"Rydeen" from Solid State SurvivorYellow Magic Orchestra Date: 30 September, 2003   —   $15.49   —   Music product page   read other reviews Rating:

If you've never heard of "Rydeen" (or "RYDEEEEEEEEN!" as I like to call it), you will now! "Rydeen", as performed by the aptly-named Yellow Magic Orchestra, is one of the most important musical compositions you may have never heard of. Know J-pop and anime? Video game soundtracks? Let's just say "Rydeen" is one of the oldest, yet still tastiest—to this day!—crops to harvest in this watermelon vine.

Let's take a trip back to around 1979, when Nintendo was far from a household name and so were words like "techno", and well, "Rydeen" (but I'm hoping to change that, despite not knowing what "rydeen" means). The home computer market was starting to rise up, and a new decadence of excess would commence. Three Japanese dudes, one of whom would later on go to do the music for a film where a little boy throws a mouse at a gate, put together a indelibly delicious gem backed by a cloppy 4/4 beat, SUPER-CATCHY MELODIES (!!!), hypnotic synthetic arpeggios, rez zaps and tom-tom zooos!, bleepy flute loops, and uh, bubble this all up in one catchy cauldron. A MASTERMIND TEMPLATE FOR FUTURE CLICHES!

"The crystal clear pure momentum of 'Rydeen' is just gorgeous and is so fresh in comparison to some of the unfocused techno of the last few years."

You're prolly familiar with many works that were influenced and/or inspired by "Rydeen". So many I won't start naming. That being said, if you listen to the original, you'll instantly know why it is such a bedrock of future techno music hope. Hear it out a few times and you'll have the melody ingrained in your head, and you won't be getting it out without a lobotomy—but that's okeydokey 'cuz it's such a masterful yet playful work. Something I wish I could hear more of, if I could hear better, period. The crux of the tune is that in about 4-and-a-half minutes, it is pure pop perfection yet technical excellence too. Not a single second is wasted: it's tight yet relaxed, supple yet frenetic.

Over the years, a number of other versions of "Rydeen" have been surface (intentional). From a punchy live version to a suckier live version to cover versions spanning the gamut from: an actual 8-bit "remix";  a modern-day trance remix, that wouldn't be out of place in DDR; a heavy metal rendition with guitar distortion free o' charge; a bouncy ska remake; and even a classical string rendition by Balanescu Quartet. Now let me add, most of these adaptations are rare, even more rare than the original, but it shouldn't be this way. I almost cried when watching the original "Rydeen" video. Synchronized beautifully and deliciously hallucinogenic… you may be able to look it up on P2P.

Gosh, to think this came out in '79!

Info on the Yellow Magic Orchestra can be hard to come by. I suspect there's a lot in Japanese that hasn't been ported to English—one example is this DVD. But take a stroll down a lateral road and check out a virtual soft synth that has presets inspired by it, and download an MP3 of "Rydeen" made by that instrument which is pretty close to the original but somewhat tinnier. There's also a raw, aliased Game Boy version by Sean Connolly from Cosine Systems. And let's not forget this. The actual single with robot cover art (which has also become broadly used) is hard to find, too, but as I was mentioning earlier, paving the way for progress! Even moreso, the lead instrument is listed as a famous sound (scroll down some) which you can also hear for yourself. A drifty blog entry catches my eye. Close your eyes and wave your arms to the beat and imagine a cadre of ultrasonic, multicolored fighters descending upon the ruins of a smoldering, inflated city, making swhmooosh! sounds and assembling into gestalt form to face their most enemious enemy.

Once you hear "Rydeen", you'll be redeemed.