Yellow Magic Orchestra - Technodelic (1981)

Widening their vision of synth-pop to include the darker strains of urban/R&B as well as a few vocals indebted to Roxy Music, 1981's Technodelic proved a high-quality album that showed Yellow Magic Orchestra had the talent and inspiration to grow beyond Kraftwerk-derived electronic pop heavy on the novelty but a bit light on bending genres. Though they aren't exactly melancholy, "Neue Tanz" and "Pure Jam" distinguish themselves through a clever use of synth and effects rather than through the simplistic melodies of previous work. There are some acknowledgements to acoustic music (such as the piano on "Stairs"), but for the most part YMO pursues a new direction with the same synthesizers they'd been using previously.