TeslaGuy's YouTube Trove

[TeslaGuy]

A 1983 concert by my favorite Japanese band forever. Their Wikipedia entry pasted below.

Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) is a Japanese electropop band, formed in 1978. They were ranked No.2 in a list of Japan's top 100 musicians by HMV. [1]
The band is renowned as having pioneered the Synthpop and Electropop music genres, along with Germany's Kraftwerk. The principal members are Haruomi "Harry" Hosono (bass, keyboards), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums and percussion, lead vocals) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards).


Formation & early years

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.
Sakamoto first worked with Hosono as a member of his live band in 1976, while Takahashi recruited Sakamoto to produce his debut solo recording in '77 following the split of the Sadistic Mika Band. Hosono invited both to work on his exotica flavoured album "Paraiso", followed by electronic material for the anthology collection "Pacific". Following the release of the debut "Yellow Magic Orchestra" a live date at the Roppongi Pit Inn was seen by executives of A&M Records of the USA who were in the process of setting up a partnership deal with Alfa Records. This led to the Y.M.O. being offered an international deal, at which point (early 1979) the three members decided the group would be given priority over their solo careers.

Success and breakup

An advertising deal with Fuji Tapes and the group sparked off a boom in the popularity of electronic pop music (called "Technopop" in Japan) that had an impact similar to that of The Beatles and Merseybeat in 1960s Britain. A testament to the influence of Y.M.O. on fashion is how many middle aged Japanese businessmen still have the "Techno cut" haircut, modeled after the group.
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 as a group in 1984, after the release of their motion picture "Propaganda", the three members returning to their solo careers. The group were careful to avoid saying they had "split up", preferring to use the Japanese phrase meaning "spreading out", and in fact the trio continued to play on each other's recordings and made guest appearances at live shows. Takahashi, in particular, would play Y.M.O. material in his concerts and as "lead singer" was arguably best placed to do so. They released a one-off reunion album, Technodon, in 1993.

Post-breakup

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 group Human Audio Sponge when he participates. Barcelona performance at Sonar festival and Wild Sketch Show DVDs chronicle these reunions, and include a tongue-in-cheek Japanese text only history of the group that spans to 2036.
The band have reunited in 2007 for an advertising campaign for Kirin which lampoons their longevity and charted No.1 on various Japanese digital download charts (including iTunes Store chart) with the song "Rydeen 79/07", released on Sakamoto's new label commmons.
Recently performing live as Human Audio Sponge; Hosono, Sakamoto and Takahashi did a live performance together as Yellow Magic Orchestra for the Live Earth, Kyoto event on July 7 2007, which raised money and awareness of a 'climate in crisis'.
In August 2007, the band once again reformed, taking the name HASYMO, combining the names of Human Audio Sponge and Yellow Magic Orchestra. Their first single under this name, “Rescue,” was written for the film Appleseed EX Machina.
YMO will be playing two lives in Europe this summer, one at the Royal Festival Hall, London on 15 June 2008 as part of the Meltdown festival of music this year curated by Massive Attack and another on in Gijon, Spain.

YMO - Live At Nippon Budokan, Tokyo 22nd Dec '83 - Part 1

YMO - Live At Nippon Budokan, Tokyo 22nd Dec '83 - Part 2

YMO - Live At Nippon Budokan, Tokyo 22nd Dec '83 - Part 3

YMO - Live At Nippon Budokan, Tokyo 22nd Dec '83 - Part 4

YMO - Live At Nippon Budokan, Tokyo 22nd Dec '83 - Part 5

YMO - Live At Nippon Budokan, Tokyo 22nd Dec '83 - Part 6

YMO - Live At Nippon Budokan, Tokyo 22nd Dec '83 - Part 7

Special bonus video!

YMO Performing On Soul Train

[TeslaGuy]

I've been listening for the last couple of days to a group that is described in it's wiki as a "three-person unit." Need to immerse myself in something real...organic...visceral for a little while.

First a nice brisk splash of King Crimson, live on the TV show Fridays in 1981. Off of Discipline, the first album from the second incarnation of the band.

King Crimson - Elephant Talk

And now to mellow out with a cool video from Donald Fagen's second solo album, 1993's Kamakiriad. The other half of Steely Dan, Walter Becker, produced this album, and this song was essentially a Steely Dan song, the first in 12 years. The album's title comes from the concept that it describes the journey of the narrator in his high-tech car, the Kamakirii (Japanese for praying mantis.)

Donald Fagen - Snowbound

Pick the tempo up a bit with a smooth track from Steely Dan's 2003 album Everything Must Go. By that year the two had been writing great songs for 30 years. God, I love these guys.

Steely Dan - Pixeleen

Segue to another band that lasted a long time and wrote so many great songs. From 1992's Nonesuch album.

XTC - The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead

We'll end with XTC's alter ego, The Dukes of Stratosphear, channeling John Lennon. The "band" was supposed to just be a brief diversion, but the EP 25 O'Clock was so popular that it was followed up by the longer album Psonic Psunspot.

The Dukes Of Stratosphear - The Mole From The Ministry

[Tokyo Jihad]

yyyeeaaahh, Steely Dan!
Tesla and I are kindred spirits apparently =p

[digdad]

There is something about this one thread that just locks up YouTube for me. The videos appear to load, but there is never audio and the videos play for exactly 2 seconds before just stopping. All YouTube videos will then continue to have the same issue (whether in this thread, another thread, or in a new tab at any other site) until I close and then restart Firefox. The problem occurs just from viewing this thread--I don't even have to try to play one of the embedded videos first. In order for me to watch any of these videos, many of which I would love to, I have to search for them within YouTube after restarting Firefox.

[TeslaGuy]

That's a real drag, digdad. Since we are from the same era, I imagine my posts would interest you more than they do the younger members. I suppose it must have something to do with the multiple videos on these pages.

[TeslaGuy]

I posted a YMO concert quite recently, but am going to do so again today because I came across an amazing concert on YouTube recently, and watched the whole thing again today, mesmerized.
1981 was YMO's experimental exploratory peak, the year that they released my favorite two albums, BGM and Technodelic. This atmospheric December 1981 concert is just about perfect. If I could choose one concert by one Japanese band to see live, it will forever be this one. I hope someone enjoys it.

YMO - Complete 'Winter Live '81' - Part 1

YMO - Complete 'Winter Live '81' - Part 2

YMO - Complete 'Winter Live '81' - Part 3

YMO - Complete 'Winter Live '81' - Part 4

YMO - Complete 'Winter Live '81' - Part 5

YMO - Complete 'Winter Live '81' - Part 6

YMO - Complete 'Winter Live '81' - Part 7

YMO - Complete 'Winter Live '81' - Part 8

[digdad]

Originally Posted by TeslaGuy

That's a real drag, digdad. Since we are from the same era, I imagine my posts would interest you more than they do the younger members. I suppose it must have something to do with the multiple videos on these pages.

I just tried these on my work computer and they work fine here. It's just something about my home computer that won't play videos from this particular thread (but other threads with multiple videos work fine).

Since it's working here though, I thought I would add one of my favorite Dukes of Stratosphere songs:

Dukes of Stratosphere - You're A Good Man Albert Brown

[TeslaGuy]

Akiko Yano. Bio from her web site:

Akiko Yano is one of the most famous people you've never heard of. She has recorded with many of the world's greatest musicians and has been a major star in Japan since she was 21.

Born in Tokyo and raised in Aomori, Japan, Akiko started playing piano at the age of three and quit school in her teens when she ascended to the top ranks of Japan's studio musicians as a pianist and synthesizer player. At 21, she released "Japanese Girl" -- her first CD, largely recorded in Los Angeles with her fans Lowell George and Little Feat.

She then began collaborating with Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), who played on her next recordings, and joined them on their worldwide tours. Akiko expanded her musical collaborations with YMO on her subsequent CDs and she married YMO's Ryuichi Sakamoto in 1982 (they divorced in 2006).

Akiko has continued to collaborate with some of the world's most renowned musicians: Thomas Dolby, Pat Metheny and The Chieftains -- (whose CDs include Akiko's songs and vocals), singing in both Japanese and English. She has also composed the music for the film "My Neighbors the Yamadas" by the famed Studio Ghibli animation studio as well as for Toei's animated feature "Atashin'chi." In 2005, she composed the piano-based soundtrack for the film "Tagatameni."

Akiko has toured Europe extensively, performing at concerts including The Montreux Jazz Festival, Cafe de la Danse, and Cite de la Musique in Paris, and in London where she sold out a week of special concerts at Pizza Express in 2002. In the U.S., she has performed in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, and of course, New York City, where she periodically plays sold-out concerts throughout the year at the famous Joe's pub at the New York Public Theater.

In recent years, she has appeared at Blue Note New York as a guest performer for Janis Siegel in January 2004, and performed as part of a trio in concerts at the Blue Note Tokyo in 2004 to 2006 (bass: Anthony Jackson, drums: Cliff Almond). Akiko also appeared at the 2005 Brooklyn Sakura Matsuri. Akiko's official fan club called "the gathering," was also established in 2005, capping off a very productive year. Moreover, in addition to performing in her annual "Satogaeru Concert" in Japan, in 2006, Akiko appeared at major outdoor concerts such as the Fuji Rock Festival, Rock in Japan Festival, and Rising Sun Rock Festival.

Akiko has released 26 original albums to date (three released in the U.S.). In 2004, she released an original album "Honto no Kimochi." In 2006 she had a string of releases, such as the single "Presto," mini-album "Hajimete no Yano Akiko," which was a 30th anniversary album made in collaboration with famous guest artists, and a greatest hits album "Imamadeno Yano Akiko."

Akiko has also been actively branching out into other creative fields, starting in 2005 with her Japanese translation of a children's picture storybook called "Fireboat" (author: Maira Kalman). In 2006, Akiko also performed the sound effects using only her voice for two short films by animation director Hayao Miyazaki, "Yadosagashi" and "Mizugumo monmon," which were shown at the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo.

She has lived in the U.S. since 1990 and now resides in a loft in Lower Manhattan.


I'm going to start off with an amazing track from 2006, and then jump back to her early years and move forward.

Akiko Yano - ばらの花

Akiko Yano - Harusakikobeni

Ryuichi Sakamoto / Akiko Yano - Tong Poo

Akiko Yano - How To Catch A Cold

Akiko Yano - Watching You

Akiko Yano - Presto

Haruomi Hosono & Akiko Yano - Owari No Kisetsu

Akiko Yano - ひとつだけ

Akiko Yano - New Album Promo

[TeslaGuy]

Its been quite a while since I posted anything here. Thought I'd add some Japanese stuff that doesn't fall under the J-pop/J-rock umbrella.

Susumu Yokota - RE

Susumu Yokota - Card Nation

Susumu Yokota

Yoshiteru Himeru - Tenjin (Chillin Remix)

Toshiteru Himeru - spen za nite wiz dis sit

Nobukazu Takemura - Lost Treasure

Nobukazu Takemura - Searching

Nobukazu Takemura - Sign

[Tokyo Jihad]

Have you heard Susumu Yokota's cover of "Golden Years"?