My Bird Performs: England, thou hast forsaken me.

Found via Pitchfork, this is just reprehensible. I hope the English team's hotel explodes. Then, and only then, can we talk about calling it even.

(However, the incredulous-looking robot that graces the screen around the :48 mark did manage to make my morning.)

Speaking of soccer, the World Cup is upon us. I was lucky enough to catch both matches out of Group A earlier today, including a Germany-Costa Rica game that was way more exciting than the final score might suggest. Unfortunately for the Germans, the victory doesn't change the fact that their team is populated with players who look like they could play lead villains in any given 80s Cold-War-xpolitation flick. Some of these men appear terrifyingly Aryan; the fact that they're grouped with Poland is merely frosting on the Inappropriate Joke cake.

Sports Illustrated has a World Cup blog that you can check out for all your soccer needs. The USA begins its journey through the "group of death" with a match against the Czech Republic on Monday.

Other cool stuff:

- This thread, found on Hipinion and inspired by this site, transcends the realm of words... literally. If you've ever watched the Simpsons and been even mildly entertained, click those links as fast as possible.

- Irish safety and all-around tough guy Tom Zibikowski makes his professional boxing debut tomorrow night, facing off against doormat and admitted Ohio State fan Robert "The Disciple" Bell. According to Notre Dame wunder-blog The Blue-Gray Sky, Bell has been stricken with a serious case of "trashtalkitis", a disease which compliments his atrocious taste in football teams. Here's hoping Zibby aids in his recovery by punching his mouth off.

- I'm off to Chicago again this weekend, so updates may be sporadic until next week or so.

When I was in high school, Yellow Magic Orchestra was one of the first hip bands that I found completely by myself. I was working on a feature story about 80s music for my school's newspaper, and decided to delve deeper than your average compilation. For two weeks, I scoured sites like Yesterdayland (now called Retroland) and InThe80s for clues as to what bands I needed to expose to my mostly indifferent audience. The results were a mixed bag: while most of the groups were either embarassingly dated (yet still enjoyable) synthpop acts (Haircut 100, Alphaville) or exceedingly emotional New Romantic groups (Ultravox, The Spoons), a few managed to make permanent homes in my collection. Of all these, Yellow Magic Orchestra remains my personal favorite. Mixing the best parts of Kraftwerk's cold electronics with an Eno-like knack for sophisticate pop, their influence is subtle, yet far-reaching. In 2001, Jennifer Lopez sampled YMO's verson of Martin Denny's "Firecracker" in her single "I'm Real". This month, merengue junky Señor Coconut is set to release Yellow Fever!, an album which recasts YMO's orientalist electronica in a decidedly organic, not to mention South American, light. More information on that can be found at undomondo. Meanwhile, in honor of all these things, enjoy this semi-supersized update.

Yellow Magic Orchestra - Firecracker. The cover that started it all. As the first song of substance on YMO's self-titled debut, this track offers listeners their first taste of the band's fusion of exotica and electronica. This new orientalism is bolstered by production that still doesn't sound dated 28 years later. This is the track I fell in love with.

Yellow Magic Orchestra - Absolute Ego Dance. One of my favorite titles of all time, this track is from YMO's second (and some would say best) album, 1979's Solid State Survivor. Here, the eastern flavor is emphasized once again, but the sythn lines are busier and more varied, effectively lifting the song off its proverbial canvas and casting into three dimensions. A great song for one of those manic days.

Yellow Magic Orchestra - Cue. Finally, a look at the softer side of Hosono and co. Sounding like something Roxy Music might've released if they'd all been robots in disguise, "Cue" is actually a song from one of Ryuichi Sakamoto's solo projects that was reworked for release on 1980's BGM. Unlike many of YMO's other ventures into English lyrics, such as unintentionally hilarious covers of songs like the Beatles' "Day Tripper" or Archie Bell and the Drells' "Tighten Up", their vocal work on this track actually helps more than it hinders. All in all, this is one of BGM's finest moments, and a perfect track for nights of unexplained but welcome melancholia.

BONUS: Since undomondo has the Señor Coconut front coevered, I figured I'd fall back on an old standby: videos. So, enjoy these promo vids from both Yellow Magic Orchestra and Solid State Survivor, featuring:

1) "Computer Games"/"Firecracker"