History Music / Technodelic

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: "Seoul Music" was inspired by a trip Ryuichi Sakamoto took to UsefulNotes/SouthKorea; the lyrics obliquely reference Sakamoto's observations about the state of the country under the Chun Doo-hwan dictatorship.

* AlbumClosure: Invoked with the title of "Epilogue"; the music itself acts as an effective summation of the album's focus on samples while still being YMO at its core, being a neoclassically-inspired closing piece puncuated by sampled factory sounds.

* EverythingIsAnInstrument: Thanks to the ''extremely'' liberal use of samples throughout the album, ''Technodelic'' features songs composed of such things as prepared pianos, two-way radios, snippets of nonverbal vocalizations, and found sounds from a factory.

* NotSoDifferent: Through the use of BilingualBonus in its Japanese title (as detailed above), "Seoul Music" can be interpreted as describing the Chun Doo-hwan dictatorship in UsefulNotes/SouthKorea to be just as repressive of a regime as the Japanese occupation was decades prior.

This highly experimental approach inevitably translated to lower commercial success than its predecessors, peaking at No. 4 on the Oricon LP chart, their lowest chart performance since [[Music/YellowMagicOrchestraAlbum their debut]] three years prior. However, such a peak was still impressively successful, especially for an album still considered pretty out-there by popular music standards. Because Creator/AAndMRecords had already dropped YMO earlier in the year following ''BGM''[='s=] failure in the States, ''Technodelic'' was never officially released in America until Restless Records' catalog-wide CD reissues in 1992; in Europe, however, the album ''was'' officially released on time through Alfa Records themselves... only for it to not seem to chart. Despite its low commercial performance, it was nonetheless massively acclaimed by critics, who both then and now have praised its innovative use of sampling that allowed it to sound far ahead of its time, predicting the similarly sample-heavy approaches of art pop acts like Music/PeterGabriel & Music/KateBush and experimental jazz acts like Music/HerbieHancock & Music/FrankZappa in the years after its release. While not regarded as YMO's absolute greatest album, being beat out by ''Music/SolidStateSurvivor'' before it, it's often treated as a close rival for the position, and is widely seen as one of the best albums of 1981-- if not the 80's as a whole-- by those who've heard it.

More specifically, for this album, the band adopted use of the LMD-649, a digital sampler custom-built for them by Kenji Murata of [[Creator/{{EMI}} Toshiba EMI]]. The first PCM-based sampler in the world, the device was far beefier tech-wise than the rival Fairlight CMI and Synclavier that had risen to prominence the previous year, featuring 12-bit audio depth (compared to the Fairlight's 8), a 50 [=kHz=] sampling rate, 128 KB of dynamic RAM, and the ability to double as a drum machine, all of which allowed for better sound quality and wider levels of applicability than its commercial counterparts. With this tool at their disposal, YMO could get far more creative with their songs than they could've ever imagined, exemplified by the record's layered LyricalColdOpen. {{Sampling}} became an integral part of ''Technodelic'', allowing the album to act as an unprecedentedly complex collage of different sounds: in fact, while Music/DavidByrne & Music/BrianEno's ''My Life in the Bush of Ghosts'' and Music/JeanMichelJarre's ''Les Chants Magnetiques'' earlier in 1981 had already beaten YMO to the punch of being the first albums to focus on samples and looped rhythms, ''Technodelic'' stood above them both by being the first album where these techniques made up the majority of it from front to back, to the point where even the band's vocals were used as samples. The 649 itself would later go on to be used by other Japanese synth-pop acts, including YMO associates Chiemi Manabe and Logic System.

* CerebusSyndrome[=/=]ReverseCerebusSyndrome: The album is even bleaker in sound than ''BGM'', yet at the same time features wittier, more comedic lyrics on many of the songs.

* IdiosyncraticCoverArt: The Japanese LP labels are nearly identical to those for ''BGM'', albeit with a red background instead of white.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Like ''BGM'', Japanese LP copies list the two sides as "Face ⌊•" and "Face ⌊••".

* VariantCover: The original release sported cover art (pictured above) of three Polaroids of the individual band members in Kabuki makeup, all laid against an off-white background. Reissues swapped out the cover with one [[https://t2.genius.com/unsafe/1418x0/https%3A%2F%2Fimages.genius.com%2F51dcae4382fd939c18a3239904d43cae.600x600x1.jpg featuring]] a stock photo of a woman in Maoist China against a red background; this cover has become better-known over the years, if only for how much more widely used it was. Since 2003, CD reissues include both covers on different sides of the liner notes pamphlet, allowing one to flip it around and insert it back in based on which cover they prefer.

More specifically, for this album, the band adopted use of the LMD-649, a digital sampler custom-built by Kenji Murata of [[Creator/{{EMI}} Toshiba EMI]] for their use. The first PCM-based sampler in the world, the device was far beefier tech-wise than the rival Fairlight CMI and Synclavier that had risen to prominence the previous year, featuring 12-bit audio depth, a 50 [=kHz=] sampling rate, 128 KB of dynamic RAM, and the ability to double as a drum machine. With this tool and its much better sound reproduction at their disposal, YMO could get far more creative with their songs than they could've ever imagined, exemplified by the record's layered LyricalColdOpen. {{Sampling}} became an integral part of ''Technodelic'', allowing the album to act as an unprecedentedly complex collage of different sounds: in fact, while Music/DavidByrne & Music/BrianEno's ''My Life in the Bush of Ghosts'' and Music/JeanMichelJarre's ''Les Chants Magnetiques'' earlier in 1981 had already beaten YMO to the punch of being the first albums to focus on samples and looped rhythms, ''Technodelic'' stood above them both by being the first album where these techniques made up the majority of it from front to back, to the point where even the band's vocals were used as samples. The 649 itself would later go on to be used by other Japanese synth-pop acts, including YMO associates Chiemi Manabe and Logic System.

* WordSaladLyrics: The words to "Key" get pretty abstract.

* UsefulNotes/SouthKorea: The setting of "Seoul Music", as the name implies.

* MutlilingualSong: "Taiso" features the verses and outro in Japanese and the choruses in English.

This highly experimental approach inevitably translated to lower commercial success than its predecessors, peaking at No. 4 on the Oricon LP chart, their lowest chart performance since [[Music/YellowMagicOrchestraAlbum their debut]] three years prior. However, such a peak was still impressively successful, especially for an album still considered pretty out-there by popular music standards. Because Creator/AAndMRecords had already dropped YMO earlier in the year following ''BGM''[='s=] failure in the States, ''Technodelic'' was never officially released in America; Alfa Records did, however, release the album themselves in Europe, where it... didn't seem to chart. Despite its low commercial performance, it was nonetheless massively acclaimed by critics, who both then and now have praised its innovative use of sampling that allowed it to sound far ahead of its time, predicting the similarly sample-heavy approaches of art pop acts like Music/PeterGabriel & Music/KateBush and experimental jazz acts like Music/HerbieHancock & Music/FrankZappa in the years after its release. While not regarded as YMO's absolute greatest album, being beat out by ''Music/SolidStateSurvivor'' before it, it's often treated as a close rival for the position, and is widely seen as one of the best albums of 1981-- if not the 80's as a whole-- by those who've heard it.

More specifically, for this album, the band adopted use of the LMD-649, a digital sampler custom-built by Kenji Murata of Toshiba EMI for their use. The first PCM-based sampler in the world, the device was far beefier tech-wise than the rival Fairlight CMI and Synclavier that had risen to prominence the previous year, featuring 12-bit audio, a 50 [=kHz=] sampling rate, 128 KB of dynamic RAM, and the ability to double as a drum machine. With this tool and its much better sound reproduction at their disposal, YMO could get far more creative with their songs than they could've ever imagined, exemplified by the record's layered LyricalColdOpen. {{Sampling}} became an integral part of ''Technodelic'', allowing the album to act as an unprecedentedly complex collage of different sounds: in fact, while Music/DavidByrne & Music/BrianEno's ''My Life in the Bush of Ghosts'' and Music/JeanMichelJarre's ''Les Chants Magnetiques'' earlier in 1981 had already beaten YMO to the punch of being the first albums to focus on samples and looped rhythms, ''Technodelic'' stood above them both by being the first album where these techniques made up the majority of it from front to back, to the point where even the band's vocals were used as samples. The 649 itself would later go on to be used by other Japanese synth-pop acts, including YMO associates Chiemi Manabe and Logic System.

** The first cover's predominantly red and white palette and featuring of the band in white Kabuki makeup recalls the album art for ''Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps'' by Music/DavidBowie; Masayoshi Sukita, who photographed the band for ''Technodelic'', had previously shot the cover photo for ''Music/HeroesDavidBowieAlbum''.

* ShoutOut: The music video for "Taiso" recalls that of [[Music/RemainInLight "Once in a Lifetime"]] by Music/TalkingHeads, featuring the band members performing in suits in a WhiteVoidRoom among various ChromaKey backdrops. This is somewhat explainable by the fact that ''Talking Heads themselves'' directed the video.

* PunnyName: "Pure Jam", referring to both musical jamming (tying in with the album's sound) and fruit jam (tying in with the song lyrics).

* CerebusSyndrome[=/=]ReverseCerebusSyndrome: The album is even bleaker in sound than ''BGM'', yet at the same time features wittier, more comedic lyrics.

* MythologyGag: The original cover art, with its primarily white color schemes and angled text and... whatever that shape in the corner is... recalls the cover of band member Music/RyuichiSakamoto's solo album ''B-2 Unit'' from the previous year.
* NewSoundAlbum: Compared to ''BGM'', ''Technodelic'' is even more avant-garde and trades out the dense, TR-808-driven music for more minimalist, sample-based work.

* VariantCover: The original release sported cover art (pictured above) of three Polaroids of the individual band members in Kabuki makeup, all laid against an off-white background. Reissues swapped out the cover with one [[https://t2.genius.com/unsafe/1418x0/https%3A%2F%2Fimages.genius.com%2F51dcae4382fd939c18a3239904d43cae.600x600x1.jpg featuring]] a stock photo of a woman in Maoist China against a red background; this cover has become better-known over the years, if only for how much more widely used it was.

* AlliterativeName: "'''G'''radiated '''G'''rey".

** The Japanese lyrics of "Taiso" give extra meaning to the song, describing the listener outright injuring themselves in cartoonishly violent ways from over-exercising (fitting in with how the choruses end with the line "and before you know it, you'll be ''twitching").

This highly experimental approach inevitably translated to lower commercial success than its predecessors, peaking at No. 4 on the Oricon LP chart, their lowest chart performance since [[Music/YellowMagicOrchestraAlbum their debut]] three years prior. However, such a peak was still impressively successful, especially for an album still considered pretty out-there by popular music standards. Because Creator/AAndMRecords had already dropped YMO earlier in the year following ''BGM''[='s=] failure in the States, ''Technodelic'' was never officially released in America; Alfa Records did, however, release the album themselves in Europe, where it... didn't seem to chart. Despite its low commercial performance, it was nonetheless massively acclaimed by critics, who both then and now have praised its innovative use of sampling that allowed it to sound far ahead of its time, predicting the similarly sample-heavy approaches of art pop acts like Music/PeterGabriel & Music/KateBush and experimental jazz acts like Music/HerbieHancock & Music/FrankZappa in the years after its release. While not regarded as YMO's absolute greatest album, being beat out by ''Music/SolidStateSurvivor'' before it, it's often treated as a close rival for the position, and is widely seen as one of the best albums of 1981 by those who've heard it.

For this album, the band adopted use of the LMD-641, a digital sampler custom-built by Kenji Murata of Toshiba EMI for their use. The first PCM-based sampler in the world, the device was far beefier tech-wise than the rival Fairlight CMI and Synclavier that had risen to prominence the previous year, featuring 12-bit audio, a 50 [=kHz=] sampling rate, 128 KB of dynamic RAM, and the ability to double as a drum machine. With this tool and its much better sound reproduction at their disposal, YMO could get far more creative with their songs than they could've ever imagined, exemplified by the record's layered LyricalColdOpen. {{Sampling}} became an integral part of ''Technodelic'', allowing the album to act as an unprecedentedly complex collage of different sounds: in fact, while Music/DavidByrne & Music/BrianEno's ''My Life in the Bush of Ghosts'' and Music/JeanMichelJarre's ''Les Chants Magnetiques'' earlier in 1981 had already beaten YMO to the punch of being the first albums to focus on samples and looped rhythms, ''Technodelic'' stood above them both by being the first album where these techniques made up the majority of it from front to back, to the point where even the band's vocals were used as samples.

* DoubleMeaningChorus: Given the difference between how the English and Japanese titles of "Seoul Music" refer to the capital city of UsefulNotes/SouthKorea (the English title using the modern name and the Japanese title using the occupation-era "Keijou"), it's possible to interpret the chorus-- and by extent the rest of the song-- as being about both Korea under the Chun Doo-hwan dictatorship and Korea under Japanese occupation.

*** "Seoul Music" is titled "京城音楽", "Keijou Ongaku", referring to the name Seoul used during the Japanese occupation, lending extra meaning to the chorus's use of the phrase "''old'' Korea."