Yellow Magic Orchestra

Technodelic ALFA, 1981

You say: “So innovative and uncompromising – weird but catchy and powerful.” Paul Rymer, via Facebook

The band at its absolute peak. The trio have been listening to punk, new wave, hip-hop and synth-pop, and it shows in the more aggressive rhythms but also in their ironic emulation of David Sylvian’s and John Foxx’s vocals on the tracks such as Pure Jam and Stairs. It’s a more alienated ‘punk’ groove but also a more charged and innovative one with YMO expertly employing loops, samples and complex beatbox rhythms. There is also more depth here, the dazzling surface sheen of earlier albums replaced by something more tarnished yet reflective. The black notes of disaffection may have been creeping in, but the result was this deeply haunting and introspective masterpiece.