Operating behind the scenes was programmer Hideki Matsutake, who had mastered the inner workings of early analogue synthesizer technology while working as an assistant to electronic composer Isao Tomita and whose invaluable knowledge helped the group remain on the cutting edge of the era’s deluge of new music technologies. This smooth, cosmopolitan pop music then led directly to the vibrant “technopop” that Hosono brought to the top of the Japanese charts with the help of powerhouse drummer and singer Yukihiro Takahashi (previously a veteran of glam rock/boogie group Sadistic Mika Band) and a talented young university student named Ryuichi Sakamoto, who was then using his keyboard talents as a session musician, producer, and arranger for a number of city pop artists in Hosono’s orbit. That same desire for a strong cultural pop identity led to the creation of a subverted take on the styles of southern R&B, northern soul, and jazz fusion in Hosono’s next project Tin Pan Alley, which fused those sounds with Hawaiian and Okinawan tropical flourishes in a genre dubbed “city pop”. Hosono initially rose to prominence as a member of Happy End, one of the first Japanese rock bands in the late ’60s and early ’70s to write, record, and release songs in their native language rather than simply aping Western styles with awkwardly enunciated English lyrics. Subversion was always there, whether it was sociopolitical, technological, or musical. Over the course of their career they continued to embrace new technologies while finding ways to fuse these breakthroughs with classic pop forms. What casual fans seldom recognize about YMO is that they weren’t dilettantes twiddling their way through relatively new technological breakthroughs, but rather were all seasoned players and veterans in the industry by the time of their formation. That album, Yellow Magic Orchestra, made huge waves in Japan and also found its way into Western ears, making connections with a diverse array of talents and sparking inspiration for new listeners.
Formed in 1978 by songwriter, bassist, and singer Haruomi Hosono, the original aim of YMO was to release a one-off album of technological exotica which spoofed the West’s archaic and offensive fetishization of the “oriental” while simultaneously paying tribute to the musical talents of Martin Denny and Les Baxter, two American bandleaders whose instrumental albums took the post-World War II fascination with tribal primitivism and tropical calm to vibrant extremes.
Their reach spreads from the charts to the deepest corners of the underground, influencing hip-hop, numerous strains of dance music culture, and even the world’s shiniest pop tunes. Few artists hold as firm an influence on electronic and technology-based musics as Japan’s Yellow Magic Orchestra.
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