Analog or analogue may refer to:
bs:Analogija (čvor) ca:Analògic cs:Analogie (rozcestník) de:Analogie es:Analógico fr:Analogue id:Analog nl:Analogie ja:アナログ (曖昧さ回避) pt:Analógico stq:Analog simple:Analog sl:Analogno sr:Analog su:Analog sv:Analogi th:แอนะล็อก tr:Analog
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name | Aphex Twin |
---|---|
landscape | yes |
background | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
birth name | Richard David James |
born | August 18, 1971 Limerick, Ireland |
origin | Lanner, Cornwall, United Kingdom |
genre | Electronic |
instrument | Synthesizer, piano, electronics, laptop, softsynth, turntables, drum machine, computer, sampler |
occupation | Musician, composer, remixer |
years active | 1985-present |
associated acts | Universal Indicator, Mike & Rich |
website | }} |
Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), best known under the pseudonym Aphex Twin, is an electronic musician and composer described as "the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music". He founded the record label Rephlex Records in 1991 with Grant Wilson-Claridge.
Aphex Twin has also recorded music under the aliases AFX, Blue Calx, Bradley Strider, Caustic Window, DJ Smojphace, GAK, Martin Tressider, Polygon Window, Power-Pill, Prichard D. Jams, Q-Chastic, Tahnaiya Russell, The Dice Man, Soit-P.P., and speculatively The Tuss.
Aphex Twin has released albums on Rephlex, Warp, R&S;, Sire, Mighty Force, Rabbit City, and Men Records.
According to musician Benjamin Middleton, James started producing music at the age of 12. As a teenager he was a disc jockey at the Shire Horse Inn in St Ives, with Tom Middleton at the Bowgie Inn in Crantock, and also along the numerous beaches around Cornwall. James studied for a National Diploma in Engineering from 1988 to 1990 (aged 16 to 18) at Cornwall College. Talking about his studies, James has said that "music and electronics went hand in hand." James graduated from college; according to an engineering lecturer, however, he often had his headphones on during practical lessons, "no doubt thinking through the mixes he'd be working on later".
James' first release was the 12-inch EP ''Analogue Bubblebath'' on Mighty Force Records in 1991. It was first released under the moniker Aphex Twin, later changed to AFX. The track "En Trance to Exit" was made in collaboration with Tom Middleton, also known as Schizophrenia. The EP got on the playlist of Kiss FM, an influential London radio station, which helped the release to become a success.
In 1991, James and Wilson-Claridge founded Rephlex Records to promote "innovation in the dynamics of Acid — a much-loved and -misunderstood genre of house music forgotten by some and indeed new to others, especially in Britain."
Between 1991 and 1993, James released two ''Analogue Bubblebath'' EPs as AFX, and an EP under Bradley Strider, ''Bradley's Beat''. James moved to London to take an electronics course at Kingston Polytechnic, but at the time admitted to David Toop that his "electronics studies were already slipping away as a career in the techno business took precedence." After quitting his course, James remained in London and released a number of albums and EPs on Warp Records and other labels under many aliases including AFX, Polygon Window, and Power-Pill. A number of James' tracks (released under the aliases Blue Calx, The Dice Man, and others) appeared on various compilations. Local legend has it that James lived on the roundabout in Elephant and Castle, South London during his early years in the capital - in fact he lived in a nearby disused bank.
The first full-length Aphex Twin album, ''Selected Ambient Works 85–92'', was released in 1992 on R&S; Records. It received high ratings and praise from critics. John Bush of Allmusic described it as a "watershed of ambient music". In 2002, ''Rolling Stone'' wrote of the album: "Aphex Twin expanded way beyond the ambient music of Brian Eno by fusing lush soundscapes with oceanic beats and bass lines." Pitchfork Media's review called it, "among the most interesting music ever created with a keyboard and a computer." Critics also noted that the songs were recorded on cassette and that the sound quality was "relatively poor".
In 1992, he also released the EPs ''Xylem Tube EP'' and ''Digeridoo'' (first played by DJ Colin Faver on London's Kiss FM) as Aphex Twin, as Power-Pill the ''Pac-Man EP'' based on the arcade game ''Pac-Man'', and two of his four Caustic Window EPs. "Digeridoo" reached #55 in the UK Singles Chart, and was later described as foreshadowing drum and bass by ''Rolling Stone''. "Digeridoo" was recorded initially for the benefit of FIZZ-BOMB (at the Shire Horse, St Ives, Cornwall). These early releases came out on Rephlex Records, Mighty Force of Exeter, and R&S; Records of Belgium.
In 1993, James released ''Analogue Bubblebath 3''. He also released a single titled "On"; his second Bradley Strider EP, ''Bradley's Robot''; two more Caustic Window EPs; and his first releases on Warp Records, ''Surfing on Sine Waves'' and "Quoth" under the alias Polygon Window.
Warp Records pressed and released a follow-up to ''Selected Ambient Works 85-92'', ''Selected Ambient Works Volume II'' in 1994. The sound was much less beat and melody-driven than the previous volume. All of the track names were described with pie chart symbols, each of which was meant to be paired with a corresponding image in the album jacket, with exception for one song, which was named "Blue Calx". To decipher song titles, listeners had to compare the length of each track with the size of each pie chart symbol. For example, the first title, which is often labelled ''cliffs'', is realised by pairing the first symbol with the first image, which is that of a rocky cliffside. James claimed in ''The Wire'' magazine and other media that these songs were inspired by lucid dreams and synaesthesia. Other releases are a fourth ''Analogue Bubblebath''; ''GAK'', derived from early demos sent to Warp Records; and ''Classics'', a compilation album that includes "Digeridoo" and the ''Xylem Tube EP''.
For his 1995 release, ''...I Care Because You Do'', James used an image of his face for the album cover, a motif that would continue on many of his later records. The album was a compilation of songs composed between 1990 and 1994 and represented a mish-mash of Aphex Twin's various music styles. This was James's last record of the 1990s to use mostly analogue synthesizers. He commissioned Western classical-music composer Philip Glass to create an orchestral version of one of the songs from this album, "Icct Hedral", which appeared on the ''Donkey Rhubarb'' EP.
James's early adoption of software synthesizers predated the later popularity of using computers to make music. In the mid-to-late 1990s, his music became more popular and mainstream, as he released ''Richard D. James Album'' and ''Expert Knob Twiddlers'' (a collaboration with fellow dance producer µ-ziq) in 1996, "Come to Daddy" in 1997 (#36 on UK charts) and "Windowlicker" in 1999 (#16 on UK charts). Two pop songs that heavily use Digital Signal Processing (DSP) techniques, "Come to Daddy" and "Windowlicker" were shown on MTV and became cover features for music magazines such as ''NME''. The videos for both singles were directed by British artist Chris Cunningham and caused controversy on release because of their disturbing images and themes.
In 1998, Aphex Twin's track "[rhubarb]" (from ''Selected Ambient Works Volume II'') appeared as part of the BBC's digital widescreen test transmission, which was on loop for many months as the service was introduced across the UK.
James was meticulous about the whole process of recording, mastering, and pressing. James has said Rephlex Records was strict on quality control, trying out various pressing-plant companies until they felt it sounded perfect. To James's ears, vinyl or tape is better than digital, as no two copies are the same. However, label co-owner Grant Wilson-Claridge convinced James to release a CD compilation, ''Chosen Lords'', which included 10 selected tracks from the ''Analord'' series. For the ''Analord'' series James used his collection of vintage synthesizer and drum machines, some of which were quite rare by that time. Some of the record inserts have pictures of rare synthesizers like the Synton Fenix, and the notoriously difficult-to-program Roland MC-4 sequencer, as well as the legendary Roland TB-303.
Media reports indicate Aphex Twin is now recording under The Tuss. Rephlex Records has denied that Aphex Twin is The Tuss, but Aphex Twin fans and the media have ignored Rephlex's denial and The Tuss is treated as yet another Aphex Twin project; further evidence being provided by the fact that all Tuss tracks are published in the BMI Repertoire under the name JAMES RICHARD DAVID.
In March 2009 Steve Beckett of Warp Records announced a new album for a possible release. As of May 2011, no new album was released, however, 20 more tracks were added to the ''Analord'' series in December 2009, only available through download from the Rephlex Records website.
In an October 2010 interview with British magazine Another Man, James stated that he had completed 6 albums, one of which was a remake of the unreleased ''Melodies from Mars'', originally produced around the time of ''Richard D. James Album''.
James has used his own photography for some of his releases, such as the elaborate album sleeve for ''Selected Ambient Works Volume II''.
Braindance applies to forward-thinking electronic music that can appeal to the mind as well as the desire to dance and party. Examples including Ed-DMX's Breakin' records label, µ-ziq's Planet-mu label, the Aphex Twin EP ''Come to Daddy'' and ''Astrobotnia Parts 1, 2 & 3''.
In acknowledgment of another influence, James released ''Music from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop'', a compilation of music recorded by the pioneers of BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which included artists such as Delia Derbyshire, on his own label, Rephlex Records.
Many songs include sounds from and references to the ZX Spectrum. For instance, "Carn Marth" from ''Richard D. James Album'' includes the tape-loading noise of the game ''Sabre Wulf''.
Aphex Twin refers to his own breakbeat tracks as breakbeat, jungle, or drum and bass interchangeably. Other genres that he indulges in include acid, ambient, ambient techno, noise, and many more.
! Synth | ! Synth | ! Drum Machine | ! Sampler | ! Sequencer | ! Software | ! Effects |
Roland SH-101 | Yamaha DX 1 | Roland TR-606 | Casio SK-1 | Roland MC-4 Microcomposer | Reaktor | Alesis Quadraverb |
Roland TB-303 | EMS synthi 100 | Roland TR-808 | Atari ST | ReCycle | ||
Yamaha GX1 | Elka Synthex | Roland TR-909 | Casio FZ 10 | Cubase | Metasynth | |
Synton Fenix | Roland Paraphonic 505 | Roland TR-707 | Roland SP-808 | Apple Mac | ||
Roland MKS-80 | 3 Korg MS-20's | Roland TR-727 | ||||
Roland 100m | Yamaha CS 5 | SuperCollider |
During an interview with Future Music, Richard said he likes using Ableton Live but prefers Liveslice for beat editing/stretching. Asked what equipment did use, he responded "Raveolution 309, the Raven Max, MC-909 limited edition, Quasimidi Van Helden, MAM Freebass 383, Roland DJ-70, E-15, SP-808, Akai S3200, Behringer MX602A and all the Behringer effects that copy other things."
James said he composed ambient techno music at the age of 13; he claims to have "over 100 hours" of unreleased music, and to have made his own software to compose with, including algorithmic processes that automatically generate beats and melodies; in addition he claims to experience synaesthesia, and that he is able to incorporate lucid dreaming into the process of making music.
He lives in southeast London in a converted bank, which was formerly the Bank of Cyprus and then HSBC. Contrary to popular opinion, however, he does not own the silver structure in the centre of the roundabout at Elephant and Castle. This is, in fact, the Michael Faraday Memorial, containing a power transformer for the Northern Line, which James jokingly claimed to be buying in an interview with ''The Face'' magazine in 2001. Some of these rumours are hard to confirm as he has been known to spread mistruths in the prankster tradition, making such claims as only sleeping two to three hours a night.
Stockhausen commented:
Aphex Twin, a fan of Stockhausen, responded: }}
When I was 11, I won 50 pounds in a competition for writing this program that made sound on a ZX81. You couldn't make sound on a ZX81, but I played around with machine code and found some codes that retuned the TV signal so that it made this really weird noise when you turned the volume up.
Category:1971 births Category:Ambient musicians Category:Braindance musicians Category:British electronic musicians Category:British experimental musicians Category:British techno musicians Category:English people of Welsh descent Category:Intelligent dance music musicians Category:Living people Category:People from Cornwall Category:People from County Limerick Category:Sire Records artists Category:Remixers Category:Warp Records artists Category:TVT Records artists Category:People with synesthesia
ca:Aphex Twin cs:Aphex Twin da:Aphex Twin de:Aphex Twin et:Aphex Twin es:Aphex Twin eu:Aphex Twin fr:Aphex Twin ko:에이펙스 트윈 is:Aphex Twin it:Richard David James he:אפקס טווין lv:Aphex Twin lt:Aphex Twin hu:Aphex Twin nl:Aphex Twin ja:エイフェックス・ツイン no:Aphex Twin pl:Aphex Twin pt:Aphex Twin ro:Aphex Twin ru:Aphex Twin sq:Aphex Twin simple:Aphex Twin sk:Richard David James fi:Richard D. James sv:Aphex Twin th:เอเฟ็กซ์ ทวินThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
name | Yellow Magic Orchestra |
---|---|
background | group_or_band |
alias | Yellow Magic Band, YMO, |
origin | Tokyo, Japan |
genre | Electronic (dance, electro, house, rock, techno), Experimental (art rock, avant‑garde), J‑pop, New Wave, Synthpop, World (Asian, exotica) |
years active | 1977-1983, 1992–1993, 2002–2004, 2007–present |
label | Alfa Records (Japan)A&M; RecordsToshiba-EMIRestless RecordsSony Music House (Japan)Commmons (Japan) |
current members | Haruomi "Harry" HosonoYukihiro TakahashiRyuichi Sakamoto |
past members | Hideki Matsutake |
notable instruments | }} |
They are often considered influential innovators in the field of popular electronic music. They helped pioneer synthpop and ambient house, helped usher in electronica, anticipated the beats and sounds of electro music, laid the foundations for contemporary J-pop, and contributed to the development of house, techno, and hip hop. More broadly, their influence is evident across many genres of popular music, including electronic dance, ambient music, chiptune, game music, pop, rock, and melodic music.
Prior to the group's formation, Sakamoto had been experimenting with electronic music equipment at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, which he entered in 1970, including synthesizers such as the Buchla, Moog, and ARP. At around the same time, Hosono had been involved in the recording of several early electronic rock records, including Inoue Yousui's folk pop rock album ''Ice World'' (1973) and Osamu Kitajima's progressive psychedelic rock album ''Benzaiten'' (1974), both of which utilized synthesizers, electric guitars, electric bass, and in the latter, electronic drums and rhythm machines.
Also around the same time, the band's future "fourth member" Hideki Matsutake was the assistant for the internationally successful electronic musician Isao Tomita. Much of the methods and techniques developed by both Tomita and Matsutake during the early 1970s would later be employed by Yellow Magic Orchestra. Other early influences on the band included Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder. The former was particularly an influence on Sakamoto, who heard the band in the mid-1970s and later introduced them to his fellow band members. They were impressed with Kraftwerk's "very formalized" style but wanted to avoid imitating their "very German" approach. According to Sakamoto, they were "tired" of Japanese musicians imitating Western and American music at the time and so they wanted to "make something very original from Japan." He described Kraftwerk's music as "theoretical, very focused, simple and minimal and strong," contrasting it with YMO's "very Japanese" approach of fusing many different styles of music like a "bento box." Their alternative template for electronic pop was less minimalistic, made more varying use of synthesizer lines, introduced "fun-loving and breezy" sounds, and placed a strong emphasis on melody.
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 1977 following the split of the Sadistic Mika Band. Hosono invited both to work on his exotica-flavoured album ''Paraiso'', which included electronic songs produced using various electronic equipment such as the Yamaha CS-80 polyphonic synthesizer, Roland and ARP Odyssey synthesizers, the Yamaha CP-30 and Rhodes electric pianos, and electric guitar. The band was named "Harry Hosono and the Yellow Magic Band" and in late 1977 they began recording ''Paraiso'', which was released in 1978. The three worked together again for the 1978 electronic album ''Pacific'', which included an early version of the song "Cosmic Surfin". Hosono and Sakamoto also worked together alongside Hideki Matsutake in early 1978 for Hosono's experimental "electro-exotica" fusion album ''Cochin Moon'', which fused electronic music with Indian music (reminiscent of Ravi Shankar and Bollywood music), including an early "synth raga" song "Hum Ghar Sajan". The same year, Sakamoto released his own solo album, ''The Thousand Knives of Ryuichi Sakamoto'', experimenting with a similar fusion between electronic music and traditional Japanese music in early 1978. Hosono also contributed to one of Sakamoto's songs, "Thousand Knives", in the album. ''Thousand Knives'' was also notable for its early use of the microprocessor-based Roland MC-8 Microcomposer music sequencer, with Matsutake as its music programmer for the album. Hosono, Sakamoto and Takahashi eventually collaborated again to form the Yellow Magic Orchestra and they began recording their self-titled album at a Shibaura studio in July 1978.
The band was initially 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 with modern electronics, as a subversion of Orientalism and exoticization, while exploring similar themes such as Asianness. The album would eventually be called ''Yellow Magic Orchestra'', as a satire of Japan's obsession with black magic at the time. The album featured the use of computer technology (along with synthesizers) which, according to ''Billboard'', allowed the group to create a new sound that was not possible until then.
The band's 1978 self-titled album ''Yellow Magic Orchestra'', 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. Following the release of the album ''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 YMO being offered an international deal, at which point (early 1979) the three members decided the group would be given priority over their solo careers. The most popular international hit from the album was "Firecracker", which would be released as a single the following year and again as "Computer Game", which became a success in the United States and Europe.
Following an advertising deal with Fuji Cassette, the group sparked a boom in the popularity of electronic pop music, called "Technopop" in Japan, where they had an impact similar to that of The Beatles and Merseybeat in 1960s Britain. For some time, YMO was the most popular band in Japan. A testament to the influence of YMO on fashion is how many middle-aged Japanese businessmen still have the "Techno cut" haircut, modeled after the group. Successful solo act Akiko Yano (later married to Sakamoto) joined the band for its live performances in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but did not participate in the studio recordings. On the other hand, the YMO trio contributed to her own albums and became part of her live band, during these same years.
Making abundant use of new synthesizers, samplers, sequencers, drum machines, computers and digital recording technology as it became available, as well as utilizing cyberpunk-ish lyrics sung mostly in English, they extended their popularity and influence beyond Japan.
''Solid State Survivor'', released in 1979, was YMO's pinnacle recording in Japan, winning the 1980 Best Album Award in the Japan Record Awards. It featured English lyrics by Chris Mosdell, whose sci-fi themes often depicted a human condition alienated by dystopic futures, much like the emerging cyberpunk movement in fiction at that time. One of the album's major singles, and one of the band's biggest international hits, was "Behind the Mask", which YMO had first produced in 1978 for a Seiko quartz wristwatch commercial, and then for ''Solid State Survivor'' with lyrics penned by Chris Mosdell. The song was later revised by Michael Jackson, who added new lyrics in the early 1980s. Jackson's version was never released until his first posthumous album, ''Michael'', though his additional lyrics were included in later cover versions of the song by Greg Phillinganes, Eric Clapton, and Ryuichi Sakamoto himself in his 1986 solo release ''Media Bahn Live''.
Their second album ''Solid State Survivor'' went on to sell over 2 million records worldwide. By 1980, YMO had become the most popular group in Japan, where they were performing to sold out crowds. Their first live album ''Public Pressure'' set a record in Japan, topping the charts and selling 250,000 copies within two weeks, while their next studio album ''X∞Multiplies'' had 200,000 pre-orders before release. The same year, their albums ''Solid State Survivor'' and ''X∞Multiplies'' held the top two spots on the Oricon charts for seven consecutive weeks, making YMO the only band in Japanese chart history to achieve this feat.
They also had similar success abroad, performing to sold-out crowds during tours in the United States and Europe. The single "Computer Game" had sold 400,000 copies in the United States and reached #17 in the UK Charts. The group also performed "Firecracker" and "Tighten Up" live on the ''Soul Train'' television show. At around the same time, the 1980 song "Riot in Lagos" by YMO member Sakamoto pioneered the beats and sounds of electro music. The band was particularly popular with the emerging hip hop community, which appreciated the group's electronic sounds, and in the Bronx where "Firecracker" was a success and sampled in the famous ''Death Mix'' (1983) by Afrika Bambaataa. Meanwhile in Japan, YMO remained the best-selling music act there up until 1982.
The band had stopped working as a group by 1984, after the release of their musical 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 , 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 YMO material in his concerts and as "lead singer" was arguably best placed to do so. Meanwhile, Sakamoto would gain international success for his work as a solo artist, actor, and film composer, winning Grammy, Oscar and Golden Globe awards.
The trio would eventually release a one-off reunion album, ''Technodon'', and credited it to 'NOT YMO' (YMO crossed out with a calligraphy X) or YMO in 1993. Instead of traditional vocals, about half of it features field audio recordings and samples of authors and scientists reading their work. During their brief reunion in the early 1990s, they continued to experiment with new styles of electronic music, playing an instrumental role in the techno and acid house movements of the era.
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 Lager which lampooned 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 or HAS/YMO, 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. They released a new two song single titled "The City of Light/Tokyo Town Pages" on August 6, 2008. HASYMO played two live concerts in Europe in the summer of 2008, one at the Royal Festival Hall, London on 15 June, as part of the Meltdown festival of music curated by Massive Attack and another in Gijon, Spain on the 19th. Although the primary YMO members (Yukihiro Takahashi, Haruomi Hosono, and Ryuichi Sakamoto) are effectively known as HASYMO and played both these concerts, these concerts were billed simply as "YMO" but featured only 4 YMO songs in each concert while the rest of the concert featured Sketch Show, HASYMO music and member's solo works.
In August 2009, the band played the World Happiness festival in Japan, featuring many Japanese artists. The band closed the night, and confirmed that "Yellow Magic Orchestra" is their official name, dropping the HASYMO title. They opened with a cover of "Hello, Goodbye" and performed old YMO songs along with their newer songs. In May 2010, Keane released a new EP entitled ''Night Train'' which includes a cover of "You've Got to Help Yourself", featuring MC Tigarah.
In August 2010, YMO once again closed their World Happiness festival. They added classic songs from their back catalog into their set list. They also covered "Hello, Goodbye" and "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)". In January 2011, KCRW announced for their World Festival concert series that Yellow Magic Orchestra will perform at the Hollywood Bowl on June 26, 2011. Not long after, a concert for June 27, 2011 at The Warfield was added. It was announced in February that YMO will perform at the Fuji Rock festival in July and the World Happiness festival 2011 on 7 August where they will debut new songs.
According to music writer Piero Scaruffi, YMO were pioneers of synthpop, a genre development he believes to be "perhaps the single most significant event in melodic music since Mersey-beat" with its influence still evident in contemporary rock and pop music. While their contemporaries in Düsseldorf, and later Detroit, were using synthesizer technology to create bleak dystopian music, YMO introduced a more "joyous and liberating" approach to electronic music, something that Sakamoto regards as "a Japanese thing." In contrast to Kraftwerk's "robot pop" which was more minimalistic and statuesque, YMO's template for electronic pop was less minimalistic and made more varying use of synthesizer lines, while introducing "fun-loving and breezy" sounds, and with a strong focus on melody. The band also drew from a wider range of influences than had been employed by Kraftwerk. These influences on YMO included Japanese electronic music (such as Isao Tomita), European electronic music (such as Kraftwerk), exotica (such as Martin Denny), traditional Japanese music, experimental Chinese music (of the Cultural Revolution era), Indian music (such as Ravi Shankar and Bollywood music), disco (such as Giorgio Moroder), video game samples (such as ''Space Invaders''), American rap, British pop rock (such as The Beatles), Caribbean ska, classical music, animal sounds (such as the horse-running rhythms in 1979's "Rydeen"), and noise. Sakamoto referred to the band's fusion of many different sounds and styles as the musical equivalent to a Japanese bento box, and has expressed that his "concept when making music is that there is no border between music and noise."
For their album ''Yellow Magic Orchestra'' (1978), the band utilized a wide variety of electronic music equipment, including the Korg PS-3100 polyphonic synthesizer, Moog III-C and Minimoog monosynths, Polymoog and ARP Odyssey analog synthesizers, Oberheim Eight-Voice synthesizer, Fender Rhodes electric piano, Korg VC-10 vocoder, the electronic drum kits Yamaha Drums and Syn-Drums, and the Fender Bass electric bass. It was also one of the earliest popular music albums to utilize the Roland MC-8 Microcomposer, which was programmed by Hideki Matsutake during recording sessions; the other early popular music record to utilize it was Sakamoto's solo album ''Thousand Knives'', where it was also programmed by Matsutake. Roland called the MC-8 a "computer music composer" and it was the first stand-alone microprocessor-based music sequencer. It also introduced features such as a keypad to enter note information and 16 KB of RAM which allowed a maximum sequence length of 5200 notes, a huge step forward from the 8-16 step sequencers of the era. While it was commercially unsuccessful due to its high price, the band were among the few bands at the time to utilize the MC-8, which they described as, along with its music programmer Hideki Matsutake, an "inevitable factor" in both their music production and live performances. At the time, ''Billboard'' noted that the use of such computer-based technology in conjunction with synthesizers allowed Yellow Magic Orchestra to create new sounds that were not possible until then. ''Yellow Magic Orchestra'' was also the first computer-themed music album, predating Kraftwerk's ''Computer World'' (1981) by several years. As a result of such innovations, YMO were credited at the time for having "ushered in the age of the computer programmer as rock star."
They were also the first band to utilize the Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, one of the first and most influential programmable drum machines, as soon as it was released in 1980. While the machine was initially unsuccessful due to its lack of digital sampling that the rival Linn LM-1 offered, the TR-808 featured various unique artificial percussion sounds, including a deep bass kick drum, "tinny handclap sounds," "the ticky snare, the tishy hi-hats (open and closed)," and "the spacey cowbell," which YMO utilized and demonstrated in their music, paving the way for the TR-808's mainstream popularity several years later, after which it would be used for more hit records than any other drum machine and continue to be widely used through to the present day.
The band has been described as "the original cyberpunks" and their early work has been described as "proto-techno" music. "Technopolis" (1979) was a tribute to Tokyo as an electronic mecca, used the term "techno" in its title, and foreshadowed concepts that Juan Atkins and Rick Davis would later have with have with Cybotron. The 1979 ''Solid State Survivor'' album also included several early computerized synth rock songs, including a mechanized cover version of "Day Tripper" by The Beatles. The 1980 song "Multiplies" was an early experiment in electronic ska. The beats and sounds of electro music were pioneered by Sakamoto's 1980 song "Riot in Lagos". "Rap Phenomena" from YMO's 1981 album ''BGM'' was an early attempt at electronic rap. By the 1990s, YMO were also frequently cited as pioneers of ambient house music.
YMO's success with music technology encouraged many others, with their influence strongly felt in the British electronic scene of the early 1980s in particular. They influenced many early British synthpop acts, including Ultravox, John Foxx, Gary Numan, Duran Duran, Eric Clapton, Depeche Mode, Camouflage, OMD, The Human League, and Art of Noise, as well as American rock musicians such as Todd Rundgren. They also influenced the New Romantic movement, including British bands Duran Duran and Japan, whose member Steve Jansen was influenced by drummer Takahashi, while another member David Sylvian was influenced by Sakamoto, who would later collaborate with Sylvian. YMO also popularized a style of live performance that eschewed human movement in favour of electronics such as rhythm boxes and samplers. The band also influenced the heavy use of sampling and looping in popular music.
The 1978 song "Behind the Mask" was an international hit covered by various later artists, most famously Michael Jackson. Alongside Quincy Jones, Jackson produced a slightly more dance-funk version of the techno classic with additional lyrics, originally intended for his best-selling album ''Thriller'' (1982). Despite the approval of songwriter Sakamoto and lyricist Chris Mosdell, it was eventually removed from the album due to legal issues with YMO's management. Nevertheless, various cover versions were later performed by Greg Phillinganes, Eric Clapton, Orbital, and The Human League, among others, before Jackson's cover version eventually appeared on the posthumous ''Michael'' album in 2010.
The band was popular with the emerging hip hop community, which appreciated the group's new electronic sounds, and in the Bronx where "Firecracker" was a success and sampled in the famous ''Death Mix'' by Afrika Bambaataa. According to ''The Guardian'', they "may have just invented hip-hop"; the hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa credited the band as an inspiration and once remarked that YMO invented hip hop music (in a half-joking manner). Afrika Bambaataa's influential song "Planet Rock" was partly inspired by YMO. The "terse videogame-funk" sounds of YMO's "Computer Game" would have a strong influence on the emerging electro and hip hop genres. Sakamoto's "Riot in Lagos" was cited by Kurtis Mantronik as a major influence on his early electro hip hop group Mantronix; he included both "Computer Game" and "Riot in Lagos" in his compilation album ''That's My Beat'' (2002) which consists of the songs that influenced his early career. The song was also later included in Playgroup's compilation album ''Kings of Electro'' (2007), alongside later electro classics such as Hashim's "Al-Nafyish" (1983). The 1980 release of "Riot in Lagos" was also listed by ''The Guardian'' in 2011 as one of the 50 key events in the history of dance music. YMO's use of video game sounds and bleeps also had a particularly big influence on 1980s hip hop and pop music. Beyond electro acts, "Computer Game / Firecracker" was also sampled by a number of other later artists, including 2 Live Crew's "Mega-Mixx II" (1987), " De La Soul's "Funky Towel" (for the 1996 film ''Joe's Apartment''), Jennifer Lopez's worldwide hit "I'm Real" (2001), and the original unreleased version of Mariah Carey's "Loverboy" (2001).
YMO also had an impact on techno music, including its pioneers Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, and Derrick May, as well as later techno musicians such as Surgeon, μ-Ziq, and Cosmic Baby. "Technopolis" (1979) in particular is considered an "interesting contribution" to the development of Detroit techno and the group Cybotron. "Computer Game" (1978) also influenced Sheffield's bleep techno music; the Warp record, Sweet Exorcist's "Testone" (1990), defined Sheffield's techno sound by making playful use of sampled sounds from "Computer Game" along with dialogues from the film ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' (1977). "Computer Game" (1978) was later included in Carl Craig's compilation album ''Kings of Techno'' (2006). Also in the 1990s, YMO had an impact on ambient house pioneers such as The Orb and 808 State, as well as Ultramarine and other ambient/house artists. This resulted in the release of the tribute remix album ''Yellow Magic Orchestra: Hi-Tech/No Crime'' in 1993, by leading ambient, house and techno musicians at the time, including The Orb, 808 State, and Orbital. The music YMO produced during their comeback in the early 1990s also played an instrumental role in the techno and acid house movements towards the end of the 20th century. The band's use of oriental musical scales and video game sounds has continued to be an influence on 21st-century electronica acts such as Dizzee Rascal, Kieran Hebden, and Ikonika. In 2006, Senor Coconut paid tribute to the band with his ''Yellow Fever!'' album.
The band has also been very influential in its homeland Japan, where they had become more popular than The Beatles during the late 1970s and 1980s. Their albums ''Solid State Survivor'' and ''X∞Multiplies'' held the top two spots on the Oricon charts for seven consecutive weeks in 1980, making YMO the only band in Japanese chart history to achieve this feat. Young fans of their music during this period became known as the . The band had a significant impact on Japanese pop music, which started becoming increasingly dominated by electronic and computer music due to YMO's influence. YMO were one of the most important acts in Japan's "New Music" movement and paved the way for the emergence of contemporary J-pop in the 1980s. They also inspired ambient techno artists such as Tetsu Inoue.
YMO also influenced many video game composers and had a major impact on the sounds used in much of the chiptune and video game music produced during the 8-bit and 16-bit eras. As a result, several video game composers, including Shinji Hosoe and Nobuyoshi Sano, formed a parody band called "Oriental Magnetic Yellow" (OMY) in 1994, producing parody cover versions of various YMO records. Various cover versions of "Kimi ni Mune Kyun" (1983) have also been produced by other artists, including The Human League in 1993 ("YMO Versus The Human League") and Asako Toki in 2006. In 2009, a cover of "Kimi ni Mune Kyun" was used as the ending theme song for the anime series ''Maria Holic'', sung by Asami Sanada, Marina Inoue, and Yū Kobayashi, the voice actresses of the main characters.
Artist | Yellow Magic Orchestra |
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Studio | 9 |
Live | 13 |
Compilation | 6 |
Singles | 23 |
References | }} |
Category:Japanese electronic music groups Category:Japanese dance musicians Category:Japanese pop music groups Category:Dance musical groups Category:Ambient music groups Category:Electro musicians Category:House musicians Category:Techno musicians Category:Musical groups established in 1978 Category:Musical groups reestablished in 2007 Category:Sony Music Japan artists
ca:Yellow Magic Orchestra de:Yellow Magic Orchestra fr:Yellow Magic Orchestra ko:옐로 매직 오케스트라 id:Yellow Magic Orchestra it:Yellow Magic Orchestra ka:Yellow Magic Orchestra nl:Yellow Magic Orchestra ja:イエロー・マジック・オーケストラ no:Yellow Magic Orchestra pl:Yellow Magic Orchestra pt:Yellow Magic Orchestra ru:Yellow Magic Orchestra fi:Yellow Magic Orchestra sv:Yellow Magic Orchestra th:เยลโล แมจิก ออร์เคสตรา zh-yue:Yellow Magic Orchestra zh:黃色魔術交響樂團This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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