Wesley Gonzalez on Yellow Magic Orchestra

The band were made up of Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi. They had all previously been session musicians, with Hosono in bands such as Happy End and Apryl Fool at the end of the 60’s, both of which are fantastic in a completely different way to YMO, having more in common with Laurel Canyon or Haight Ashbury than their native Tokyo. Both Hosono and Sakamoto started making records under their own names which varied from Steely Dan-smoothness, sharp fat synthesiser tones and steel drums. They first started playing together on Paraiso which was an album recorded under the name "Harry Hosono and the Yellow Magic Band”. They properly formed Yellow Magic Orchestra after that.

The remarkable thing about YMO, whether it’s under that moniker or their separate solo ventures, is that there are so many records to discover which can be remarkably different. Pacific sounds like a mad exotica album; all instrumental with lots of slide guitar. Sakamoto's A Thousand Knives sounds like the beginnings of house music in parts, it's very driving and awash with synths, and then there's YMO's Naughty Boys, released in 1983, which is pretty straight up New Wave pop album that sounds far fresher than a lot of their western contemporaries. It's such a joy to find a band where you can't pick a favourite album, there are only two other bands I can say that for, The Beatles or Can, two other favourite bands of mine.

The first band I really loved was The Fall and I think that was due to the fact that when you listened to a record like Grotesque, you could hear all different kinds of music within it, between Beefheart and Hank Williams. Unlike other 'Punk' bands it was deeply curious as well as nasty and aggressive. I find that in the second part of my musical career I find the same thing within YMO, but in an even more expansive way. You can hear the best parts of Herbie Hancock, Donna Summer, Kraftwerk, Abba, Wendy Carlos, Burt Bacharach, classical music - and with some of Hosono's earlier solo LPs even Van Morrison. They later played a big part in early hip hop, with the tune "Firecracker" being used in Afrika Bambaataa's set, influenced almost all synth pop in the 80s and Michael Jackson even demoed a song written by Ryuichi Sakamoto for the Thriller sessions, which was later pulled. I noticed Mac DeMarco has thanked both Sakamoto and Hosono on his last two records and that, also, they are recently getting a lot of recognition within Dance music. It goes to show how widely influential they were.

Throughout their careers they took on every genre, they were an inexplicably confident musical force, from electronic dance music to folk and even Ska (not that keen on their Ska ventures to be fair, but I still love that they tried it!). I have always hated watching a band stay the same, it’s so boring! This band represents everything I love about music; musical grandeur, brilliant melodic sensibilities and their sleeves were also always brilliant. Any good band introduces you to tonnes of other brilliant music and my interest in YMO has led me to find other brilliant records by Hiroshi Sato, Tatsuro Yamashita, Colored Music, Yasuaki Shimizu and Akiko Yano (who was a touring musician for YMO). I think this band, more than any, has opened my mind to music as something you can approach in any way. I think they saved me from myself and maybe if you are sick of the music that surrounds you, you could do yourself a favour and engulf yourself in the synthetic magnificence of Yellow Magic Orchestra.

Also, if anyone knows Haruomi Hosono, can you ask him to produce my next LP.