Technodelic

Most of the sampling was made with an {{ill|LMD-649|ja}}, 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.{{Cite journal|date=March 1982|script-title=ja:YMO／松武秀樹の秘密兵器、LMD-649を大公開‼︎|trans-title=YMO/Hideki Matsutake's secret weapon, the LMD-649, revealed!!|script-journal=ja:ロッキンf|trans-journal=Rockin'f|lang=ja|pages=140–141|url=http://tokyosky.sub.jp/tokyosky_webmasters_blog/2011/02/f-19823-lmd-649-1982.html}}

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{{Discogs release|4389700|不思議・少女}} and Logic System{{Discogs release|703523|Orient Express}} 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 "{{lang|ja|京城}}" are used, referring to Gyeongseong ({{lang|ko|경성}}; known as Keijou in Japan), the name of Seoul when Korea was under Japanese rule. "{{lang|ja|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.{{Cite AV media notes|date=2020-02-05|last=Yoshimura|first=Eiichi|title=Winter Live 1981|others=Yellow Magic Orchestra|publisher=GT Music|lang=ja}} 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.{{Cite av|author=Yellow Magic Orchestra|date=2020-04-22|orig-year=1981|title=Taiso (Official Music Video)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTrlRXRnzh|publisher=Alfa Music|website=YouTube}}

{{tracklist

| headline = Side one

| title1 = Pure Jam

| note1 = {{nihongo2|ジャム; "Jam"}}

| length1 = 4:30

| lyrics1 = Yukihiro Takahashi
Peter Barakan

| music1 = Takahashi

| title2 = Neue Tanz

| note2 = {{nihongo2|新舞踊; "Shin buyou"}}

| length2 = 4:58

| lyrics2 = Yellow Magic Orchestra

| music2 = YMO

| title3 = Stairs

| note3 = {{nihongo2|階段; "Kaidan"}}

| length3 = 4:14

| lyrics3 = Takahashi, Barakan

| music3 = Takahashi

| title4 = Seoul Music

| note4 = {{nihongo2|京城音楽; "Keijou ongaku"}}

| length4 = 4:46

| lyrics4 = Ryuichi Sakamoto, Takahashi, Barakan

| music4 = Sakamoto, Takahashi

| title5 = Light in Darkness

| note5 = {{nihongo2|灯; "Tomoshibi"}}

| length5 = 3:40

| music5 = Takahashi, Sakamoto

}}

{{tracklist

| headline = Side two

| title1 = Taiso

| note1 = {{nihongo2|体操; "Taisō"}}

| length1 = 4:21

| lyrics1 = YMO

| music1 = YMO

| title2 = Gradated Grey

| note2 = {{nihongo2|{{ruby-ja|灰色|グレイ}}の段階; "Grey no dankai"}}

| length2 = 5:33

| lyrics2 = Haruomi Hosono

| music2 = Hosono

| title3 = Key

| note3 = {{nihongo2|手掛かり; "Tegakari"}}

| length3 = 4:32

| lyrics3 = Hosono, Takahashi, Barakan

| music3 = Hosono, Takahashi

| title4 = Prologue

| note4 = {{nihongo2|前奏; "Zensou"}}

| length4 = 2:31

| music4 = Sakamoto

| title5 = Epilogue

| note5 = {{nihongo2|後奏; "Kousou"}}

| length5 = 4:21

| music5 = Sakamoto

}}

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

• Haruomi Hosono – Bass, Synth Bass, Keyboards, Vocals
• Ryuichi Sakamoto – Keyboards, Vocals
• Yukihiro Takahashi – Vocals, Drums, Electronic drums

Guest musicians

• Hideki Matsutake – Technical assistance
• {{ill|Takeshii Fujii|ja|藤井丈司}} & Akihiko Yamazoe – Equipment
• Peter Barakan – Lyrics, Transceiver Voice on "Pure Jam"

Staff

• {{ill|Shōrō Kawazoe|ja|川添象郎}} – Executive Producer
• Mitsuo Koike – Recording & Mixing engineer
• Yoshifumi Īo – Assistant Engineer
• Hiroshi Yuasa (JVC Cutting Center) – Mastering engineer
• Kazusuke Obi – A&R Coordinator
• Yōichi Itō & Hiroshi Ōkura – Management
• Plan-New Werk – Creative Services
• {{ill|Masayoshi Sukita|ja|鋤田正義}} – Art director, Photography

• 1981 in Japanese music

{{reflist}}

• {{allMusic|album|r181172|Technodelic|accessdate=June 19, 2011}}

{{Yellow Magic Orchestra}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1981 albums

Category:1981 in Japanese music

Category:Yellow Magic Orchestra albums

Category:Alfa Records albums

Category:Japanese inventions

Category:Japanese musical instruments

Category:Samplers (musical instrument)