - Arrangements, Electronics, Sampler, Mixing engineers, Producers
Guest musicians
Staff

Notes

  1. ↑ AllMusic review
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

References

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