YMO will be making a rare appearance in London on June 15th as part of this year's Meltdown festival.
I'm guessing that we'll see the more relaxed, chilled out 'Human Audio Sponge' incarnation of (L to R) Haruomi Hosono, Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto's Yellow Magic. But, who knows? I'd better start working out just in case...
I made a late decision yesterday to go and see Señor Coconut and His Orchestra play @ The Jazz Café, Camden. I'm glad I did, it was a fantastic show.
I've had German DJ Techie Herr Coconut somewhere in the back of my brain since I first heard of his Kraftwerk covers album a few years ago. Now he is touring his latest CD, Yellow Fever, a collection of Yellow Magic Orchestra tunes remodeled into a latin big band sound. I'm a rabid YMO fan so seeing this show was a no-brainer.
The besuited big band took to the stage of the Jazz Café with Coconut at the back standing behind his laptop. They started with an electro Merengue version of Rydeen. The German and Danish Trumpet, Trombone, Sax, Vibraphone, Bass, Percussion and Marimba players making a tremendously rich sound. After the opener they were joined by Venezuelan singer Argenis Brito, on a mission to get everyone in the crowd dancing and singing along.
Four YMO songs completed they moved onto Smooth Operator (Sade). At this point I was fearing that the show might be diverting into the direction of Mike Flowers style one joke novelty pop. Thankfully, I was mistaken and the band swung back into some Kraftwerk classics, including Die Roboter and Showroom Dummies. I would never have believed that Showroom Dummies could have been turned into such an amazing audience participation latin dance number. Other highlights for me were a Cha Cha Cha Behind The Mask and a Fa Fa Fa Autobahn. I highly recommended this nut for a great night out.
Listen to US (Ultimate Solo) Ryuichi Sakamoto.
On Friday you can listen to UC YMO [Ultimate Collection of Yellow Magic Orchestra].
On Saturday you can dance to Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi.
On Sunday you can cry over the credit card bill.
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