If there’s one band I’m sure I’ll never be disappointed with, it’s Señor Coconut! Mr. Uwe Schmidt (aka a huge number of names including Atom Heart, Erik Satin, Lisa Carbon etc. in fact if I tried to sample one song from all his identites, I will bust my monthly bandwidth) and his orchestra of 7 gentleman, who have covered Kraftwerk classics before as well as lots of Rock / Pop songs in their previous album has got a new album!. Sorry I’m skipping some parts because I’m sure everyone knows about Señor Coconut, and his Fiesta Songs album IS an essential for every person who has been listening to mainstream music for the last 20 years. Where else can you hear latino versions of Smoke on the Water, Beat It, Oxygene and Smooth Operator? Classic!

Anyways, at first I thought this was an original Señor Coconut album, but then I figured out these WERE in fact covers of Japanese 80′s electropop band Yellow Magic Orchestra. I had heard of their name and I surely have heard about Ryuichi Sakamoto, but I haven’t listened to the originals of these songs. So at first these stuff doesn’t ring a bell, but they’re so impressive, I really thought they were original latino songs (and great ones for sure). Then today I got curious about the originals of these songs, so I checked a few places, luckily, I found them out!. These songs are originally from 1979 and it seems YMO have been very influential on the electronic music scene. Too bad I was a toddler when they were alive and kickin!.

Anyways, here’s both versions of two songs. YMO’s electronic versions do not sound dated even after 25 years, and Señor Coconut and his impressive guest musicians (incl. Ricardo Villalobos, Akufen, Towa Tei and Mouse on Mars) have taken them and reshaped them into merengue and limbo songs for your aerobic class..

PS : Here’s something that I stumbled upon while searching for some free Senor Coconut samples on the net. Radio Free Polygon is an electronic radio with a weekly mix available for download. Diverse music taste check them out!

Senor Coconut – Yellow Magic (Tong Poo)
Senor Coconut – Rydeen
Yellow Magic Orchestra – Yellow Magic (Tong Poo)
Yellow Magic Orchestra – Rydeen
Senor Coconut – Beat It!
Senor Coconut – Showroom Dummies
Senor Coconut – Electrolatino (Ricardo Villalobos ‘Lecktro Carino Mix)
Senor Coconut – Riders on the Storm