Yellow Magic (Tong Poo) - Yellow Magic Orchestra

This is definitely going to be a lot more than just a post about a song. Seeing as I am currently in the throes of a full-on obsession with this group (I'm a big nerd), I have a long story to tell in regards to them, so the song is really more of a placeholder than anything (though it's certainly not a bad song to represent them).

The events leading to my "discovery" of Yellow Magic Orchestra can be dated back a little less than a year, when I heard a performance of "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" (could have just made the post about that, couldn't I have) at a classical music concert. It stuck with me the most out of everything performed, though I didn't think much more about it until I decided to watch the film of the same name a few weeks ago essentially on 1. the merits of the song and 2. David Bowie. Sadly, neither of these were enough to carry the film, though I was surprised to see Sakamoto acting as one the main characters. So I guess if you're some kind of weird Bowie and/or Sakamoto superfan, that is the only condition under which I would recommend this.

*Bojack Horseman voice* what are youuuuu doing here??

But I digress. The 80s-ified synth version from the movie rekindled my interest and led me to look into Sakamoto's other work as a composer/musician, which inevitably led me to YMO. Fast-forward listening to 3 of their albums during an airport layover and here we are. It's funny to me that I got to this point through such an indirect way, like a weird pop-culture game of telephone. But then that's how a lot of things happen. Coincidence. Look at this, I'm monologuing again, as if this blog wasn't already nothing but monologue!

I've always had a great interest in synthesizers in general, since there's something about taking something so intangible and ethereal as electricity and turning into concrete sound that I find magical, as well as the possibility to essentially create whatever sound you want (though I am sure there are a whole bunch of technical limitations on this I am ignorant of). And yet I never listened to any synthpop of any kind up until this point because I'm so used to listening to music with lyrics, and deriving my enjoyment of pop/rock songs largely from their lyrical content, and because I associate lyric-less electronic music with ambient, sleepy stuff and repetitive music with little melodicism (I have to throw in that last part to distinguish it from other largely instrumental music like jazz-- which I don't listen to nearly enough of either). Yes, many YMO songs have lyrics, but in particular on their earlier albums it's pretty minimal so I don't count it in the same way. I'm making baby steps here.

The other reason I stayed away from electronic music is because I didn't think people were as creative with it as the seemingly endless possibility would suggest. A lot of the same sounding things seem to get reused. But YMO completely broke with any of these preconceived notions I had, and I was hooked the minute I hit play on "Yellow Magic (Tong Poo)," the name for the American release of "Tong Poo." I prefer the American release kind of in the same way I usually prefer the stereo remaster of a song that was originally in mono. Yeah, it's technically not as authentic, but it still sounds better to me. I don't care much for the random lyrical interlude in the American release, but the trade-off isn't big enough that I prefer the original.

This song actually feels kind of spare compared to some of their other stuff; it's not as loaded with layers as something like "Rydeen," though there's still a lot of little flourishes that come in and out. One of my favorite things about it is definitely that super funkadelic bass. There's also the way the end of the melody in the first part of the song lands on that unresolved note, only to go into the next section that keeps rising and rising until you finally hit that trill! Agh it's so good!! Something about the whole thing reminds me a theme song for an adventure movie. I could totally see it as a leitmotiv that comes on every time our heroes are faced with a challenge. Maybe it has to do with the way that the song is clearly divided up into segments, more like what I'd expect from an orchestral piece from a film score than a traditional pop song (I mean, "orchestra" is in the name of the group).

I thought I'd throw in this one last thing: at 49:25 in the video above, there's a clip of Sakamoto and his then-wife, Akiko Yano, playing the song as a duet on the piano, which I personally find wonderful.