TECHNODELIC

"Technodelic" is maybe the last good album by YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA. It features mostly very original and unique compositions, but also some strange and rather lazy moments. Away from the band's first acts in the vein of a joyful KRAFTWERK, the music is much more cold wave oriented, with a Japanese feel and experimental soundscapes...

The record opens with the enchanting "Pure Jam", an enjoyable kind of ambient-electronic- oriental song. "Neue Tanz" and Stairs begin well, but both become a bit repetitive. It goes better with the curious percussions of "Seoul Music", the trippy piano of "Light in Darkness" and the catchy vocals of "Taiso". The next track, "Gradated Gray", is very strange and difficult to enter into. Then comes the highlight song of the disc, "Key", a catchy and icy tune. Very unique and efficient, this shirt tune is deep and mystical! The album concludes with the atmospherical instrumental "Prologue" and "Epilogue", very relaxing and floating.

With this release, the Japanese band offers unbelievable magic soundscapes. Even more surprising when knowing the 70's songs from the same band. "Technodelic" is definitely apart from other electronic and synth pop acts. A true trip into an unknown temple, full of mysteries and strange corridors. Recommended for ambient/electro music lovers!

The intro tune 'Pure Jam' sounds remarkably similar to the Sylvian / Sakamoto ep. 'Bamboo Music' - but with vocals which are almost identical to Steve Strange from 'Visage'. This is an excellent, mostly electronic upbeat album that runs parallel with 'Japan's' - 'Tin Drum' - but is more synthetic in sound and has a heavy reliance on a handmade Sampler, which gives it a lot of vibrancy. I'm sure there's bits of Gamelan in there.

'Light in Darkness' begins off sounding like the intro to 'Rio' by Duran Duran - but in a far cooler way - before lurching off with Sakamoto's airy keyboards which create a memorable instrumental tune.

Everything sounds ahead of its time for 1981. It's true that they're sometimes compared with Kraftwerk - but they're more lively and less robotic. Full of catchy tunes, with particular praise going to Sakamoto with his superbly played 'Prophet' keyboard.

Not recommended to Prog fans, but a big thumbs up if you're into New Romantic New Wave (which I've always had a soft spot for).

I've been listening to this trying to cheer myself up during the unfolding tragic events in Japan. Unhappily, this doesn't help, and it's no fault of 'Technodelic' - which on any other day I'd be shouting it's praise from the rooftops.

Music is just music. It feels a waste of time even writing a review for an album at the moment. My mind keeps wandering to more important things. One thing's for sure, the Japanese have gone right up in my estimations with the way they've comported themselves during this calamity. Civilised, ordered, polite and calm. Now, if this happened in Britain, there'd be looting and unruly behaviour everywhere. Guaranteed...

Famed for its pioneering use of samples and loops to construct music years before it became a commonplace practice, Yellow Magic Orchestra's fifth album, Technodelic sounds amazingly ahead of its time, with some sections that sound like they could have come out on the latest album by M83 or some other electronically-inclined indie/post-rock act instead of a thirty year old album. With a catchy, compelling beat and a faster pace than a lot of other electronic music at the time, it's no surprise that as well as being a synthpop/electro-rock classic the album would also exert a significance influence over the dance music scene.