New Circle of Cinema presents... Yellow Magic Orchestra Night

Join us on Thursday, June 15, 2023 at 7pm for

NEW CIRCLE OF CINEMA presents… YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA NIGHT

In partnership with our friends at ROOMS at 915 Dupont, NCC will be hosting an evening of unreleased and undstributed films about the members of the seminal Japanese electronic band, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and their members Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Yukihiro Takahashi.

• Tokyo Melody: A Film about Ryuichi Sakamoto - Elizabeth Lennard (1985, 62 min)
• No Smoking - Taketoshi Sado (2019, 96 min)
• YMO Propaganda - Makoto Satō and Saito Shin (1984, 83 min)

YMO formed in 1978 and pioneered a proto-techno electropop 'New Music' sound which, like a more melodic Kraftwerk, relied heavily on the era's explosion of computer-based technology, both as instruments and as the thematic content of their music. This sound would go on to inspire countless artists internationally, influencing everything from Detroit techno, NYC hip-hop, J-pop, chiptune, acid house, etcetera, etcetera. YMO's members have also each had prolific solo careers that treading the line between pop and experimental, within genres as diverse as city pop, ska, pysch rock, ambient, IDM, and classical film scores. Takahashi passed away this January, while Sakamoto passed away in March.

First up we have ᴛᴏᴋʏᴏ ᴍᴇʟᴏᴅʏ: ᴀ ꜰɪʟᴍ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ʀʏᴜɪᴄʜɪ ꜱᴀᴋᴀᴍᴏᴛᴏ, which was recorded just as YMO had broken up (for the first time), while Sakamoto was recording his 1984 album, Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia.

Then we'll play a new documentary about Haruomi Hosono, the dishonestly titled ɴᴏ ꜱᴍᴏᴋɪɴɢ, which chronicles Hosono's life, from his grandfather's survival of the Titanic disaster to jam sessions with Mac DeMarco.

No one has made a Takahashi documentary yet—which is unfortunate, because there's a rich post-YMO life to document there, from his work with other bands, his acting career in films written by both of the Murakamis (Ryū and Haruki), and a couple by Nobuhiko Obayashi, to his stints scoring anime and videogames. But we'll end the night by playing lots of dashing Takahashi footage by screening the rare arthouse-concert film, ʏᴍᴏ ᴘʀᴏᴘᴀɢᴀɴᴅᴀ , which shows the band at their most politically ironic and visually captivating.

Each of these films highlights so much more than just these artists' sound, but also shows their humour, obsession with design and fashion, technical proficiency and business acumen, and total commitment to the holistic creative process.

Host or Publisher New Circle of Cinema