I'm a huge fan of 'Honto No Kimochi', a latter-day Akiko Yano rekkid, very beautiful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHDUZMjnvs8
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 14 May 2019 23:02 (four years ago) link
there's some merit to that LBI - as far as I know, the songs on I-K were written before those on Japanese Girl
I did not know that.
Thanks for that vid MaresNest, I'm still to discover her latter day records, this sounds great.
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 12:30 (four years ago) link
yeah this is really nice. I'm currently digging her '92 solo piano record "Super Folk Song", though I think a lot of those songs are covers. at least one of 'em I swear is a Moonriders tune, though Akiko sorta makes everything her own so it's hard to tell
poking around YT...she definitely returned to weirdo technopop at some point. I think is from 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlYe-p_XChU&list=RDXAbjxBtESs0
― frogbs, Wednesday, 15 May 2019 16:14 (four years ago) link
Listen, I like creative design and all, but LITA can fuck right off with this:
http://i.imgur.com/IND19Uj.jpg
Trying to read that circle one is anger inducing.
― Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 16 May 2019 17:56 (four years ago) link
I frequently realize that what I love about YMO+ is slightly adjacent to what you all love. You might find this record interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiGeyJeBXcc
I ran the description through Google Translate and it says that Hosono was an 'advisor' (mistranslation?) on this album. It has the mark of Hosono.
Hideki Matsutake, the 'unofficial' (crucial) 4th member of YMO, deserves his own S&D thread. That's a DEEP rabbit hole.
― 3×5, Thursday, 16 May 2019 20:18 (four years ago) link
BTW the above record is from '82, not '84, putting it closer to YMO's glory days.
― 3×5, Thursday, 16 May 2019 20:19 (four years ago) link
I frequently realize that what I love about YMO+ is slightly adjacent to what you all love
would be curious for your elaboration on this!
― these are not all of the possible side effects (Karl Malone), Thursday, 16 May 2019 20:20 (four years ago) link
also, i really like that last track
― these are not all of the possible side effects (Karl Malone), Thursday, 16 May 2019 20:24 (four years ago) link
I bought the first YMO record, on yellow vinyl, 25 years ago. I was 14 and that record changed my life. I knew, right away, the impact YMO had on Japanese music because I could hear it in SNES and Sega soundtracks.
Part of they key to that early YMO sound is extensive programming of the Roland Microcomposer, the first digital, programmable sequencer. So while YMO weren't the first electronic pop band, they were the first to release computer-programmed pop. They're not 'loopy' or repetitive like Kraftwerk or other contemporaries.
The YMO sound I love is loungy, self-referentially Japanese, and predates MIDI and sample-based drum machines. When ILX goes into YMO deep-dives, they tend to go further into the 80s, but all the great material, YMO and related, happens from '77 to '81.
― 3×5, Thursday, 16 May 2019 20:44 (four years ago) link
A couple of years back some friends and myself made a little internet radio show of Japanese Music for a little internet station for a few years, we did almost 70 editions, went pretty deep down some rabbit holes during that period and I'm pretty sure there wasn't one episode that passed without having a member of YMO (including Yanno and Matsutake) having a hand in some track, particularly Hosono, it fast became a running joke.
― MaresNest, Thursday, 16 May 2019 20:44 (four years ago) link
A couple of years back some friends and myself made a little internet radio show of Japanese Music for a little internet station for a few years
there are no little internet radio shows, only little internet people
― these are not all of the possible side effects (Karl Malone), Thursday, 16 May 2019 20:50 (four years ago) link
Yep, lol, Maresnest + Monkey 47 Gin + ILM access = redundancy
― MaresNest, Thursday, 16 May 2019 20:54 (four years ago) link
that show was pretty great...discovered a lot of neat stuff through there
I remember a question on some message board about who would be the "Kevin Bacon" in the music biz, the one person you could connect to virtually any artist via a few steps...my answer was Ryuichi Sakamoto
amusingly, P-Model (Japan's OTHER great technopop band) appears to have no connection whatsoever
― frogbs, Thursday, 16 May 2019 20:59 (four years ago) link
No connection to YMO, at all? Hmmm damn
― MaresNest, Thursday, 16 May 2019 21:02 (four years ago) link
unless you wanna get really tenuous - the producer of In a Model Room was the keyboard player for Plastics, which later splintered into Melon, who did an album with Snakeman Show, which appeared on Xoo Multiplies
what have I been doing with my life
― frogbs, Thursday, 16 May 2019 21:13 (four years ago) link
i always thought this might be brian eno. in sakamoto's case it would be
eno ----> bowie <---- sakamoto
― these are not all of the possible side effects (Karl Malone), Thursday, 16 May 2019 21:34 (four years ago) link
The interview you did with Chris Mosdell (YMO lyricist) was most revealing iirc.
― Zeuhl Idol (Matt #2), Thursday, 16 May 2019 23:32 (four years ago) link
I'm the dummy here probably but I need to ask: what show was it?!
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 16 May 2019 23:40 (four years ago) link
Matt it was Peter Barakan! I should have tracked down Mosdell too actually
― MaresNest, Friday, 17 May 2019 09:33 (four years ago) link
Not at all LBI, it's all here - https://www.mixcloud.com/japanalternativesessions/
― MaresNest, Friday, 17 May 2019 09:34 (four years ago) link
Oh yeah sorry, anyway I enjoyed his YMO-arguing-in-the-studio stories very much!
― Zeuhl Idol (Matt #2), Friday, 17 May 2019 10:28 (four years ago) link
Thanks MaresNest, that looks amazing! I've got 69 episodes to enjoy :)
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Friday, 17 May 2019 11:38 (four years ago) link
Ah, yr welcome, if there's anything in there you like but have trouble tracking down hmu.
― MaresNest, Sunday, 19 May 2019 20:07 (four years ago) link
Not sure if this has been mentioned previously, but Hosono still has a weekly radio show called Daisy Holiday every Sunday on Tokyo's InterFM. It's quite chatty (not so good for non-Japanese speakers like me) but it's pretty cheerful.
I've finally managed to jump through the various VPN hoops needed to stream Japanese radio outside Japan (most of the big stations stream through one site, Radiko, which is locked down unbelievably strongly) and have started recorded episodes and putting them into a Google Drive folder. I'm also recording Towa Tei's show on J-Wave, and will be recording Sakamoto's bi-monthly show there too.
If anyone wants access, send me an email through the board and I'll add you to the folder.
― bamboohouses, Monday, 20 May 2019 06:31 (four years ago) link
Also, would it be worth starting a new thread specifically for reissues of Japanese records and compilations? There's been a ton of them in the last year or so, with a load more on the way...
― bamboohouses, Monday, 20 May 2019 06:38 (four years ago) link
daisy holiday playlists
― visiting, Monday, 20 May 2019 06:52 (four years ago) link
Oh fantastic, thanks for this!
― bamboohouses, Monday, 20 May 2019 08:25 (four years ago) link
Also, would it be worth starting a new thread specifically for reissues of Japanese records and compilations? There's been a ton of them in the last year or so, with a load more on the way...― bamboohouses
― bamboohouses
Seems warranted. RA have been repping yet another J-reissue today: Yutaka Hirose's "ambient cult classic", Soundscape 2: Nova
― millmeister, Monday, 20 May 2019 13:14 (four years ago) link
I'd be up for a Japanese reissue thread!
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 20 May 2019 13:53 (four years ago) link
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ywyx9x/haruomi-hosono-interview-hochono-house?utM_source=noiseyfbus&fbclid=IwAR2nE789niYK0st5S5kZEQEwIyv4VFowTWSj2HvRfDXkkHs357XtsQPBQoI
Are you still interested in experimenting with new technology? It does seem like this new album manages to inject these old-fashioned songs with a more modern edge.Yeah, there are all kinds of things I want to do. With boogie-woogie now, I've been doing it for about 10 years. But I want to do something new again now, and I'm currently lining up the equipment for it.Looking back on all the different kinds of music you’ve worked on over the years, what do you think you’re the most proud of?Let's see, among my solo albums, I like Philharmony and omni Sight Seeing, and...let's see…I forgot the rest [laughs]. I've done too many things. I've been doing this for 50 years, so I don't think about my own work that much.
Looking back on all the different kinds of music you’ve worked on over the years, what do you think you’re the most proud of?Let's see, among my solo albums, I like Philharmony and omni Sight Seeing, and...let's see…I forgot the rest [laughs]. I've done too many things. I've been doing this for 50 years, so I don't think about my own work that much.
"doing something new again" is a pretty exciting phrase isn't it
― frogbs, Wednesday, 12 June 2019 21:46 (four years ago) link
Very exciting indeed!!
― MaresNest, Thursday, 13 June 2019 11:06 (four years ago) link
Thirded! Nice interview, he comes across as such a sweet man.
I clicked through on the YT link for 'Pacific' in that interview, and it's got more than 1m views! That's quite a lot isn't it? How did that one get to these numbers? (Philharmony is at 390.000-ish, Omni not even 200.000)
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 13 June 2019 11:49 (four years ago) link
Japanese views, I guess, they were huge weren't they?
― MaresNest, Thursday, 13 June 2019 11:51 (four years ago) link
Well, yeah :) Suppose it's probably just that, was wondering it it had been used for something or other.
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 13 June 2019 12:06 (four years ago) link
Sorry yeah, stating the obvious really :) I'd bet there are millions of middle-aged, natsukashii salarymen for whom YMO and its components are still completely beloved.
― MaresNest, Thursday, 13 June 2019 13:17 (four years ago) link
Pacific has 1100+ ratings on RYM, far more than any other album he was involved with. I think its sort of a "Plastic Love" situation (one comment even calls it "YouTube-core").
― frogbs, Thursday, 13 June 2019 13:20 (four years ago) link
I'm surprised that Pacific wasn't one of the albums that Light In The Attic chose to reissue last year. It does seem to be his most well known album.
― kitchen person, Thursday, 13 June 2019 13:48 (four years ago) link
well, its a split LP - Hosono only wrote 3 tracks for it. from the interview:
I have no recollection of it [laughs]. It was an album project by Sony that gathered a bunch of different people—I was only called in to do it. But I've never listened to it much after making it.
― frogbs, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:00 (four years ago) link
I really hope LITA gets around to reissuing Tropical Dandy, imo the best of his exotica-era records.
― J. Sam, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:09 (four years ago) link
I prefer Bon Voyage Co., if only for the ending of "Tokyo Shyness Boy" - Hosono's scat singing is one of the most (unintentionally?) hilarious things I've ever heard on an LP
https://youtu.be/F4bQLRO7WF4?t=1m50s
― frogbs, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:25 (four years ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/HOYCUSG.jpg
finally got my hands on this guy
they must've remastered it. it's louder and crisper. sounds great on the hi-fi. cranked it up and let the synth craziness on the title track rattle the walls...totally worth the most-I've-ever-paid-for-an-LP price
― frogbs, Friday, 28 June 2019 02:40 (four years ago) link
beautiful cover too
― clouds, Friday, 28 June 2019 07:37 (four years ago) link
72 years old today
I uh "celebrated" by getting the second disc of the Nokto de la Galaskia Fervojo soundtrack on Japan iTunes. mostly remixes of the first disc but whatever, I love it anyway
― frogbs, Tuesday, 9 July 2019 14:46 (four years ago) link
Is it weird I prefer Hochono House to Hosono House?
― afriendlypioneer, Tuesday, 9 July 2019 14:47 (four years ago) link
nah, that was kind of the point of him making it
I do too
― frogbs, Tuesday, 9 July 2019 14:59 (four years ago) link
Alternative 3 is quite something isn't it. This guy!
― Invisible (Noel Emits), Tuesday, 9 July 2019 15:04 (four years ago) link
The main theme of Nokto de la Galaskia Fervojo is so wonderful.
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 9 July 2019 16:35 (four years ago) link
the whole album makes me feel like I got left on the moon or something. there are more moments on it that give me chills than any other album I can think of.
― frogbs, Tuesday, 9 July 2019 16:40 (four years ago) link
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d5/b1/ab/d5b1abde40634df42380ca11f93a154f.jpg
Happy birthday, Mr. Hosono!
How are those remixes frogbs?
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Tuesday, 9 July 2019 16:47 (four years ago) link
I thought the second CD was more cues and variations on the title, no?
I do love the Pleocene adapted theme too.
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 9 July 2019 16:59 (four years ago) link