Haruomi Hosono

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Before he was in YMO, he made some solo records. Is there any that you'd especially recommend?

― Daniel, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

― bob, Wednesday, 21 November 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

hey don't get us bobs mixed up now. i'd be interested to know about hosono & his happy end (not that godawful female beass band who went by the same name). fuck what that alan minter-face lopez woman has done to "firecracker" by YMO , though, i mean MOST pointless woman with a fat arse and a boxer's face in the world or what. faecal smearge on her part. whay can't she stay home instead of going to the studio with her lackeys?

― bob snoom, Saturday, 24 November 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

3 years pass...

Of his '70s albums, Bon Voyage Co., Tropical Dandy, Pacific, and Cochin Moon are all pretty great exotic pop albums. 'Hosono House,' his first album from 1973 is the only one that isn't very interesting. Overall, my favorite album of his is 'Omni Sight Seeing' from 1989, which Miharu Koshi plays on. It has a great Eastern (like Arab) vibe.

― Patrick South (Patrick South), Thursday, 12 May 2005 03:50 (8 years ago) Permalink

Miharu Koshi—a Hosono protege—is fantastic, I love all her 80s albums. Autoportrait is a good compilation.

I'd highly recommend Hosono's Monad Box, a collection of three of his instrumental and ambient records from the early 80s. My favourite of the discs included is Coincidental Music, which is short pieces made for advertising and promotional films. Sort of electronic Satie. Rather more delicate and strange than Sakamoto's work of the period.

Hosono's best solo song album is S-F-X, a Fairlight-heavy opus from 1984. There's a clip of one track here. And here are some pictures of Hosono, who's now a bit fatter, plays in Sketch Show, and runs the Daisyworld label.

― Momus (Momus), Thursday, 12 May 2005 17:42 (8 years ago) Permalink

I have Bon Voyage and Tropical Dandy and love them to death. (a friend of mine pointed out that a few tunes on these are practically randy newman progressions, which I never noticed). are the "tin pan alley" ones on par with those?

Unfortunately, getting any of this in the US is near impossible. the only other thing i've managed to track down (through dusty groove) was this bizarre early 80's record that he was apparently only partially involved with, which was a strange "top of the pops" sort of medley of about 15 60's-70's pop/disco standards and a few mediocre jazz-fusion originals.

― b'angelo, Thursday, 12 May 2005 17:56 (8 years ago) Permalink

I want to hear these albums very badly, especially Cochin Moon. They're close to impossible to find here.

'More delicate and strange' than early 80's Sakamoto is quite a teaser. Sakamoto's B-2 Unit and Esperanto are already fairly strange (if not delicate) records, but those were the odd ones out.

― milton parker (Jon L), Thursday, 12 May 2005 18:01 (8 years ago) Permalink

As a big YMO fan, who indeed hasn't indeed gotten to the bottom of their own back catalogue, are there any websites or articles that explains the YMO family tree and recommends any further listening?

― mzui (mzui), Thursday, 12 May 2005 18:48 (8 years ago) Permalink

Most of Hosono's albums are very easy to find in Japan, especially his '70s ones. The only one I own, though, is 'S-F-X'. But your best bet is www.cdjapan.co.jp I make a lot of orders from there.

I agree with Momus--Miharu Koshi is one of the greatest, most underrated Japanese artists of the '80s. She evolved from an insiginifant pop idol in the late '70s to a completely original synth-pop artist. Since the late '80s she's become a bit too idiosyncratic for my tastes ('Chanson Solaire' from '95 is probably her best from that era), but her albums are still beautifuI and I have the highest respect for her. She's due for a new album soon. I think 'Boy Soprano' from '85 is her best album--a perfect combination of her early synth-pop work and later chanson stuff. Unfortunately, her stuff is very hard to find, even in Japan. Her albums pop up on ebay, but they're always quite expensive. 'Boy Soprano' is probably the easiest to find.

One of my favorite Hosono-related bands is Chakra. They put out only three albums in the early '80s, and Hosono produced their second. They're all utterly essential exotic pop albums. Makoto Yano (Akiko Yano's first husband) produced their first album. The singer, Mishio Ogawa, put out four solo albums too, and they're also essential (especially her s/t). The last three were just reissued a few weeks ago actually, and I had never heard them beforehand. So I'm excited about those...they're very good.

Now that I'm talking about Japanese synth-pop, I'll make a few more recommendations. I recently discovered Taeko Onuki (or Ohnuki) and am completely in love. She started in the mid '70s, making more fusion-oriented pop albums, and then she teamed up with Ryuichi Sakamoto in the late '70s and started churning out one amazing pop album after the next. 'Adventure' (1981) is probably my favorite, but I have a lot that I've yet to hear!

Moon Riders are another of my favorites. They've been around since the '70s as well and, in my opinion, reached their peak in the early '80s with 'Mania Maniera' and 'Tokyo wa...'. They've spanned a lot of different style, but never put out a bad album.

Perhaps my favorite is Masami Tsuchiya's 'Rice Music' album (1982) and his follwing Ippu-Do album 'Night Mirage' (1983). Members of the band Japan assist on those two albums, as well as the fretless great Percy Jones. Bowie-esque vocals, experimental, angular guitar work (plus Bill Nelson doing his e-bow thing), completely out of control bass playing, steel drums, layers of synths, etc. Basically it's a hilariously awesome rhythm section with great songs too. I couldn't recommend these two albums more. It's too bad that 'Night Mirage' was never released on CD and 'Rice Music' is impossible to find on CD.....

Oh, and P-Model is another synth-pop great.

― Patrick South (Patrick South), Thursday, 12 May 2005 19:13 (8 years ago) Permalink

And, addressing that last question, these two sites are by far the best out there on Japanese synth-pop.

http://park10.wakwak.com/~techno/

http://www.artcontext.com/music/artskool/jem

That second one appears to be currently down for some reason....

― Patrick South (Patrick South), Thursday, 12 May 2005 19:16 (8 years ago) Permalink

I just listend to Cochin Moon today!

― Dominique (dleone), Thursday, 12 May 2005 19:25 (8 years ago) Permalink

Hey Leone, I was going to send you an email earlier about how I appreciated you Wha-ha-ha review. In the review you said the singer goes by Mishio...well that's Mishio Ogawa that I was talking about up there. Check out Chakra! You should dig them. I much prefer them to Wha-ha-ha, who are a bit too off the wall for my tastes.

― Patrick South (Patrick South), Thursday, 12 May 2005 19:42 (8 years ago) Permalink

By the way, if anybody wants any of the stuff I recommended (or any other J synth-pop that I might have) just send me an email and I can hook you up.

― Patrick South (Patrick South), Thursday, 12 May 2005 19:46 (8 years ago) Permalink

I think I must do that

I love Wha-ha-ha

― milton parker (Jon L), Thursday, 12 May 2005 20:27 (8 years ago) Permalink

I still can't get over how those Wha-ha-ha albums are getting this much (though minute in the scheme of things) attention. I mean they're good, but they're just so obscure. I can think of so many things that should logically receive attention before those. I'm not criticizing anything, I just find it odd. Is there some connection to this band that I'm missing? Any non-Japanese players on it?

― Patrick South (Patrick South), Friday, 13 May 2005 04:33 (8 years ago) Permalink

ReR put out a Wha-ha-ha compilation in the 80s that exposed them to Westerners (albeit ones into avant-prog and experimental music). I haven't really seen a lot of other reviews for them, but I'm guessing that some people just remember that LP.

Also, apparently Mishio was in Killing Time, so I need to check her out.

― Dominique (dleone), Friday, 13 May 2005 11:09 (8 years ago) Permalink

Ah okay.

Yes, I've been looking for Killing Time for a long time. Please let me know if you get a hold of their stuff.

― Patrick South (Patrick South), Friday, 13 May 2005 11:38 (8 years ago) Permalink

There's also an album by Love, Peace & Trance from the '90s. Mishio is "Trance," two women I'm unfamiliar with are the "Love" and "Peace" and Haruomi Hosono is the "&". The cover is kind of funny in that way. It's from '94 I think and kind of worldy...a bit more ambient too. Worth checking out.

― Patrick South (Patrick South), Friday, 13 May 2005 11:45 (8 years ago) Permalink

Bon Voyage and Tropical Dandy thirded or whatever. yes the Randy Newman progressions, but they also remind me of James Taylor or something equally soft. which may be a compliment since Don Cornelius called him the funkiest white man ever.
and yes to Cochin Moon (placed it on my Pitchfork list of the 70s), but it's completely different. never familiarized myself with YMO though.

― Beta (abeta), Friday, 13 May 2005 15:14 (8 years ago) Permalink

yeah, there is definitely a strange smooth singer/songwriter vibe to them- for some reason I kept thinking Van Morrison, but that might be more vocal style/phrasing than anything else. How would you characterize Cochin Moon as different? curious because it is one of the few things hypothetically US-available, albeit w/a $40+ price tag

― b'angelo, Friday, 13 May 2005 15:32 (8 years ago) Permalink

Cochin Moon is about the furthest possible thing from a singer-songwriter vibe: imagine a tropical space world where all matter flows in and out of states, and everyone uses Tangerine Dream's keyboards. "It's a trip."

― Dominique (dleone), Friday, 13 May 2005 15:54 (8 years ago) Permalink

sounds like a good place to be, then. Is that the one that tadanori yokoo had some sort of involvement with?

― b'angelo, Friday, 13 May 2005 16:05 (8 years ago) Permalink

yes, apparently the cover design was yokoo's. Check it out:

― Dominique (dleone), Friday, 13 May 2005 16:11 (8 years ago) Permalink

where do you find it for $40?

― Beta (abeta), Friday, 13 May 2005 19:16 (8 years ago) Permalink

making out a yesasia order for Cochin Moon todays. not sure whether to order the 2nd or 3rd album or a copy of S-F-X... are the 2nd and 3rd albums very similar to the first?

Patrick; Dleone's correct about the ReR connection, I grew up as a Recommended Records fanboy, buying anything they'd put out... Though I didn't finally hear Wha-Ha-Ha until researching backwards from the first Haniwa All-Stars record, which blew my mind in the early 90's. My interest in Senba's early Haniwa records & Wha-Ha-Ha is precisely because they're so eccentric & hard to figure out. I don't imagine they're particularly representative of early 80's JPop.

― milton parker (Jon L), Friday, 13 May 2005 19:37 (8 years ago) Permalink

Milton, I NEED those Haniwa albums!! Is there any way I can get a hold of those from you? Please let me know. I can hook you up with the Chakra albums or whatever else you need.

― Patrick South (Patrick South), Friday, 13 May 2005 23:19 (8 years ago) Permalink

milton.parker@gmail.com -- I've got all four of them and would love to trade for Chakra, solo Mishio, anything else

the yesasia site is listing this album in hosono searches, the title is killing me... have you heard it?

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=FHCF-2344

― milton parker (Jon L), Friday, 13 May 2005 23:23 (8 years ago) Permalink

Yes, I have that one. Though it's probably not as "bizarre" as you'd think. Moon Riders are fairly accessible by our standards. Their earlier albums are superior in my opinion. I'm a huge fan, and have most of their albums ('Amateur Academy' from 1984 is the one I really need). I'll email you.

The easiest way for me to get this stuff to you is through Soulseek. My name on their is Magazine, so message me if you use that program. The only other way I can think of is YSI, which will take a little while (though it's not too much trouble really).

B'angelo has some requests too. Whatever you guys request, I'll get it to you some time this weekend (or now if you have slsk).

― Patrick South (Patrick South), Friday, 13 May 2005 23:36 (8 years ago) Permalink

Basically, the ideal music for me is early '80s exotic Japanese synth-pop with fretless bass and steel drums.

― Patrick South (Patrick South), Friday, 13 May 2005 23:50 (8 years ago) Permalink

Cochin Moon recently has been reissued on CD in Japan. When I was in Tokyo in April, Tower had at least a half dozen copies. Don't sleep--this is an all-time classic of next-level exotica, abounding with bizarre synth tones and textures.

― Dave Segal (Da ve Segal), Saturday, 14 May 2005 00:04 (8 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

Has he done any more stuff along the lines of SFX? I enjoyed that very much...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 17 June 2005 17:58 (7 years ago) Permalink

Reissue of Cochin Moon sounds great btw.

― Dominique (dleone), Friday, 17 June 2005 18:52 (7 years ago) Permalink

still need to hear SFX, but thanks again to patrick for setting me up with that massive trade.

Cochin Moon, way closer to mid-70's Cluster than I would have ever expected (though I do prefer Cluster). A surprise, even given Dominque's Tangerine Dream reference -- definitely in the 70's trance/synth records pantheon.

Bon Voyage & Tropical Dandy much more tin-pan-alley than electronic, but Paraiso is off-kilter, lays the way out for the first YMO. Omni Sight Seeing, thumbs up if you like late YMO. I like Hosono's solo mainstream pop records much more than Sakamoto's, no contest.

Miharu Koshi's Boy Soprano, wow.

And the Mishio Ogawa & Chakra stuff is eye-opening after a lifetime of Haniwa fandom. Chakra's much more straightforward / less quirky, but I'm very happy just to be able to place Haniwa in context with, well, _anything_.

Boy Soprano, the Mishio Ogawa debut, & Cochin Moon are the three I ordered online after hearing the mp3's.

― milton parker (Jon L), Friday, 17 June 2005 20:18 (7 years ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

Cochin Moon is very enjoyable -- if not particularly immediate, which makes it perhaps a little odd how universally admired it appears to be (Best of the 70's lists and all). I confess it only really impacted me when I went through a heavy analog phase. Also, I'm only hearing the early Cluster '71 in the "Malabar Hotel" sections, really -- I do enjoy how mutilated all the vocals are, however...

Am I correct that this has Sakamoto on it?

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 21 November 2005 03:11 (7 years ago) Permalink

yes

― Dominique (dleone), Monday, 21 November 2005 15:58 (7 years ago) Permalink

I did eventually get S-F-X, and I like it okay -- side one is his tin-pan-alley songwriting poured into super clunky mid-80's j-electro, and side two are abstract quiet instrumentals. 'Alternative 3' is a very disjointed cut-up track that sounds like where Holger Hiller ended up on As Is about six years later, and 'Androgena' is a duet with Miharu Koshi and I heart Miharu Koshi.

I dunno though... even though his pop is weirder than Sakamoto's, Sakamoto's pure experimental albums (B-2 Unit & Esperanto) are 1000% more bizarre and advanced than Hosono's, those albums are timeless.

― milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 21 November 2005 23:06 (7 years ago) Permalink

First time I heard Cochin Moon was while tripping on acid with members of Vas Deferens Organization. I wish I could freeze that moment in time forever; it was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. I owe those guys a huge debt of gratitude for introducing me to that album and many other obscure psychedelic classics.

― original plagiarist, Tuesday, 22 November 2005 01:47 (7 years ago) Permalink

hey dominique

http://us.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/pid-1004088657/code-j/section-videos/

(this should probably go on the noise board's wha-ha-ha thread but too late)

― milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 28 November 2005 01:43 (7 years ago) Permalink

oh hell they deserve their own thread anyways

Kiyohiko Senba and his Haniwa All Stars

― milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 28 November 2005 02:19 (7 years ago) Permalink

SFX has some fantastic Fairlight stuff on it, though. And enough listens to Cochin Moon have at least motivated me to think he's every bit as advanced/sophisticated/whatever as Sakamoto.

BTW, what exactly did Andy Partridge do on B-2 Unit?

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 28 November 2005 02:34 (7 years ago) Permalink

definitely the rhythm guitar on "6 o'clock News", and there are other little plucks & screeches on other tracks that could be him, maybe. If you listen to the Mr. Partridge Take Away solo album from around the same time you can hear his basic vocabulary of weird guitar sounds

I dunno Matthew, you heard Esperanto?

― milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 28 November 2005 03:02 (7 years ago) Permalink

r. stevie moore's 1980 review of take away

― milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 28 November 2005 03:09 (7 years ago) Permalink

definitely the rhythm guitar on "6 o'clock News"

You mean that electric guitar in the right-channel that's barely audible and sounds as if it's unplugged? If so, that's...odd.

I dunno Matthew, you heard Esperanto?

Most of it — I just re-listened again this morning (have about 6 tracks downloaded). Assuming they aren't remixes, I'd say it's good but no B-2 Unit — lots mallet-y textures and ambience. But if you think I'm missing something, maybe I should re-download to verify that I'm listening to the right tracks.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 28 November 2005 16:58 (7 years ago) Permalink

First time I heard Cochin Moon was while tripping on acid with members of Vas Deferens Organization

ha, I first heard it with "members of the Vas Deferens Organization" too. My member was Eric

news you can use: japanese CDs are too damned expensive

― Dominique (dleone), Monday, 28 November 2005 18:51 (7 years ago) Permalink

track 1 of Esperanto should be called "a WONGGA dance song" and it's anything but ambient...

I am beginning to miss the days when people were relatively certain they were talking about the same record. A few days ago at a dinner party someone put on something interesting, and when I asked what it was he said it was the new Boards of Canada. He didn't believe me when I told him that it wasn't, he just brought over to his iPod to show me the tags.

― milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 28 November 2005 19:30 (7 years ago) Permalink

brought me over etc. & I know you're not like that Matthew, I'm just feeling ancient

I put on Omni Sight Seeing last night, that is definitely my favorite Hosono pop album, every song...

― milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 28 November 2005 19:35 (7 years ago) Permalink

First time I heard Cochin Moon was while tripping on acid with members of Vas Deferens Organization

And I first read that as "tripping on acid with members of Van Der Graaf Generator.

I am beginning to miss the days when people were relatively certain they were talking about the same record.

No kidding — but I think Dom's "news you can use" is the culprit in this instance. And actually, that's one of the 2 tracks I don't have. Still, p2p's are great for finding rarities...

Is there a good Hosono comp, btw?

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 28 November 2005 20:26 (7 years ago) Permalink

ha, I first heard it with "members of the Vas Deferens Organization" too. My member was Eric

I had both Matt and Eric in the room, with running commentary and interpretive facial expressions. THAT is a proper introduction to Cochin Moon, let me tell you.

― original plagiarist (Da ve Segal), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 04:50 (7 years ago) Permalink

BTW, Jon -- since it was on a separate EP that was only added to CD issues of SFX, have you heard the Hosono track "Non-Standard Mixture"? Just askin', b/c it's a great little Fairlight jam, me thinks -- not the clunky electro to which you referred above...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 01:16 (7 years ago) Permalink

to the YSI machine then!

― Beta (abeta), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 02:21 (7 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 25 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

weird, that happened? would not have predicted that.

― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Tuesday, 5 October 2010 04:27 (2 years ago) Permalink

and yeah, hosono is the best. medicine compilation, NDE, and philharmonic are my faves.

― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Tuesday, 5 October 2010 04:28 (2 years ago) Permalink

What happened with r1o?

― That Blippity Bloop Music (Capitaine Jay Vee), Tuesday, 5 October 2010 19:04 (2 years ago) Permalink

this is what my investigation turned up:

he image bombed the wdyll thread with various types of porn & got bant

― J0rdan S., Thursday, September 30, 2010 11:24 PM (5 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

also made homophobic slurs

― Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile (dayo), Thursday, September 30, 2010 11:25 PM (5 days ago) Bookmark

― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Wednesday, 6 October 2010 03:16 (2 years ago) Permalink

i guess r1o had some tricks up his sleeve

― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Wednesday, 6 October 2010 03:17 (2 years ago) Permalink

yipes!

― That Blippity Bloop Music (Capitaine Jay Vee), Wednesday, 6 October 2010 04:37 (2 years ago) Permalink

2 weeks pass...

Going through the Monad albums now; this is what I always hoped Brian Eno's ambient stuff sounded like. Very oddly sentimental, has parts that sort of hint at pop melodies and parts where a chord sounds intentionally "off". Great stuff!!!

― frogbs, Tuesday, 26 October 2010 15:44 (2 years ago) Permalink

Hey guy, r1o messaged me to let you know that he's fine, he just needed a permaban so he could quit ILX cold turkey and finish schoolwork, and also that he's not a homophobe.

He also wanted me to post the rest of the Monad box he had meant to post:

mercuric dance

http://www.sendspace.com/file/xiuhge

coincidental music

http://www.sendspace.com/file/agijq6

paradise view

http://www.sendspace.com/file/hr6alw

Also: Sakamoto/Robin Scott - The Arrangement

http://www.sendspace.com/file/pj0ddj

― corey, Thursday, 28 October 2010 03:54 (2 years ago) Permalink

hey *guys, I mean

― corey, Thursday, 28 October 2010 03:55 (2 years ago) Permalink

r10 is a homophobe fwiw.

― i love you but i have chosen snarkness (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 28 October 2010 04:09 (2 years ago) Permalink

I don't know, I'm only saying what he told me.

― corey, Thursday, 28 October 2010 04:23 (2 years ago) Permalink

somehow i'm both a huge fan of hosono but wholly clueless about this monad box. which disc should i download first?

― beta blog, Thursday, 28 October 2010 14:01 (2 years ago) Permalink

Coincidental Music is great — little short character pieces he did for TV ads IIRC. Highly melodic and memorable.

Mercuric Dance is his ambient album. His sort of gauzy, hazy sleepiness seems to take off from the last track of Music for Airports (even Eno never really did anything else like that track).

Paradise View is a soundtrack to an obscure Japanese film set in Okinawa (I think). Lots of Fairlights and tropical moods (like Sakamoto's Esperanto) with some Okinawan-sounding vocals.

― corey, Thursday, 28 October 2010 14:16 (2 years ago) Permalink

I liked this description:

"An album of very interesting, sampled and re-assembled Okinawan music with an emphasis on gamelan-like sounds. I got a chuckle when a Village Voice film critic commented on the wonderful, authentic Okinawan score ("authentic" Hosono and his K250 that is). In the film, Hosono plays a supporting role as a sensitive, but out of his element Japanese grade school teacher transplanted to Okinawa. The big in-joke is that one of the teenage girls in the story has a YMO shrine in her room and seems quite infatuated, yet has no apparent interest in her school teacher and his resembalance to a YMO member. This was the first Okinawan language feature film and according to the IMDB co-stars Jun Togawa though when I saw the film quite some time ago I didn't know what she looked like or had a translation of the cast list."

― frogbs, Tuesday, 2 November 2010 21:28 (2 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

New album "HoSoNoVa" due April 20th? Anyone have any idea what this is? It appears to be a new solo album (his first in a long time) with guests and a few covers, but that's all I could discern through Google translate

― frogbs, Monday, 7 March 2011 16:39 (2 years ago) Permalink

― jaxon, Monday, 7 March 2011 17:03 (2 years ago) Permalink

so not a lot of info overall

― your LiveJournal experience (schlump), Monday, 7 March 2011 18:58 (2 years ago) Permalink

yeah hopefully we get something on this in the coming days/weeks

I'm thinking of doing a Hosono albums poll but honestly I have no idea where to draw the line...plus you can't exactly compare Tropical Dandy to Coincidental Music

― frogbs, Monday, 7 March 2011 19:23 (2 years ago) Permalink

2 weeks pass...

Speaking of - if you have Coincidental Music, go listen to the last track (the 11+ minute one); it's such a gorgeous piece of music that I think does a good job representing what Hosono was really all about. I love how it gradually segues into a Philharmony-type vocal experiment track for a while. Could easily be longer. Can't believe I never have it a fair shake until now.

― frogbs, Thursday, 24 March 2011 20:08 (2 years ago) Permalink

6 months pass...

damn, the last song on "Omni Sight Seeing" is so beautiful, how I wish he made more albums that were just straightforward techno-pop

― frogbs, Wednesday, 19 October 2011 19:48 (1 year ago) Permalink

been listening to tropical dandy a lot recently, liking it a lot

― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Wednesday, 19 October 2011 19:48 (1 year ago) Permalink

yeah, that lullaby-type instrumental at the end is amazing. but really Bon Voyage Co. and ESPECIALLY Paraiso are even better.

― frogbs, Wednesday, 19 October 2011 20:23 (1 year ago) Permalink

3 weeks pass...

Man, 'Cochin Moon.' It's astonishing that they were using the relatively new musical form (electronic pop music) with such total control, making it sound effortless and alive in ways electronic pop made with a further couple decades rarely match. I'd say it almost makes 'E=MC2' sound a little clunky. And the production is just unbelievable--not sure what method is employed, but it has moments that create a surround-sound effect--beyond stereo, sounds around the listening point, or moving far away or nearby in front of you.

― Soundslike, Saturday, 12 November 2011 04:20 (1 year ago) Permalink

It's like Dockstader or Parmegianni or Henry--making fully-realized, emotional electronic and electro-acoustic music a decade or two earlier, while most people were just barely managing to twiddle knobs and make "UFO sound effects". So far ahead of the game, I'd be bowled over if it were released today--because it's just so good, it's decidedly secondary that it's visionary.

― Soundslike, Saturday, 12 November 2011 04:22 (1 year ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

good description, just wanted to point out that "Hum Ghar Sajan" blows me away every damn time, I wish there were more songs like that one

I'm starting to get into his Omni Sight Seeing/Medicine Comp/NDE period and it's pretty good; essentially a mix of the different styles he's attempted, plus some very Indian-style techno, again ahead of its time. Strongly recommended, it turns out there is life after YMO

― frogbs, Tuesday, 8 May 2012 19:57 (1 year ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

"birthday" is so cool

― blank, Thursday, 13 September 2012 07:33 (8 months ago) Permalink

"happy birthday", i mean. sounds so far ahead of its time.

― blank, Thursday, 13 September 2012 07:34 (8 months ago) Permalink

One last time. "birthday party"

― blank, Thursday, 13 September 2012 07:34 (8 months ago) Permalink

only song i've ever uploaded to youtube is a killer cover of "sports man"

― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 13 September 2012 08:39 (8 months ago) Permalink

hey that's neat! love the different vocals that occur midway through.

― blank, Thursday, 13 September 2012 09:03 (8 months ago) Permalink

I always wondered what Sportsmen was about...my guess was it's about being from a family of athletes, but kind of sucking at everything?

I don't know if I can call "Birthday Party" ahead of its time; who else makes music like that??

― frogbs, Thursday, 13 September 2012 14:39 (8 months ago) Permalink

i love how Sportsmen has this endearingly outsider/emasculated point of view as he considers fitness, it always makes me think of retro illustrations of athletes as a sort of utopian ideal.

― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Thursday, 13 September 2012 15:06 (8 months ago) Permalink

just wanna paste these lyrics, it sounds like he's having a near-death experience (and then again, it could just be about nothing)

My car radio's playing a song
That makes me feel very strange
It's taken so long
Through the gradation of the grey scale
A landscape like I've never seen
As far as my eyes can see
Out on the road
I've seen so many shades, shades of grey
Now I'm back in the tunnel again
Every minute, every second
I can feel it getting closer
Speeding ahead
To where grey meets white

― frogbs, Thursday, 13 September 2012 15:16 (8 months ago) Permalink

thematically, the lyrics of "sportsmen" remind me of "pride" by robert palmer (except the dude in "pride" is a total prick and the dude in "sportsmen" is humble and introspective).

― blank, Thursday, 13 September 2012 23:52 (8 months ago) Permalink

i just made a ~75 minute mix of Hosono tracks, mostly from his post-YMO era (topping out at 1993 since I haven't heard anything after), focusing on the more surreal/gorgeous stuff. anyone interested?

― frogbs, Wednesday, 19 September 2012 13:49 (8 months ago) Permalink

y'huh

― let's get the banned back together (schlump), Wednesday, 19 September 2012 13:59 (8 months ago) Permalink

and yes, please, and thank you!

― nerve_pylon, Wednesday, 19 September 2012 14:00 (8 months ago) Permalink

Hells yes frogbs, post that thing!

― Pat Ast vs Jean Arp (MaresNest), Wednesday, 19 September 2012 14:17 (8 months ago) Permalink

been spinning the monad stuff a lot lately, so this sounds right up my alley. v much interested!

― (⊙_⊙?) (Alan N), Wednesday, 19 September 2012 14:41 (8 months ago) Permalink

Alright, here she is. Nearly every Hosono album I've heard has two or three tunes on it that hit me in a weird way, or make me want to listen to them over and over again, so I basically just put a bunch of them into one playlist and I've been listening to it nonstop. It focuses on the electronic stuff, though there are a few solo piano tracks here. I kept everything from the (numerous) collaborations out as well as his pre-Cochin Moon material since it doesn't really fit in here. Enjoy!

http://www.sendspace.com/file/r4b8ud

― frogbs, Wednesday, 19 September 2012 23:28 (8 months ago) Permalink

into this, thank you.

just discovered the tale of genji ost this week. incredible.

― (⊙_⊙?) (Alan N), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 22:20 (7 months ago) Permalink

those shimmering, reverb-drenched percussion sounds. man.

― (⊙_⊙?) (Alan N), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 22:22 (7 months ago) Permalink

I always hosono every day

― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 22:35 (7 months ago) Permalink

the percussion is my favorite part of many of these tracks. listening to them all in a row it's kind of neat how consistant he is with that, even with the ten-year gap the drum loops on "Hum Ghar Sajan" and his cover of "Caravan" are very similar, ditto "Sayokoskatti"

one thing I really dig about Hosono is that there's a real sense of location to a lot of his music. it doesn't really feel like it was created in a studio. the tale of genji ost is a good example of this but really everything he does kind of transports you to a strange place.

― frogbs, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 15:52 (7 months ago) Permalink

"sayokoskatti" is so awesome

― (⊙_⊙?) (Alan N), Tuesday, 2 October 2012 18:09 (7 months ago) Permalink

yep

― clouds, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 19:54 (7 months ago) Permalink

― mookieproof, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 21:13 (7 months ago) Permalink

i'd put that on my car

― frogbs, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 21:26 (7 months ago) Permalink

"sayokoskatti" is so awesome

Thirded. All time.

― blank, Wednesday, 3 October 2012 00:45 (7 months ago) Permalink

really like how chill old Harry is. great rendition

― frogbs, Wednesday, 3 October 2012 01:06 (7 months ago) Permalink

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