Yellow Magic Orchestra -- Jiseiki~Hirake Kokoro （磁性紀～開け心）

I first heard this weird little number by YMO when I got that BEST OF YMO tape in 1982 via my brother. I gotta say that my first few times listening to it, my face got rather scrunchy. I mean, I'd known about the Yellow Magic Orchestra playing these wonderfully melodic techno tunes for a couple of years, but "Jiseiki - Hirake Kokoro"(Era of Magnetism - Open Your Heart) was more about the computer music I'd first heard on an old LP from the late 60s that was in my junior high school library.

Well, actually, it's more than that. I consider "Jiseiki" to be a nutty mix between radio static and a manic experience at a toy shop. And then there is this dive into digital insanity. I think along with all those synthesizers, a good bottle of shochu was one of the other vital ingredients in the making of the song. With (possibly profane?) lyrics by Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣） and music by Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto（高橋幸宏・坂本龍一）, "Jiseiki"was originally made for a Fuji audio cassette ad, and then got added onto an album titled "Snakeman Show" named after a multi-purpose group of folks who were radio DJs, sketch comedians and creators of commercials. In action from 1975 to 1983, YMO and New Wave band, Plastics, also had a congenial relationship with Snakeman Show.

Here is that Fuji tape commercial with the guys just sitting around as if they were waiting for a root canal.