Haruomi Hosono

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.

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.

'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.

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.

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

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

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

I love Wha-ha-ha

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

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

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

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.

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

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).

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.

Am I correct that this has Sakamoto on it?

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.

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)

Kiyohiko Senba and his Haniwa All Stars

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

I dunno Matthew, you heard Esperanto?

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.

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

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.

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

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?

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.

in case the two auto-generated vids i posted above are blocked outside of japan, here they are again. song is "hashire usagi" ("run rabbit") recorded by yuko kanai and miharu koshi respectively

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq-PMH_Zjxw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o75lWNaRkik

i was unaware of the yuko kanai version... it's great.

still think sandii's "zoot kook" is hosono's most impressive outside production job. so advanced with that sinuous, proto-acid synth sequence ... such a ridiculously lush chorus to boot

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

love the amorphous synth clouds that levitate the final chorus ... so glorious. he's listed in the credits so i'm guessing this part was played by sakamoto on the prophet 5 as it has that dense, detuned ensemble chorus quality he was fond of at the time

Has anyone heard the unreleased album he produced for Dynasty singer Linda Carriere in 1977? I just found out this exists, and it's kind of blowing my mind. Songs by Hosono, Tatsuro Yamashita, Minako Yoshida, Akiko Yano, and Hiroshi Sato. I can only find three full songs from it on YouTube and nothing on Soulseek, so if anyone has a rip of this let me know.

The songs I've heard sound a lot like the city pop of that period (e.g. Yamashita's SPACY and Go Ahead), though the marimba on "Laid Back Mad Or Mellow" nods to Hosono's exotica stuff. Apparently it wasn't released because the record execs thought the vocals were weak, and it looks like a demo copy was sold once on Discogs for $2,000. It's true the vocals aren't the greatest I've heard, but the production is sick.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsqMAHX29e8

if you're interested in HH's work writing and producing other artists, this massive boxset compiles a ton of it:

https://www.discogs.com/release/11508013-Haruomi-Hosono-%E7%B4%B0%E9%87%8E%E6%99%B4%E8%87%A3%E3%81%AE%E6%AD%8C%E8%AC%A1%E6%9B%B220%E4%B8%96%E7%B4%80%E3%83%9C%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9-%E7%B4%B0%E9%87%8E%E6%99%B4%E8%87%A3%E6%8F%90%E4%BE%9B%E6%A5%BD%E6%9B%B2%E9%9B%86-20th-Century

it's not comprehensive - there are some Jun Togawa tracks he wrote that don't appear here, and god knows what else. it is a near-endless source of treasure though. several of these tracks I've encountered in the wild and thought "it's gotta be him", idk what it is exactly but both his melodic and rhythmic sense are very recognizable to me

god knows what else

Includes 144 page book with additional info including a list of all(most?) songs written by Haruomi Hosono prior to 2009.

I’m surprised no sandii albums have been reissued recently afaik

co-signing "Zoot Kook", hard to believe that predates Computer World even

afaik the "lost" YMO track "Indo" also surfaces on that Sandii album, can't remember what it is though

feels like an album that ought to be re-evaluated soon

Zoot Kook is song of the day, pass the word

i can't get to the rest of the album because i keep listening to Zoot Kook, the song of the day, on repeat

hah, I've had the same experience

found this idol knock off of it recently, it's pretty blatant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ecqegd3wW-o

spinning Medicine Comp tonight, such an incredible and chill record. its music for the sensory deprivation tank. it sounds quite unique as this New Age/Enigma stuff is the one electronica movement that's never really had a resurgence - it's always been so terminally uncool - so when someone does it well, it almost feels like unexplored territory. that said the more you listen the more you hear Hosono's fingerprints, in fact it was probably the most natural direction for him to go in at that time

that one took off for me recently, beautiful stuff

i can't get to the rest of the album because i keep listening to Zoot Kook, the song of the day, on repeat

― typo hell 13: crypto in insidious, though (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 19 October 2021 05:52 (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

honestly the rest of the album is just ... ok. it has a nice version of yukihiro takahashi's "drip dry eyes"! idk i feel like many of the ymo affiliated albums usually have one or two really stand out tracks and then a lot of filler, likely an unavoidable consequence of being so prolific at the time. like masami tsuchiya's rice music for example, it has sakamoto's incredible "kafka" but the rest of the album is disappointing given the calibre of the supporting musicians (night mirage by ippu-do [tsuchiya's main project] fares a bit better in this regard)

frogbs, supposedly the tracks "shantith" and "oinori" are versions/interpolations of "indo"

underrated masterpiece of early-80s outside ymo productions: mari iijima's rosé, produced by sakamoto in 1983. it's pure, unadulterated, exuberant city pop / boogie (of the kind that's not necessarily to every ymo fan's taste) but the chord sequences and arrangements are so good

Yeah Rosé is a good album.

back to hosono, i love this live tv footage from 1983 of him performing w/ seiko matsuda, briefly demonstrating his linn drum, mc-8 and prophet 5 setup

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lumt37Fz0ok

I don't think Medicine Comp is his best album, but it's the one I come back to most often I think. It just "fits" into so many listening situations.

I'm currently fascinated by his late-90s/early-00s "electronica" period - where he moved to laptop production and basically sounded as contemporary as any other glitch producers. Obviously there's the Sketch Show albums, but there's a whole string of collabs/compilations I don't really know anything about. I adore his super glitched-out Coldcut remix, shame that one isn't more widely available.

yea everything gets pretty messy after Medicine Comp. I remember there was one called Good Sport which was like a 90's version of Coincidental Music. should really revisit that one since I recall it being quite good. it was a soundtrack he did to some sporting event.

both Sketch Show albums are wonderful but I really like Loophole. its got such a vivid "staring at the stars on a warm day" sort of feeling to it. I actually think Takahashi is more responsible for the sound & songwriting but Harry's trademarks are totally there.

one more thing - I decided to try to track down some of the Kankyo Ongaku artists and found this (quite good!) LP for very cheap. lo and behold, look who's credited as producer.

https://www.discogs.com/release/1251889-Interior-Interior

yeah that interior album is definitely worth a listen, originally released on hosono and takahashi's yen records imprint in 1982. i especially love the first track "technobose"

inoyama land's danzindan-pojidon is another good hosono produced instrumental/ambient album from that period (also published on yen records)

also testpattern's après-midi, another hosono produced yen record's release from the same period, is wonderful, a bit more straight-up techno-pop but certainly with some hosono-esque ambient elements

as an aside, i never checked until now but resellers are really having a laugh with some of the prices of this stuff on discogs huh

(ugh please disregard the errant apostrophe in yen records above)

Those two Yen box sets (Yen Box 1&2) are pretty essential as a way to plot a path through the YMO Extended Universe, they take in both the Kankyu Ongaku stuff through the more pop and new wavey albums.

I really like the Interior album. The Windham Hill reissue (which has a slightly different track list) was quite cheap, at least up until recently.

My Swing Slow arrived today. It took 3 days to get from Tokyo to Glasgow (5700 miles). Recently mail has been taking longer than that to get from Ediburgh to Glasgow (50 miles).

Anyway, that is by the by.

No obi on the Swing Slow but packaging, sleeve quality and vinyl pressing are exemplary. I've seen a few grumblings over the fact that it has been remixed but i'm enjoying it just as much in this (subtle new) mix as the original.

Edinburgh!

lol @ this Twitter thread. guess the "4th member" of YMO is not Matsutake but rather the dude who handed Hosono a tainted joint

How A Single Bad Drug Trip Led to Japanese Technopop 🧵

In the early 1970s, bassist Haruomi Hosono of the band Happy End was jamming with his friends at a Tokyo studio, when someone passed around a joint. Hosono thought it would be very cool to take a double-sized hit. pic.twitter.com/sFXTEsulCI

— W. David Marx (@wdavidmarx) February 9, 2022

I wish Marxy would write a book about them, then another about the era in general, he's more than capable.

Wtf, I love this kid

Harry Styles saying “Haruomi Hosono” on the Today Show pic.twitter.com/EV7tQIOJ4p

— Light In The Attic (@lightintheattic) May 19, 2022

after getting to know the original a bit better I've started to realize that Hochono House is a hell of an accomplishment

the original has this indescribable vibe - there's something extraordinarily chill and comforting about it. you feel like you were in the room where it was recorded. it's become a cult classic for that reason. a lotta people write things about it like "I don't know why this album is special but it just is". I think it actually fits in that confusing thread I made about debut albums last week.

anyway, the new version changes up pretty much everything - it's all re-recorded and most of the songs are done in a very different way - but somehow that vibe is still there. so it winds up being the rare remix album that works basically the same as the original. idk if I've ever heard anyone quite pull that off before.

good post. hochono house is really something special. it deepened my love for hosono house and is of a piece with it, but is totally it's own special thing

yeh good post frogbs

ha! Hochono House in reverse order of Hosono House, starting with a new version of the final track from Hosono and working its way back to the opener? that's great. :) it also creates ideal conditions to listen to Hosono House and Hochono house on repeat - it'll take you all the way to the final track, make you feel psychedelic and then bring you back to the beginning again

it hits you with that "Yellow Mario" right away

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZhDXBXw0mQ

I’ve never spent much time with Hosono House before. Man, Choo Choo Gatagoto sounds like a dead ringer for Van Dyke Parks’ cover of Toussaint’s Ocapella from Discover America – from the groove to the languid vocal to (almost) the melody. Wild.

(And I know they worked together on the relatively contemporaneous Happy End, it still just doesn’t 100% register until I hear this)

not familiar with much else but Hosono House rules

It does. And honestly, it's weird that it wasn't produced by VDP because, well, it sounds exactly like the Japanese version of him. And the Happy End album doesn't really?

he did do an interview about this:

TODD BURNS

With Happy End, you ended up recording an album in America. Can you talk about that experience? Was that the first time you had been to America?

HARUOMI HOSONO

Right. It was 1973, or perhaps 1972. I don’t exactly recall when. In LA, California, there is a famous studio called Sunset Sound where we recorded Happy End’s third album. I don’t know how we got there. Someone arranged it for us, I guess. Suddenly Van Dyke Parks visited the studio. He’s a great musician. He was with Lowell George, the guitarist from group Little Feat. They came in, and we got caught up in their pace. That was a really new experience for us. For example, their recording method was very western. It was very layered, let’s say. We learned that method. Before that our style was flat, like Japanese picture scrolls. We hadn’t thought about depth. We learned that from Parks.

TODD BURNS

Van Dyke Parks, you’ve spoken about his impact on you and in meeting him. It seems like he is quite a character.

HARUOMI HOSONO

He was really a crazy man. He was high when we first met. I wanted to stay away from him. I didn’t like him. He first gave a speech in the middle of the studio, like a monologue. It was about the Japanese emperor. We were so puzzled – who is this guy? That was about when we first met. I met him again when he was sober. He was nice. We are still friends. I like him a lot.

finally got the Swing Slow reissue. it's an excellent album and I love that it too seems to have been given a new life by the YouTube algorithm. it's kind of the ultimate Hosono album. it's folky, it's electronic, it's gorgeous, it's kind of minimal, it's vintage yet cutting edge, it has weird unexpected dance breakdowns, and it's steeped largely in (and covers songs from) a genre that the vast majority of his audience wasn't around for. and it's really confounding, so many little "why did you do it this way" moments. and it has an ambient interlude that's so pretty it hurts.

bonus tracks are great too! check this out, maybe the creepiest thing I've ever heard him do. no way this is from '96, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmF6WASwPcw

also includes another, much slower cover of "Caravan", which sounds less electronic but still as mechanical. also something unsettling about that one...

the vinyl version is so beautifully done and is maybe the best sounding record i bought last year. has become one of my very favourite hosono releases.

the reissues last year of Omni Sight Seeing & Medicine Comp also sound incredible, kinda restored my faith in the idea that a well-done pressing can blow away even a well-encoded MP3

curious why people don't seem to like the remix though (at least based on random Discogs comments) - I feel like most of the differences are subtle and the 'upgrade' to the beats makes it sound a bit less 90's which I think is probably a good thing. it's got sort of a 3-D sound to it but not in a hollowed out way. I think it's really good.

i just read those discogs comments and wholeheartedly disagree. the remixing is very subtle and yes does indeed, 'upgrade' the beats, especially during that incredible percussion part of disappeared.

I'm a late arrival but YMO and Hosono have hit me over the last year or so. They simultaneously scratch and create an itch.
Anyway I looked in the NTS archives bcz why not and there's a 15 hour Hosono day from 2017 that I haven't seen mentioned here, so that's what I've been doing while/instead of working this week.

One for frogbs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUB9yqPmgJA

Oh wow that is interesting!! so as you probably know I absolutely love the Nokto de la Galaskia Fervojo soundtrack and have always wondered whether Harry is actually playing piano on it or if it's Miharu Koshi. I've actually never seen him play piano before. I'm still not sure if it's him, his playing here seems stilted a bit though maybe he's just putting a spin on it. There isn't much video of Koshi playing either but the little bits I found she certainly seems more nimble, so I assume it's probably her on that album, and then Hosono on the Coincidental Music version?

It says in the info something like this was the first time he played solo piano on TV and he was nervous, he's certainly picking up and putting down the beat a lot.

And this was '85 when Coincidental Music came out, so I guess it was him. No idea about Koshi playing on the soundtrack version.