From: fullfeed!gtaylor@gorgon.p (Gregory Taylor) Subject: Re: YMO/the Orb: Technodon Remixes II (review/pointer) Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1993 09:37:51 GMT YMO: the Technodon Remixes II [EMI-Toshiba TOCT-8070] Waterford (a23 diversion mix) 12:03 Waterford (a303 one lane closed mix) 12:15 Hi-Tech Ambience (ariel implosion mix) 10:02 Hi-Tech Hippies (ground plan for perfection mix) 7:08 Nanga Def? (hope you choke on your whale meat mix) 6:07 This is the second set of remixes from the YMO reunion disc "Technodon" to be released, the first featuring the work of Tei Towa and Go Hotoda. This one will, I think, be of greater interest to those not strictly interested in YMO due to the fact that the work is all done by the Orb [who opened for YMO for the June 10 and 11 performances at the Tokyo Dome]. The story is this; Having finished their "reunion" recording as YMO [a fine outing - though less explicitly poppy and with far more of a nod of the head to techno and the respective solo careers of the participants than one might have imagined], Ryuichi Sakamoto, Haruomi Hosono, and Yukihiro Takahashi put together a live performance [with an accompanying live CD that's not 2 slouchy, either] and then handed the masters over to a crew of folks to produce some remix EPs of the original stuff. Regular Orb listeners will, I think, find nothing radically surprising in the method of reconstruction here. Like the recent "YMO vs. the Orb" EP, it's basically a case of the usual Orb "Use as little or the original material as to render its regular component parts like a kind of perfume" approach. Compared to the "Tong Poo" remixes, there's a considerably greater amount of variety in the remixes. Oh, there's the usual world music borrowings [Throat singing, what sounds like a spike fiddle or double reed instrument, etc.] and the borrowed "broadcast report" samples whose context we're presumably encouraged to locate as slobbering Orb fans. Both of the remixes from "High-Tech Hippies" actually include the full melodic fragment. The rhythm tracks - where present - are the same kind of dub-heavy whacking with the distorted bass that'll be immediately recognizeable from "Towers of Dub" or the aforementioned "Tong Poo" stuff on the YMO/Orb EP or the remixes from "Techno Bible" or "Hi-Tech/No Crime"material. As a personal matter, I'm really happy with the first of the "Waterford" remixes(the a23 diversion mix): nice balance of stuff flying by with that big, boomy drum fills and the dubbed timbale rolls. The second "Waterford" omits the rhythm tracks entirely. Along with Go Hotoda's wonderful ambient remix of "Nostalgia" from the first of the remix discs, I'd have to say that it's (for me) the high point of the project. I think that the tech edge for the original "Nanga Def?" track gave me the impression that more could have been done with it than this Orb outing would suggest. The large amount of running water used in the recording also seems to make my house guests want to go to the bathroom whenever it's on. Considering that the "Tong Poo" stuff on the last EP was simply not diffentiated enough for my tastes [it's simple really. If I'm paying Japanese import prices, I prefer to get something with a little more variation than the "YMO vs. the Orb" (YMO won, I think)], this disc is a nice surprise. On balance, I prefer it to the first of the remix discs as a whole piece of work. But the car tape features stuff from both. There's enough material NOT on the remixes so far that it's tempting to wonder if we could hand Laswell or Tim Simenon some of what's left and *really* party. As ever, your mileage may vary. With every good wish, Gregory Taylor particular -- In the desert I prayed only for mercy, not happiness, not vindication, willing to settle. No price can be too high, no cruelty excessive if the end finds cruelty exhausted and mercy audible as a hammer's sound in rain. Gregory Taylor/email: gtaylor@heurikon.com/voice 608-828-3385 or 608-246-9621