Haruomi Hosono

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.

N.D.E. at last.

https://lightintheattic.net/releases/9402-n-d-e?mc_cid=62a27bbcea&mc_eid=982f43dfd8

Hell yeah, love that this era of Hosono is getting some attention. Wonder if a reissue of Love, Peace, and Trance is in the cards???

Well he’s by far my favorite member of 1D now

Harry Styles came to visit Hosono House.

ハリー・スタイルズさんが、ホソノハウスに遊びに来てくれました。#HarryStyles #HaruomiHosono #ハリースタイルズ #細野晴臣 #HarrysHouse #HosonoHouse pic.twitter.com/B38anvQgTx

— 細野晴臣_info (@hosonoharuomi_) March 29, 2023

oh my!

have never been jealous of harry styles before but

harry is good now, i take back calling his music boring. it is boring, but that doesnt matter, hes one of us.

Harry's House is a reference to Hosono House, is it not? Styles also said the album was inspired by city-pop, though I don't really hear it

Did they play that otamatone?

SORRY TO BUMP THIS THREAD RIGHT NOW BUT

the production on this is insane. Hosono would probably be universally recognized as an electrofunk god if he was like...25% less weird

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsPXl-OxW28

yes i love that one!

someone got Pacific Breeze 3? it's pretty great!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAhF7c0IxGI

finally found it!! it's a famous Punjabi song and there are a zillion versions out there, for a while I thought the one Hosono sampled/colored over was just a recording lost to time

oh and here's a fun Hosono fact

today, tomorrow, and the next day will be the:

40th anniversary of Naughty Boys
50th anniversary of Hosono House
30th anniversary of Technodon

reissue time again...

https://rushhourmusic.bandcamp.com/merch/haruomi-hosono-n-d-e-2-lp

just ordered a copy, hopefully it sounds as great as the Medicine Comp reissue does. nice to see some attention paid to Hosono's ponytail phase. kinda wonder if/when those Monad albums are ever gonna get reissued. two years ago there were open preorders for them but I guess they never actually got made. you'd think Bon Voyage and Tropical Dandy would get reissued too since the demand for those seems pretty high right now. but who knows what goes on in the minds of these obscure labels.

it does sound great. the japanese reissues do all sound just that little but better though, and i never cease to be taken aback by how great the 'Swing Slow' reissue sounds.

I have this reissue on Rush Hour and it sounds wonderful.

the Swing Slow reissue cheats a bit because parts of it were actually re-recorded or remixed. but the Omni Sight Seeing/Medicine Comp reissues are incredible, two of the best sounding albums in my collection really. it's especially impressive since OSS is 48 minutes long

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n6Z6PWXlDY

Just had YouTube suggest this video compilation of music from his label Non-Standard to me - has anyone else seen this before?

NON-STANDARD SPECIAL PV

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

00:00 Opening
00:36 Strange Love / 細野晴臣
06:38 野ばら / コシミハル (Miharu Koshi)
09:42 瞳はサンセットグロウ / SHI-SHONEN
13:45 細野晴臣 SFX CM
15:15 Dr.Diet / URBAN DANCE
18:49 オードリィ・ヘプバーン・コンプレックス / ピチカート・ファイヴ (Pizzicato Five)
23:39 太陽とダァリヤ / WORLD STANDARD
27:40 冬のノフラージュ / MIKADO

^^^ !!!

reissue news:

https://wrwtfww.com/album/quiet-logic

that's quiet logic, a 90s collaboration between hosono, mixmaster morris and jonah sharp

He's grown his hair out again, bless him!

https://tower.jp/article/news/2022/06/28/tg009

He mentioned he was recording -- wonder whether he meant the recent (beautiful!) ambient work Undercurrent or something else that hasn't yet surfaced.

Oh man, those descending "mmmmmmm"s in the outro of Funiculi Funicula!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGBe3Fb6Jco

Here's a neat Hosono composition snuck on to the end of a [Sandi & The] Sunsetz album from 1981. If you wanted to bridge Cochin Moon and Philharmony with a single track, this would be the one.

hard to believe there's still 80s Hosono stuff out there I haven't heard

cool track but slightly cursed wouldn't you say

I like the first track on that album, it sort of reminds me of The Slits or something

Been digging around in Hosono's 1987 -- things seem to get especially messy for a while, post-Monad, with F.O.E. gaining members (and opening for James Brown in Japan...?). There was the soundtrack to The Tale of Genji, (same director as Night on the Galactic Railroad) and then the thoroughly collaborative (her website: "Absolute simulative works from the original recording by HARUOMI HOSONO and MIHARU KOSHI / Manipulated by HARUOMI HOSONO") Echo de Miharu, finished in December '86 but released in 1987. Between those two, there's enough magnificent music for anyone... you'd think. But as usual, with Hosono, there's more in the corners. Tell me, how can you not adore a man who, in the very same year, made both this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yViRPNNweQ

and this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBUBMDuejM4

“The Tale Of Genji” is a lovely soundtrack

This thread seems to be where most of the Miharu Koshi action is -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nHP84Tgug4

Thank you Mare, sampled a bit, gonna need to listen in full.

I've been having too much fun working on these translations. Why stop?

Paraiso has its share of heavy spiritual longing (Shimendoka, Worry Beads, title track, arguably Asatoya Yunta, maybe Shambhala Signal too if you just go by the title) and, as we English speakers know, its equally heavy share of goofball numbers... like Femme Fatale.

...

Here are the ends of the earth.
A mysterious oasis hidden in the city.
Today, too, I will search for you,
and when I find you,
the birds in the red sky will clamor.

The sun is in the west.
When the moon rises and illuminates the dark,
moonburned skin will give off the fragrance
of blood, sweat, and tears.
It's an omen of death.

Hey, listen!
The ground is rumbling.
You can hear it shaking in the distance!
Come on, quit it with these scary omens -- femme fatale!

You are a demon's daughter
and, ah, once again I am your captive.
The moon is full
and a dreadful god is coming,
swooping down to abduct you!

Hey, listen!
The ground is rumbling.
You can hear it shaking in the distance!
Come on, quit it with these scary omens -- femme fatale!

Really enjoying your translations and commentary.

Thank you, Kim!

Mare, that series looks nuts! There's a whole episode on Chu Kosaka's wonderful Horo?! (aka the Hosono solo album Hosono didn't make himself because he felt his voice wasn't suited to that sort of R&B / blues, so instead he tasked Chu Kosaka aka lead singer of Apryl Fool with making it).

Glad you like! I love that such a thing as an ALFA YT channel exists.

No kidding! Seems too good to be true!

Swinging over to Philharmony for a minute, to the only Japanese song, unless you count the Japanese bits in Luminescent/Hotaru ("Firefly! Come!"). The words to Funiculi Funicula are based more on the premise of Peppino Turco's original 1880 text than on its actual content. The words are credited to Sō Aoki, "lyricist and translator from French" sez Discogs, and to one Shin Yakyō, whose sole credit this is -- presumably a Hosono pseudonym. The words certainly carry the Hosono brand of lovely absurdist humor.

...

(Verse 1)
Let's go up the mountain that spews red fire.
Let's go up! Let's go up!
And once we're there, let's have a peek inside the furnace of hell.
Have a peek! Have a peek!
Now that we have the cable car,
anybody can go up.
The billowing smoke is inviting
everybody! Everybody!

(Chorus)
Let's go, let's go to the fiery mountain!
Let's go up the mountain!
Funiculi, funicula, funiculi, funicula
Anyone can ride it! Funiculi, funicula

(Verse 2)
Looking so bright red in the dark night sky --
I can see it! I can see it!
It's the fiery mountain, Vesuvius.
Fiery mountain! Fiery mountain!
The cable car has come down
to the foot of the mountain.
The burning flame is reflected in the sky.
Blazing! Blazing!

(Chorus again)

(Verse 1 again)

(Chorus again & again & agaaaain)

Seems too good to be true!

And it kind of is -- given the length of the episodes, I would've liked everyone to go into more detail. But there are worse ways to spend 45 minutes than listening to YMO fans chat. The first Ginger Root episode, in which he does a cover of Kimi ni Mune Kyun, went over several terrific historical / contextual tidbits I didn't know about; recommended!

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

On the translation front, here's a version of Paraiso.

...

Sometimes, in dreams, I'll see a fantasy vision
and, following it, end up at a pier.
As for this city I'm in now, well --
I could get used to living here, if I had to --
this island country I've tried and failed to slip away from.
Tomorrow I'll try and fail again.

(chorus)
From the pier, I'll leap aboard a ship hailing from a distant land --
adios, farewell! --
and blow a kiss to the lights of the city,
gazing at them as I would a woman's face --
bye bye, bye bye, goodbye.

Paradise! Paraiso!
Ever-expanding fantasy!
Mirage! Paraiso!
Melting into reality.

(synthesizer paradise)

(chorus again)

Someday, with me and the city both in twilight,
I will make my way to the side
of somebody who is waiting for love to arrive.
Adios, farewell, sayonara.

(and Harry's message to us all at album's end: "Next time will be 'more better' !!!")

I had no idea about this YEN Records channel, this is amazing

and lol @ "synthesizer paradise", that part is so insane and weirdly intense it barely fits the song, kind of the ultimate Hosono moment I suppose

listening to that 2019 live album now and it's hilarious the way the crowd cheers for the "Yellow Mario" line

Yen channel?

Thanks a lot for this stuff TNNN

I see this is getting reissued - I'd never even heard of it before

https://www.discogs.com/release/240618-Mixmaster-Morris-Jonah-Sharp-Quiet-Logic

Although, I'm curious what exactly Hosono does on this. the reissue lists him in the artist credit but idk maybe that's a marketing ploy? either way I checked out some samples and it is indeed very nice.

currently listening to Loophole and I can't believe how well this album has held up. makes me wonder if they'd have produced more albums if not for that quasi-YMO reunion in 2007. kind of the last we heard from Hosono as a songwriting voice too. I like the HASYMO stuff fine but it feels a bit like a compromise, this very much does not