Haruomi Hosono

just finished listening to the LITA reissue, which arrived at my door this morning. :)

i love the interview they included! i'll excerpt a few parts of it here in a bit

ooh, I have Cochin Moon coming in the mail. excited.

https://www.nts.live/shows/haruomi-hosono

https://i.imgur.com/7Rq7TOz.gif

Living the dream.

Google Translate of a recent tweet:

6 solo works by Haruomi Hosono will be released on November 3rd on the record day!
"Vu Ja De" first analog release, "omni Sight Seeing" "MEDICINE COMPILATION" domestic first analog release Sparkles
The cassette book "Hana ni Sui" released in 1984 is a cassette, and "HoSoNoVa" and "Heavenly Music" are analog re-releases. Multiple musical notes
6 works will be released in the US Flag of United States

looks like I'll be dropping some cash on Nov 3

wait... is that this 1984 cassette? https://www.discogs.com/細野晴臣-花に水/release/7890029

phbbbt

https://www.discogs.com/細野晴臣-花に水/release/7890029

gah whatever. Watering A Flower, I mean. The shopping background music.

Hana = Flower so I assume it's got to be?

if it's a vinyl issue it's gonna sell like nuts, it's got just the right kind of online fame

yeah it'll probably sell out in 5 minutes or something. and then pop up on ebay and discogs on the same day for more $. sigh.

my trigger finger is ready

!!!!

can confirm sui means water

aaaaaaaaahh!!!!

apparently the Watering a Flower reissue is cassette only, kind of disappointing since I don't have a tape player but I guess that's its natural format

fully plan on getting Omni Sight Seeing & Medicine Comp at least. OSS has been a holy grail for a while, I missed the LTiA preorder and they sold out in like a day, now copies are ~$200 on discogs and eBay. fuck that. dunno about the others, Old Man Harry doing covers of WW2-era songs is not super appealing to me but I'll probably get Vu Ja De at least

I missed the LTiA preorder and they sold out in like a day, now copies are ~$200 on discogs and eBay

i accidentally ordered 2 and was kicking myself for ages so that makes up for it a bit.

its official...LTiA are handling Omni Sight Seeing and Medicine Comp

https://lightintheattic.net/releases/7091-omni-sight-seeing

They are pricey but LTiA stuff is very high quality & I am positive these will only go up in value. unless the vinyl market crashes, but we all know that's not going to happen ha ha ha

$100 for 2 LPs, jfc

honestly -- UUUGH

i get it. i'm happy for the people who can hear the difference. for the rest of us, fuck man

love OSS but $50, yeah no way

My CD copy sounds fine

It’s just like...don’t they want people to listen to and buy these Hosono records? Why are they doing this?

All I’m trying to do is give other people money to listen to their music, I don’t understand why they make that so difficult

CD copies are about that expensive too

and tbf Medicine Comp is a double

but yeah LTiA's pricing structure irritates me, a lot of new LPs are $20-22 but the stuff I want will randomly be way more. Cochin Moon was $22 but Paraiso was $45, idk why since the quality on both are similar. the YMO reissues (the 2x45 RPM ones with the pixelated covers) are $90 a pop. maybe this has something to do with the remastering...Paraiso does sound different from my MP3 copy in some noticeable ways, while CM sounds amazing to begin with

I believe LiTA is handling US distribution but these are produced and manufactured in Japan. A new single LP in Japan is priced at ¥3,700 or approximately ~$35 USD. So $50 for a new Japanese import LP, considering shipping, export costs, handling, etc. is not particularly exploitative.

$60 for Medecine Comp on 2 x vinyl will translate to around $100 to get it to the UK. :(

Probably much cheaper to buy direct from Japan.

xp

that makes sense, but it makes me wonder how did managed to keep costs under $25 for Cochin Moon, the recent Yoshimura Green reissue, and other similar Japanese reissues

it's fine, i'm just bummed because i'm a big fan of all this stuff, i want to hear it and support the effort, and i can't even though i'm a grown assed half-man with a job

Japanese prices -

OMNI SIGHT SEEING
LP | ¥4,070 (US$38.6)

MEDICINE COMPILATION
2LP | ¥5,500 (US$52.17)

that makes sense, but it makes me wonder how did managed to keep costs under $25 for Cochin Moon, the recent Yoshimura Green reissue, and other similar Japanese reissues

Those were in-house productions by LiTA, presumably for the ex-Japan / North America market. For instance, you can see the pricier / earlier Cochin Moon reissue for the Japan market here:
https://www.discogs.com/Haruomi-Hosono-Tadanori-Yokoo-Cochin-Moon/release/8467190

The new ones being discussed are being produced in Japan by a subsidiary of Sony music - LiTA is not involved in the production / manufacturing, they are just providing distribution / promo.

Licensing and rights control is quite convoluted in Japan. It works both ways as well, for instance LiTA's blockbuster Japanese Environmental Music compilation is not available in Japan and only a handful of digital tracks for download were available with the vinyl reissue.

One of the reasons I heard that Japanese territory reissues are expensive (even in Japan) are that in the case of major label releases, instead of licensing the recordings, the major itself presses the records on behalf of the reissuer, and then 'sells' them to the reissue label. Maybe to retain some kind of quality control and ensure that the right quantity is being pressed.

The reissue label has to pay whatever the major wants in order to do the reissue = high prices for all..

thanks for that info, MFB!

yeah it makes more sense now. being a fan of Japanese music can get crazy expensive if you're not just pirating stuff.

yeah...i guess i have to keep in mind it could be way, way worse. the terrible setback i've been dealt is that i'll have to continue listening to all this cool shit for free and never send money to the people who helped make it. but whatever, i help spread the YMO-family word whenever i can, and i purchase everything i can that's not intended for wealthy people

whereas in the olden times, i'd probably have to rob a liquor store just to hear any of this stuff in the first place

fuck can someone convince me not to pull the trigger on this

https://www.discogs.com/sell/item/1079306315?format=Vinyl&text=Haruomi-Hosono-Coincidental-Music&utm_campaign=sell_email_new&utm_source=relationship&utm_medium=pm&ev=wh_new

Absolutely not! :)

The version of the Galactic Railroad theme on that is exquisite.

And Bio Philosophy which is a stunning version of the first track from that Muji BGM tape

oh damn no way? light em up already, frogbs!

okay fine that price does seem pretty great for an NM copy, I mean fuck it we save that much every week in gas thanks to the pandemic is how I see it

ahhhh god damn it

https://www.discogs.com/sell/item/1180310337?format=Vinyl&text=Haruomi-Hosono-Philharmony

maybe a good indication that the LTiA copies are coming down in price, never seen one under 85

oh wow someone grabbed it

Remembered the other day that I travelled to Japan at the height of the Kubik craze and nabbed a YMO set, so technically I have a Haroumi Hosono action figure.

Hana ni Mizu (Watering a Flower) tape reissue -

https://lightintheattic.net/releases/7302-hana-ni-mizu-watering-a-flower?mc_cid=6d1cd6c03d&mc_eid=982f43dfd8

first time I've ever wanted a goddamn cassette tape

iirc their Kankyo Ongaku set has the full version of the first track, imo the better of the two...might spring for that instead

Kankyo Ongaku has Original BGM, but nothing from the tape.

i bought it for my good friend, so at least i know i'll be able to reliably listen to it every once in a while

oh! I guess I did not, in fact, rc

Dang, missed it. It's available now on streaming.

Interesting the LITA page says there's a translation of the book on the web, accessible via a QR code that comes with the tape. Hope to see that sometime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nehPFjX87l4