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 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

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

three 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 (thirteen 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 (thirteen 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 (thirteen 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 (thirteen 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 (thirteen 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 (thirteen 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 (thirteen years ago) Permalink

I just listend to Cochin Moon today!

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

I think I must do that

I love Wha-ha-ha

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

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

http://www.sonymusicshop.jp/smdr/sms/img/goods/L/KICS-1139.jpg

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

where do you find it for $40?

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

one 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 (twelve years ago) Permalink

Reissue of Cochin Moon sounds great btw.

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

five 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 (twelve years ago) Permalink

yes

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

r. stevie moore's 1980 review of take away

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

to the YSI machine then!

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

Skipping 121 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

a hosono + dan collab would make me piss my pants

― wizzz! (amateurist), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 05:22 (two years ago) Permalink

Me too, there's a few JP bands that are Dan like (Kirinji or Tomita Lab) but I can't think of any Hosono tracks that sound like them either.

― MaresNest, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 10:22 (two years ago) Permalink

Still alive. Good.

― The Robustness of Captchas (Tom D.), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 13:35 (two years ago) Permalink

could he be thinking of World Standard? man, I have no clue

― frogbs, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 13:40 (two years ago) Permalink

Still alive. Good.

I'm gonna start rip threads for live dudes if you knuckleheads keep this up

― lute bro (brimstead), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 16:45 (two years ago) Permalink

Bet he meant Little Feat

― Deverly (Bangelo), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 22:34 (two years ago) Permalink

He meant Little Feat.

― Demeraray & Essequebo (Tom D.), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 22:47 (two years ago) Permalink

who played with Happy End right? that's probably it

― frogbs, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 22:51 (two years ago) Permalink

Got it.

― Demeraray & Essequebo (Tom D.), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 22:54 (two years ago) Permalink

And they were the backing band for the first Akiko Yano record too.

― MaresNest, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 23:45 (two years ago) Permalink

ah yes, that must be what he meant

how did hosono hook up w/ little feat btw? there must be a good story there.

― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 11 February 2016 03:01 (two years ago) Permalink

Maybe happy end opened up for them in Japan? Wasn't' happy end the early 70s folky group hosono was in?

― lute bro (brimstead), Thursday, 11 February 2016 03:49 (two years ago) Permalink

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_End_(1973_album)#Background_and_recording

― Deverly (Bangelo), Thursday, 11 February 2016 03:56 (two years ago) Permalink

four months pass...

World Standard

going through big Hosono kick right now, and just discovered this band. I kind of can't believe I like it, but this first record is really nice

― Dominique, Wednesday, 29 June 2016 22:03 (one year ago) Permalink

their 3rd record (confusing called "world standard 2") is even better - on hosono's FOA label & also produced by him. 2nd record "allo" lacks hosono involvement and is kind of a outliner in their catalog (as there's not much of the minimalist francophile vibes / overt nina rota references / etc) but there's a couple really amazing abstracted pop songs. also the everything play albums (which was another alias sohichiro suzuki used) are worth checking out - especially "posh" from '91...

suzuki can at times come off a little precious or maudlin but there's a certain kind of precision in his approach (very japanese, of course) that i can always appreciate. the inverted gaze of his pan-culturalism (itself present in a bunch of hosono's work as well) is also quite fascinating

― spencer d, Thursday, 30 June 2016 04:20 (one year ago) Permalink

four months pass...

pacific is so relaxing atm

― clouds, Monday, 14 November 2016 16:28 (one year ago) Permalink

one month passes...

this blog has a post on (with download link) music hosono did for the housewares brand muji in the early 80s -- it sounds most like mercuric dance but the tracks are more longform and minimalistic. had no idea this even existed.

http://glob.daniel-letson.com/posts/haruomi-hosono-watering-a-flower/

― clouds, Monday, 2 January 2017 04:36 (one year ago) Permalink

yes! also featured on the first muji bgm disc:
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUJI_BGM1980-2000

so beautiful & so addictive. I listen to this almost every day. it's a part of my life's routine at this point, making coffee, feeding my cats, listening to hosono's bgm.

ps the 'found muji' store in shibuya plays this stuff on loop!

― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Monday, 2 January 2017 05:43 (one year ago) Permalink

Heaven is Hosono's first Muji BGM track on infinite loop.

― J. Sam, Monday, 2 January 2017 21:04 (one year ago) Permalink

this one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW6XDU96KI0

excellent revive, this is great!

― Karl Malone, Monday, 2 January 2017 21:16 (one year ago) Permalink

Yup, that's the one. *chills down the spine*

― J. Sam, Monday, 2 January 2017 22:13 (one year ago) Permalink

― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Monday, 2 January 2017 22:40 (one year ago) Permalink

Fantastic.

(Is that a Juno 60 we're here?)

― Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, 2 January 2017 23:17 (one year ago) Permalink

four months pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN7UE4uGIwE

This didn't seem to be on Youtube so I ripped it from vinyl and stuck it up there. I really like this micro-edit era of his work, shame there's not a little more of it out there.

― bamboohouses, Sunday, 14 May 2017 09:13 (one year ago) Permalink

superb.
hey, it's got the John McLaughlin opening guitar note sample from 'Miles Runs the Voodoo Down' that Jon Hassell used too (on 'Mati' from 'Dressing for Pleasure')!

― Max Florian, Sunday, 14 May 2017 11:26 (one year ago) Permalink

one month passes...

Happy Birthday!!! (well for yesterday, gomenasai)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_93SrREKkE

― MaresNest, Tuesday, 11 July 2017 12:04 (ten months ago) Permalink

four months pass...

New album out in Japan this week, and sound samples up here: http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/hosono/

Still in his folk/lounge phase, but sounds great...

― bamboohouses, Sunday, 12 November 2017 13:30 (six months ago) Permalink

I kinda love that he's going back to the start of his career, in a way. I'm assuming these are mostly covers, correct?

mentioned this in the vaporwave thread but Internet Club's Vanishing Vision album has a very distinct and deliberate Hosono vibe - this track feels like it could have been directly lifted from Coincidental Music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26vJlGSUDnU&feature=youtu.be&t=15m53s

― frogbs, Thursday, 16 November 2017 19:08 (six months ago) Permalink

it was probably directly lifted from Shenmue

― clouds, Thursday, 16 November 2017 21:08 (six months ago) Permalink

hah, right...maybe not the guy himself but whatever he lifted it from

― frogbs, Friday, 17 November 2017 13:07 (six months ago) Permalink

New album is two discs - covers on disc 1, originals on disc 2 (including I think some reworkings of earlier Hosono songs?).

I love how is approaches this period of American music from an almost anthropological perspective - far from just assuming it's the default mode of rock and roll and replicating it, he treats it to the same kind of ethnographic/exotic study as, say, Hassell was doing with non-Western music.

― bamboohouses, Friday, 17 November 2017 13:45 (six months ago) Permalink

* how HE approaches

― bamboohouses, Friday, 17 November 2017 13:45 (six months ago) Permalink

huh I never thought of it that way

after some research it looks like the songs on Disc 2 span from 84 to the present day, though much of it re-recorded.

― frogbs, Friday, 17 November 2017 14:30 (six months ago) Permalink

two weeks pass...

Of all the places where I expected to see an English-language review of the new album, the Economist homepage was not one of them.
https://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2017/12/story-synthesiser

― bamboohouses, Thursday, 7 December 2017 18:16 (five months ago) Permalink

whoever wrote that is a real hero

― frogbs, Thursday, 7 December 2017 20:33 (five months ago) Permalink

three months pass...

Crapped my pants today, Harry is playing his first ever gig in the UK in June, public tickets on sale tomorrow.

https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2018/event/light-in-the-attic-haruomi-hosono-acetone

― MaresNest, Thursday, 5 April 2018 18:22 (one month ago) Permalink

Noticed that in my email box today.

― Buff Jeckley (Tom D.), Thursday, 5 April 2018 18:24 (one month ago) Permalink

any idea what he's playing these days? "material across his career" is kind of a funny thing to say about Hosono...imagine saying that about Brian Eno

― frogbs, Thursday, 5 April 2018 18:40 (one month ago) Permalink

Dunno, but gawd, what a wellspring to draw from.

― MaresNest, Thursday, 5 April 2018 19:18 (one month ago) Permalink

If he even plays Kaze Wo Atsumete, I'd lose my mind. Pleocene and I'd die altogether.

― MaresNest, Thursday, 5 April 2018 19:22 (one month ago) Permalink

oooh! thanks for the heads up. just need to find a pal who likes him enough to accompmany me now.

― stirmonster, Thursday, 5 April 2018 22:46 (one month ago) Permalink

Booked! Can't quite believe this...

― bamboohouses, Friday, 6 April 2018 09:06 (one month ago) Permalink

i sprung for this too! :D

― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Friday, 6 April 2018 09:24 (one month ago) Permalink

it's a shame it's a bit of a weird combination of acts though. not that i dislike acetone but i can't really see any connection to hosono other than the record label

― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Friday, 6 April 2018 09:25 (one month ago) Permalink

wait, i typed the above without really thinking through what i was saying (just for a change)

hosono is on LITA's 'Even A Tree Can Shed Tears' comp, but that's it. wonder if we can read anything more into him appearing at a LITA night? they did say there were "dozens of releases" due in their japan archival series after all:

http://blog.lightintheattic.net/introducing-our-japan-archival-series/

― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Friday, 6 April 2018 14:31 (one month ago) Permalink

jealous of you guys

I almost pulled the trigger on flying to San Fran for that one-off YMO reunion show

― frogbs, Friday, 6 April 2018 14:31 (one month ago) Permalink

any idea what he's playing these days? "material across his career" is kind of a funny thing to say about Hosono...imagine saying that about Brian Eno

I'd be really surprised if he does anything electronic. in his RBMA academy interview from a few years ago, he spoke of his more recent 'boogie woogie' style in a way that made it sound something like the culmination of a life's work. like it took him a long time to arrive there & he seemed to be really comfortable & happy making music in this style. so, maybe covers in this mode?

unfortunately, I have little interest in this music myself. I heard what sounded like his new album in a record store a few months ago and it seemed to confirm that this music is not for me. hard to complain when someone has touched so much that I love already tho.

anyway, don't wanna be a debbie downer! I'd absolutely go in a heartbeat if the show were closer!

― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Friday, 6 April 2018 15:23 (one month ago) Permalink

hes got to be one of the only artists whose musical output ventures from 15 years ahead of its time to 80 years behind

I've only heard Hosonova of his most recent stuff. Its fairly pleasant and has a couple really great tracks on it. But yeah, I don't think I'll be listening to it much.

― frogbs, Friday, 6 April 2018 18:37 (one month ago) Permalink

An affordable reissue of Paraiso would be most welcome, I'm all for anything that helps that along

― Paul Ponzi, Friday, 6 April 2018 18:42 (one month ago) Permalink

LITA putting Haruomi on the cover of their magazine:
https://instagram.com/p/BhxCfILl6kR/

They’ve gotta be up to something right? The Hosono article is a piece by Van Dyke Parks btw and apparently the zine is free at selected indie records shops, but you can read some of it on that insta post in the meantime

― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Thursday, 19 April 2018 22:31 (one month ago) Permalink

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