going over his discog again today as i have to resort it on a new computer. i know this thread isn't a formal S/D, but just for fun....remarkably, it seems like if i ever had Cochin Moon, i don't have it now. if anyone notices other glaring omissions, do lmk...
Search: NDE, the Paraiso collab album (!), Bon Voyage Co. (!), Good Sport, Hosono House (! i remember perusing some LITA-type compilation of '70s 'country funk' from the american south; this album negotiates that blend so much more naturally), HoSoNoVa (! similar deal, but folk fit to early 20th century pop templates), Medicine Compilation (!), Mercuric Dance (! a few of the best ambient pieces i've ever heard), Naga: Music for Monsoon (! despite titles like "Sherpa" and "Taj-mahal," it's not silly in the way Sakamoto's 'Indian'/'Himalayan"-inspired music occasionally was), Omni Sight Seeing ("Korendor" and especially "Pleocene" are essential, though I do think the rest is among his least coherent work), Pacific (! great exotica/muzak), Philharmony (! first couplet tracks are a bit goofy even for my tastes, but rest is great and "Sports Men" is easily a top ten track for the entire YMO universe), Tale of Genji (like a darker, more sustained Naga), The Aegean Sea (a really nice, more upbeat/fusion companion to Pacific), The Endless Talking (! his starkest, least sociable album that i've heard, but amazing sounds and composition), Tropical Dandy (down the tracklist more and more of a Randy Newman influence shines through, which refracts really nicely through Haruomi's lens)Consider: Making of Non-Standard Music (neat but inessential), Nokto de la Galaksia Fervojo (ditto), Paradise View (totally solid, but he has so much music in this vein and a lot of it is better)Destroy: Video Game Music compilation (interesting that he did so many early games soundtracks -- Pac-Man included! -- but as standalone music, it's mostly insufferable)
his work as a songwriter is so distinctive that it can be easy to forget he's a god-tier ambient artist, up there with eno.
anyone else appreciate the not-quite-on-the-beat cymbal work buried deep in the mix of "sports men?" goes a long way in counterbalancing all the song's repetition.
any clear precursors/influences one might name for "Pleocene?" might just be a blindspot in my listening, but i really don't think i've ever heard another song like this one.
reading a thoughtful amazon review for Philharmony, and it notes, "Keep in mind that this album was originally recorded all the way back in 1982 (coincidentally the same year compact disc technology began revolutionizing the recording industry), and represents the first time digital sampling was ever used to construct an entire musical album." anyone know if there is truth to this claim? first ever?
lastly, i wouldn't have guessed it, but given i've yet to find any truly crap (or even sub-good) albums in his discography, i might say i prefer his body of solo work to ryuichi's. ryuichi may have better highs, or at least more of them, but he's definitely got some real blunder albums under his belt (and more than his share of so-so).
― soyrev, Saturday, 11 April 2015 08:03 (nine years ago) link
ALSO noticed upthread many references to YMO/ryuichi/haruomi bootlegs, rehearsal recordings, etc. where/how can i hear???
― soyrev, Saturday, 11 April 2015 08:04 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMhUfASCW4g
― vyvyan vanse (clouds), Saturday, 11 April 2015 12:49 (nine years ago) link
http://i60.tinypic.com/2qa1vkj.jpg
― MaresNest, Sunday, 9 August 2015 07:57 (eight years ago) link
rad
― tender is the late-night daypart (schlump), Sunday, 9 August 2015 09:14 (eight years ago) link
If I could somehow live inside a song, it would be Pleocene
― MaresNest, Sunday, 29 November 2015 21:59 (eight years ago) link
^^ pretty much, so fucking beautiful
― clouds, Monday, 30 November 2015 16:44 (eight years ago) link
Is it because of the cats?
― めんどくさかった (Matt #2), Monday, 30 November 2015 17:51 (eight years ago) link
Peacocks, silly
― MaresNest, Monday, 30 November 2015 18:29 (eight years ago) link
singing "ooh la la la"
― clouds, Tuesday, 1 December 2015 15:34 (eight years ago) link
Hey? Did you know that Hosono’s grandpa was the only Japanese passenger on the Titanic? And that he survived?
http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/masabumi-hosono.html
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20125020,00.html
― wizzz! (amateurist), Wednesday, 2 December 2015 11:05 (eight years ago) link
Amazing! Thanks for that!
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 2 December 2015 12:10 (eight years ago) link
He made a record with Steely Dan at some point, in the vein of Steely Dan almost. A quite random record.
https://thump.vice.com/en_us/article/prins-thomas-dug-deep-into-his-crates-and-found-his-7-favorite-ambient-records-of-all-time?utm_Soruce=thumptwitterus
um, any idea what he's talking about here? can't imagine this is true.
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 05:02 (eight years ago) link
lol yeah i don't think that's true
― lute bro (brimstead), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 05:08 (eight years ago) link
prins thomas would get roasted alive on ilm!!
― lute bro (brimstead), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 05:09 (eight years ago) link
hahaha yea I can't even think of a hosono record that even kinda sounds like the dan
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 05:10 (eight years ago) link
a hosono + dan collab would make me piss my pants
― wizzz! (amateurist), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 05:22 (eight years ago) link
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 (eight years ago) link
Still alive. Good.
― The Robustness of Captchas (Tom D.), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 13:35 (eight years ago) link
could he be thinking of World Standard? man, I have no clue
― frogbs, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 13:40 (eight years ago) link
I'm gonna start rip threads for live dudes if you knuckleheads keep this up
― lute bro (brimstead), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 16:45 (eight years ago) link
Bet he meant Little Feat
― Deverly (Bangelo), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 22:34 (eight years ago) link
He meant Little Feat.
― Demeraray & Essequebo (Tom D.), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 22:47 (eight years ago) link
who played with Happy End right? that's probably it
― frogbs, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 22:51 (eight years ago) link
Got it.
― Demeraray & Essequebo (Tom D.), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 22:54 (eight years ago) link
And they were the backing band for the first Akiko Yano record too.
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 23:45 (eight years ago) link
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 (eight years ago) link
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 (eight years ago) link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_End_(1973_album)#Background_and_recording
― Deverly (Bangelo), Thursday, 11 February 2016 03:56 (eight years ago) link
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 (seven years ago) link
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 (seven years ago) link
pacific is so relaxing atm
― clouds, Monday, 14 November 2016 16:28 (seven years ago) link
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 (seven years ago) link
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 (seven years ago) link
Heaven is Hosono's first Muji BGM track on infinite loop.
― J. Sam, Monday, 2 January 2017 21:04 (seven years ago) link
this one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW6XDU96KI0
excellent revive, this is great!
― Karl Malone, Monday, 2 January 2017 21:16 (seven years ago) link
Yup, that's the one. *chills down the spine*
― J. Sam, Monday, 2 January 2017 22:13 (seven years ago) link
<3
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Monday, 2 January 2017 22:40 (seven years ago) link
Fantastic.
(Is that a Juno 60 we're here?)
― Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, 2 January 2017 23:17 (seven years ago) link
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 (six years ago) link
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 (six years ago) link
Happy Birthday!!! (well for yesterday, gomenasai)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_93SrREKkE
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 11 July 2017 12:04 (six years ago) link
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 years ago) link
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 years ago) link
it was probably directly lifted from Shenmue
― clouds, Thursday, 16 November 2017 21:08 (six years ago) link
hah, right...maybe not the guy himself but whatever he lifted it from
― frogbs, Friday, 17 November 2017 13:07 (six years ago) link
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 years ago) link
* how HE approaches
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 years ago) link
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 (six years ago) link