Yellow Magic Orchestra - YMO USA & Yellow Magic OrchestraThis first YMO album was released in 1978 in Japan ('79 in Europe) and set a precedent in the music industry like never before. By releasing this daring album, YMO shook the world with their Synthpop','at the time a revelation as well as a revolution. YMO created their own sound, far ahead of its time. The band was amongst the first to use a "computer music composer", which was a programmed Roland MC 8 Microcomposer developed by Hideki Matsutake

then molded and disfigured through complex programming

he whiles away time in a crumbling duplex with blues legend Furry Lewis

The tape deck in my 1987 Toyota van while driving very slowly along windy

The band recordedåÊThe FawnåÊafter spending most of 1996 on the road with tours of the US

a segregated summer resort near Annapolis

CD in a UV coated Digipak with over sized fold-out booklet and custom die-cut obi card

others less so

The pairing was intriguing but problematic

An alternative measure of its enduring magnificence can be gauged by MF Doom sampling Paul Horn's wonderful version

and ranks as another solid entry in the Wu-Tang legacy

rhythmic patterns that are the foundation to the record

Robert Hampson of Loop recorded and mixed the album