Technodelic

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title: "Technodelic" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1981-albums", "1981-in-japanese-music", "yellow-magic-orchestra-albums", "alfa-records-albums", "japanese-inventions", "japanese-musical-instruments", "samplers-(musical-instrument)"] topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technodelic" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox album"]

FieldValue
nameTechnodelic
typestudio
artistYellow Magic Orchestra
coverYellow Magic Orchestra - Technodelic1.jpg
releasedNovember 21, 1981
recordedMarch 21 – October 13, 1981
studioAlfa Studio "A", Shibaura, Minato, Tokyo
* Avant-garde<ref name"amg"/
* dance<ref name"amg"/
* electronic<ref name"amg"/
* electro{{cite newslast1
* electropop<ref name"theguardian"
* industrial<ref name"analogplanet"/
* new wave<ref name"amg"/
* psychedelic<ref name"analogplanet"/
* synthpop<ref name"amg"
* techno{{cite newslast1
length43:29
labelAlfa
producer
prev_titleBGM
prev_year1981
next_titleNaughty Boys
next_year1983
misc{{Singles
nameTechnodelic
typestudio
single1Pure Jam
single1date1982
single2Taisō
single2date1982
headerAlternative cover
typestudio
coverYMOtechnodelic.JPG
captionCover used on most reissues
::

| name = Technodelic | type = studio | artist = Yellow Magic Orchestra | cover = Yellow Magic Orchestra - Technodelic1.jpg | alt = | released = November 21, 1981 | recorded = March 21 – October 13, 1981 | studio = Alfa Studio "A", Shibaura, Minato, Tokyo | genre =

Technodelic is the fifth studio album by Yellow Magic Orchestra, released in 1981. The electronic music album is notable for its experimental approach and heavy use of digital samplers, which were not commonly used until the mid-to-late 1980s, resulting in a more minimalist and avant-garde sound compared with its previous work.

It is considered the first released album to feature mostly samples and loops, influencing the heavy use of sampling and looping in popular music. Yellow Magic Orchestra's approach to sampling music was a precursor to the contemporary approach of constructing music by cutting fragments of sounds and looping them using computer technology.

In 2008, Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore provided a cover of "Gradated Grey" for the Haruomi Hosono tribute album Strange Songbook (Tribute To Haruomi Hosono 2). In 2016, the Canadian post-punk group Preoccupations covered the track "Key" as a part of a 7" vinyl that came with pre-orders of their self-titled album alongside a cover of The Raincoats' 1979 track "Off-Duty Trip".

Production

Most of the sampling was made with an , a custom-built digital sampler developed by Toshiba-EMI engineer Kenji Murata. The LMD-649 was the first PCM digital sampler, capable of playing and recording PCM samples with a 12-bit audio depth and 50 kHz sampling rate, stored in 128 KB of dynamic RAM memory. It also had sampling drum machine capabilities. Notable samples used include Indonesian gamelan music and short looped vocals ("paa", "fuku", "chiki") for percussion in "Seoul Music", Indonesian kecak chanting in "Neue Tanz", and the final two tracks feature industrial factory noises. The LMD-649 was later used by other Japanese synthpop artists in the early 1980s, including YMO-associated acts such as Chiemi Manabe and Logic System in 1982.

The album also features use of speech through a two-way radio, a prepared piano, a Roland TR-808 drum machine (previously used in BGM), and Prophet-5 synthesizers. In another departure from previous albums, Haruomi Hosono has a more prominent role playing the bass guitar as opposed to playing bass lines on synthesizers (this trend will appear again on the album Service).

As with many of YMO's releases, song titles are printed in both Japanese and English. For "Seoul Music", the kanji "京城" are used, referring to Gyeongseong (경성; known as Keijou in Japan), the name of Seoul when Korea was under Japanese rule. "灯" refers to the light of a lantern. "Neue Tanz" is German for "New Dance", while "Taisō" is Japanese for "gymnastics" or "calisthenics".

For its single release, the track "Taisō" was given a music video directed by Haruomi Hosono and Norimasa Okumura. The video features the members of YMO, dressed in uniforms designed by Yukihiro Takahashi, along with Takahashi's then manager Hiromi Kanai performing calisthenics against various chroma key backdrops, parodying real-world televised calisthenics broadcasts in Japan.

Track listing

| headline = Side one

| title1 = Pure Jam | note1 = | length1 = 4:30 | lyrics1 = Yukihiro Takahashi Peter Barakan | music1 = Takahashi

| title2 = Neue Tanz | note2 = | length2 = 4:58 | lyrics2 = Yellow Magic Orchestra | music2 = YMO

| title3 = Stairs | note3 = | length3 = 4:14 | lyrics3 = Takahashi, Barakan | music3 = Takahashi

| title4 = Seoul Music | note4 = | length4 = 4:46 | lyrics4 = Ryuichi Sakamoto, Takahashi, Barakan | music4 = Sakamoto, Takahashi

| title5 = Light in Darkness | note5 = | length5 = 3:40 | music5 = Takahashi, Sakamoto | headline = Side two

| title1 = Taiso | note1 = | length1 = 4:21 | lyrics1 = YMO | music1 = YMO

| title2 = Gradated Grey | note2 = | length2 = 5:33 | lyrics2 = Haruomi Hosono | music2 = Hosono

| title3 = Key | note3 = | length3 = 4:32 | lyrics3 = Hosono, Takahashi, Barakan | music3 = Hosono, Takahashi

| title4 = Prologue | note4 = | length4 = 2:31 | music4 = Sakamoto

| title5 = Epilogue | note5 = | length5 = 4:21 | music5 = Sakamoto

Personnel

Yellow Magic Orchestra – Arrangements, Electronics, Sampler, Mixing engineers, Producers

Guest musicians

Staff

Charts

::data[format=table]

YearReleaseChartPeak positionWeeksSalesJapan126,000
1981LPOricon LP Chart41476,000
CassetteOricon CT Chart131542,000
2022AlbumOricon Albums Chart5638,000
::

References

References

  1. (16 June 2012). "Proto Synthpop Turned Yellow Magic Orchestra Into Godfathers of Electro". [[Wired (magazine).
  2. (2004-01-08). "Yellow Magic Orchestra, Technodelic".
  3. "Yellow Magic Orchestra - Technodelic".
  4. (2 April 2023). "Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Borderless Brilliance". [[Pitchfork (website).
  5. (6 August 2021). "Yellow Magic Orchestra: Explorations, Part 1 (1978-1981) Part II". Analog Planet.
  6. Carter, Monica. (2011-06-30). "It's Easy When You're Big In Japan: Yellow Magic Orchestra at The Hollywood Bowl". The Vinyl District.
  7. Condry, Ian. (2006). "Hip-hop Japan: rap and the paths of cultural globalization". [[Duke University Press]].
  8. {{Discogs release. 4389700. 不思議・少女
  9. {{Discogs release. 703523. Orient Express
  10. Yoshimura, Eiichi. (2020-02-05). "Winter Live 1981". GT Music.
  11. Yellow Magic Orchestra. (2020-04-22). "Taiso (Official Music Video)". [[Alfa Music]].
  12. "Yellow Magic Orchestra". Yamachan Land (Oricon archives).

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1981-albums1981-in-japanese-musicyellow-magic-orchestra-albumsalfa-records-albumsjapanese-inventionsjapanese-musical-instrumentssamplers-(musical-instrument)