I’m tired, I’m working six days in a row this week and I have to be up to go to work in about seven hours. So of course I decided to randomly write 800 plus words on releases by various Yellow Magic Orchestra associates.
Kenji Omura
Seiko Is Always On Time
The Defector
Maps
Kenji Omura was a longstanding associate of YMO, whose work with members from the group actually pre-dates the band itself; he’s credited as a performer on Yukihiro Takahashi’s solo debut Saravah!, which came out in 1978. Throughout the 70s and 80s he continually popped up on various YMO associate releases, including albums by Akiko Yano, Susan, Logic System (more on him in a second) and Sandii. During YMO’s biggest years he also served as the band’s touring guitarist, performing on their seminal Live At Budokan release.
He was primarily a jazz guitarist (a lot of YMO people have jazz backgrounds) and it shows a lot in his solo work, more than his work as a contributing artist. His 1983 album Gaijin Heaven even goes as far as to have a Steely Dan cover on it, showing that while he was working in the synth-pop field, he was just as interested in rock and jazz fusion as anything else. But, me being me and my interests lying where they are, I’m going to focus on his more synth-pop focused work, specifically these three tracks from his fantastic 1981 album, Spring Is Nearly Here.
While that album is listed as Kenji Omura record, it’s more or less an unofficial YMO release. Not only does it feature all three members of YMO performing their respective instruments, they also contribute as songwriters alongside Chris Mosdell, who served as the group’s English language songwriter for some of their biggest hits, including “Behind The Mask.” The album also features contributions from YMO accomplishes Akiko Yano, Hideki Matsutake and Kazuhiko Kato.
The whole album doesn’t sound like a YMO record (that jazz influence is pretty strong throughout) but the tracks that do sound like YMO really sound like YMO. “The Defector” could have easily been on Naughty Boys, its a pop masterpiece, the kind of track that sounds like it was purposely constructed to be a Top 40 hit and is all the better for it. Unsurprisingly, it was written by Takahashi and his English songwriter, Peter Barakan, two fantastic pop craftsmen.
“Seiko Is Always On Time” is a purely electronic jam, co-written by Sakamoto and obviously channeling “The End Of Asia” with its Eastern influences morphed together with a synthesizer-heavy sound. It’s semi-ambient totally beautiful.
But YMO fans should really take note of “Maps.” If that track sounds familiar, that’s because it’s actually a YMO tune, appearing on both the Budokan and World Tour albums. Those records were recorded in 1980, a full year before this record was released, but close enough for it to be difficult to say if the song was as YMO song first that was later handed off to Omura, or if it was intended for Omura all along. Either way, it’s a great track, and stands up equally with any other classic tune by the group.
Hideki Matsutake & K.I. Capsule
The James Bond Theme
Goldfinger
Hideki Matsutake served as YMO’s programmer, and also worked with electronic music pioneer Isao Tomita in the mid-70s. In the early-80s he went solo under the moniker Logic System, releasing a pair of beautiful albums in the early 80s as well as several…less good albums throughout the remainder of the century (one has a rap track, it’s bad).
For me though, his crowning achievement away from YMO is Digital Moon, a 1979 album composed entirely of James Bond theme covers. I’m not going to say that it’s the greatest album of all time, but it might be the greatest album of all time. You haven’t lived until you’ve heard “Goldfinger” sung through a vocoder. The only way it could’ve been better is if they had gotten Shirley Bassey herself to do it. This is dope shit. If you like dope shit you’ll like this.
Jun Togawa
Suki Suki Daisuki
Late Blooming Girls
An artist so unique that she’s nearly impossible to describe. I think the best I could come up with was “a cross between Madonna, Patti Smith and Klaus Nomi,” thanks to her pop presence combined with her predisposition for violent screaming fits and the occasional foray into operatic bellowing.
Between her solo discography, collaborative efforts and side-projects, she’s released countless records, which makes diving into her discography rather daunting, not to mention incredibly expensive. Any greatest hits compilation is a good jumping off point though, as it will probably feature one of, if not both of these, tremendous songs.
Both of these songs are highlights even if you can’t understand the vocals, thanks to Jun’s amazing vocal range. But if you do know what she’s singing about, they’re even stronger. Thankfully, for “Suki Suki Daisuki” you can find the translated lyrics on this fan-subbed video. As for “Late Blooming Girls,” I don’t have an exact translation with me, but the song is about a woman who’s scared to lose her virginity because she heard it might hurt, only to find the experience quite pleasurable once it happens. You can probably point out the point in the song where that unfolds solely based on how she changes her singing voice.
Jun Togawa is still recording today, and recently released a collaborative noise rock album that includes a new version of “Suki Suki Daisuki.” It’s something else.
I remember when Togawa Jun first appeared and started doing all the usual music-variety TV shows in her cute Minnie Mouse skirts and pinafore outfits and such, just like Seiko-chan and all the other cutesie girl singers…except Togawa’s songs had lyrics like “kiss me like you’re punching me, hold me till my ribs snap, tell me you love me or I’ll kill you” (what she’s singing in Suki Suki Daisuki). No one knew quite what to make of her — effortlessly doing then exactly what Babymetal is trying so hard to do now.
If you like her, you might also enjoy Toricomi, a band she sung with for a while. I’d suggest starting with their album “Good Girls Get Fed, Bad Girls Get Eaten.”
Your work with chronicling/cataloguing YMO’s releases, and that of their associates, is invaluable! Especially to those with little familiarity of the Japanese language, as YMO is woefully unrecognized in english speaking countries (of this I’m sure you’re more aware than I). That Goldfinger cover is indeed dope shit, I’ll have to see what I can do about hearing the rest of the album.
Not a request, but if you happen across any more works by Osamu Shoji, there’s at least one reader who’d be interested in what you have to say about him. I had to track down a copy of the Synthesizer Fantasy for The (Super Dimension Cavalry) Southern Cross a while back, as one of the tracks was sped up and used as the intro credits music for the 1986 film “Ninja the Protector”. That movie, as well as many other films from the same company, often “borrowed” excellent music to use in their soundtracks (the end duel in Ninja the Protector playing Pink Floyd’s “One of these Days”) that was never credited, which led me to try and track down as much as I can. Those Ninja movies are almost certainly the cause of my love for Tangerine Dream, as their music was perhaps the most often used, and when exploring their discography, it made it doubly satisfying to finally be able to put proper names to the soundtracks I’d often enjoyed.
But I’ll not digress any further. Thanks again, as always.
I get so excited whenever I see Jun featured. I have always felt like she met the promise that Nina Hagen never quite fulfilled after nunsexmonkrock.
https://aboombong.bandcamp.com/album/aphronesis