Haruomi Hosono - "Philharmony" Vinyl, Reissue, Album, 1982/2018 (Light in the Attic)

Techo-pop as perfection.  Haruomi Hosono, who is no stranger on my blog here, is a combination of Van Dyke Parks and Brian Eno.  His stance in Japanese contemporary music is vast and of great importance.  Hosono is active as a producer, songwriter, arranger, and solo artist, as well as being part of the YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra).  There is something late 20th-century Japan that fits in perfectly with the sound of analog synths and the way music is used in public areas, such as train stations and retail shopping areas.  Often, and to this day, one can hear interesting electronic music being in the background while traveling or shopping.   "Philharmony" is the ground zero of this type of aesthetic.  Hosono has made pure electronic ambient albums, but "Philharmony" is based on pop songs done in an electronic manner. 

There's a touch of purity in its approach, but Hosono is very expressive in that framework. This album is light, airy, but with a strong sense of melodies.  At the moment it is either difficult to find, or very expensive, but I do swear that it is worth the game of searching this album down. 

Haruomi Hosono & Tadanori Yokoo - "Cochin Moon" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 1978/2018 (Light in the Attic)

In the same manner, as the importance of someone like Brian Eno, Van Dyke Parks, and Martin Denny are to the English speaking world, concerning exposing various 'foreign cultures,' the same can be said for Japan's Haruomi Hosono. He's like a combination of all three above.   Also a pioneer in the electronic music pop world as well. Once was (or is?) a member of The Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), who are considered to be in a certain sense The Kraftwerk of Japan. Nevertheless, Hosono is a unique figure in Japanese contemporary music. He is very much a music historian, as well as an artist who can blend various styles that become a Hosono stance.

"Cochin Moon" is an album he made with artist/illustrator Tadanori Yokoo, and it's an exotica electro-impressionistic tour of India. It's like Kraftwerk's "Autobahn," but on a culture that is foreign to both Hosono and Yokoo. The thing with Hosono he is also knowledgeable about Japanese music and its culture. It lurks around whenever he makes music, and there is a cultural 'pun' at work when he approaches music from the West, knowing quite well it's 'exotica' to him. That's one of the beautiful things about his entire catalog that it's an artist's approach at looking at the world around him - in images, imagination, in other words, an illusion.

Yokoo is the executive producer, and I suspect that it was his idea to do this album based on a trip to India that they took in the mid-1970s. Still, beyond that, it's all Hosono. Both got physically ill in India, which influences this album. The last track is "Madam Consul General of Madras," which, as legend has it, served Hosono and Yokoo some Japanese food, and therefore they were healed from what was illing them.  There are touches of Indian music on the album, but it's electronic that flows consistently — an iconic electro album.

Harry Hosono and the Yellow Magic Band - "Paraiso" LP, Vinyl, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, 2018/1978 (Light in the Attic)

Haruomi Hosono, is without a doubt, one of the most important musicians/record maker in Japan.  If I have to make a comparison with a Westerner, Van Dyke Parks comes to mind.  Hosono is a producer, songwriter, founding member of YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra) and very much a music historian.  Of course, there are other figures in Japanese pop music that are important, but Hosono is unique in that he has a perspective that is very much Japanese but also has an understanding about music from other cultures. Also, to note, he knows about outside music that influenced Japanese taste and contemporary culture.  In that sense, he's like Parks in that he knows his history and how to use it or comment on current culture by going back into the past and bringing back music, but in a different way or arrangement. 

To dwell into Hosono's world is difficult just due to the range of music he made in his career.  He went from traditional Japanese pop music to Hawaiian to rock to electro-pop, and ambient.   The unique aspect of Hosono is that each style he investigates he does so with expert knowledge and an organic manner in appreciating the different types of music. It doesn't seem to be on a 'fashionable' or surface level, but a deep appreciation of how music has traveled around the world.  It's interesting to note that Hosono uses the name Harry for these 'exotica' recordings. 

"Paraiso" is a fascinating album that bridges his interest in tropical/exotica music but entering into the electronic world by baby-steps.  Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi make their first appearance here with Hosono before they formed YMO.  So, the album is very much a journey, and it's not the destination that's important but the travel itself.  'Asatoya Yunta" is a traditional Okinawa song, but he also rips into "Fujiyama Mama," an American rockabilly song, which some may think is in rather bad taste, with respect to the bomb.  Nevertheless, with humor and wit, Hosono makes his own planet of music that connects from dot to dot.  A beautiful reissue from Light in the Attic, with a great interview in English with Hosono as an additional plus to the whole package. 

Keiichi Ohta and Koji Ueno - "Jingai Daimakyo" Vinyl, LP, Album, Japan, 1983 (Yen)

Japan has a dark history, and the pre-war years of Tokyo was an exciting time of politics, but also a great period for then-contemporary literature, visual art, and various movements that were taking place.  Some inspired by the West, but still rooted in Japanese aesthetic.  In the 1980s various members of the underground Japanese pop world were obsessed with the 1920s/1930s such as the band Guernica, Koji Ueno, and the great vocalist Jun Togawa.  "Jingai Daimakyo" (the savage terrifying places) is a separate solo album by Ueno along with lyricist/visual artist Keiichi Ohta, based on the writings of mystery/horror writer Oguri Mushitaro (1901-1946). 

"Jingai Daimakyo" is very much a Guernica album but without the vocal talents of Togawa.  Each song has a different vocalist, and the most noted singer on this album is Haroumi Hosono, who at the time was a member of the Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) and he and fellow YMO member Yukihiro Takahashi ran the Yen record label.    Ohta, the lyricist as well as producer for this album is a noted artist/illustrator in Japan, and his work captures the sexuality/violence of the pre-war mentality.  Retro to the extreme, both Ueno and Ohta make music and images that are unique, and could only come from Japanese pop culture.  

The album is a small masterpiece because it captures a passionate part of history, and convey it to an aural assault of the senses.   Ueno's music is very much in the manner of 20th-century music history. In a fashion, this album reminds me of Van Dyke Parks' "Song Cycle" album, if one needs a reference to their aesthetic.   Not an easy album to find, especially outside of Japan. Still, one can locate the album on YouTube. Happy hunting! 

Jun Togawa (戸川 純) - "Suki Suki Daisuki (好き好き大好き) Vinyl, LP, Album, Japan, 1985 (HYS)

Without a doubt one of the great albums from the 1980s, and a work that is still as fresh as the first day of spring.  For one, the production does yell out the 1980s, but like Sun Records is from the 1950s, this is almost a militant version of that era.  Jun Togawa is a vocalist that is very difficult to explain because she is a rare artist that goes beyond her limitations of the pop (Japanese) world.  Most Japanese pop music exists to please, but there is something dark and disturbing about the Togawa sound, which is hyper-emotive and one feels traces of Bi-polar expressions within its groove.  

One thing that is very noticeable is that a Jun Togawa recording is very unique.  There is nothing like it in this world.  To make comparisons is always a fun sport, but I'm not sure if comparing her to other artists would be accurate.  Saying that "Suki Suki Daisuki" has traces of French Yé-Yé sound, but updated to the 80s, and she does cover Serge Gainsbourg's  "Comment te dire adieu," yet it sounds very much like her own material.   The song is sung in Japanese, and I'm not sure if it's just translated lyrics from French to Japanese, or she may have written her own words to the song.  The sound is more Togawa than Gainsbourg, yet respectful of the original melody/song.  

She also does a beautiful, but a bizarre cover of "Angel Baby" the great Rock n' Roll ballad of the 1950s originally recorded by Rosie and the Originals.  The original version is a fantastic time-piece of out-of-this-world pop, and Togawa does this song in English, that reminds me of Yoko Ono if she did a cover of this song.  I'm not saying that due that they are both Japanese women, but their voices have a similar vocal range.  Togawa can go for the lower notes to the highest, and she is an amazing singer. In the nutshell, I think of her work as a combination of Sparks, Yoko Ono, French Yé-Yé with a touch of Kate Bush ambition.   I know that both John Zorn and Jim O'Rourke think of her work highly, and it's a shame that she is not better known in the West.  Then again, I suspect that she could care less about the music market outside of Japan.  Truly a unique music artist.  Also, she did the design work for this album, and it's a great package. 

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Haruomi Hosono - "Nokto De La Galaksia" Vinyl, LP, Album, Japan, 1985 (Non-Standard)

Haruomi Hosono is probably one of the great music figures to come out of Japan in the 20th-Century.  A big statement I know, but it's true.  It's hard to compare him and his music with someone from Europe or the United States.  He's all over the map music-wise, but the one thing that matters to me is his intelligence and his respect for world music - not only from 'out' there, but also equally fascinated with his own Japanese music roots as well.   His early albums remind me of someone like Ry Cooder, but then he can make a techno-pop album within months of the 'roots' album.  He's known for his work with Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), but I prefer his solo albums, which I have to admit is an endless entrance with no exit.   Once you're into this world there is no escape. 

"Nokto De La Galaksia" is Hosono's soundtrack to an anime film made in Japan.  It very much shows up Hosono's various skills - as an arranger, electronic artist, and a strong melodist. The album is instrumental and it flows in an ambient fashion, but it has textures that keep one aware of the music. As I listened to the music, I don't think of it as a soundtrack album, except there is a theme that is repeated throughout the album.  Still, this is a very strong work by Hosono, and those who have an interest in electronic pop or instrumental music, this album is a must-have.  Non-Standard is his label from the 1980s, which not only released his solo recordings at the time, but other Japanese artists as well - with exception Lounge Lizards from New York City, and Mikado a band from France, if not mistaken.  Also while having this label, he's the first to release a Pizzicato Five album. 

Jun Togawa (戸川純) - 極東慰安唱歌 Vinyl, LP, Album, 45 rpm, Japan, 1985 (Yen Records)

I first discovered Jun Togawa in the small town of Moji-Ku on the big island of Kyushu in Japan.  I was living there for the entire four-seasons, and I came across her albums with the help of my wife Lun*na Menoh.   With a great deal of cultural guilt, I never took on the Japanese pop music scene in Japan in a big way.  I greatly admired Hosono Harumi and other members of YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra) but a lot of it sounded flat to me due to the production standards of record production of the 1980s. Very digital, and it struck me that Japanese pop music was very much like Kabuki theater where everything is laid out on the stage in an equal manner.   My eyes didn't focus on one character or actor, but I look at the stage as if it was a giant poster.  My eyes kept moving around, and I feel the same with Japanese pop music of the 1980s.   Jun Togawa was different from the rest of the Showa era entertainers or artists.  Listening to her work I got a huge painting, but I can focus on parts of that aural painting due to its clarity and at the same time, it's eccentricity. 

 極東慰安唱歌 is a superb Togawa album or should say, The Jun Togawa Unit, which is the official artist listing for this project.   Here she makes music with Yoichiro Yoshikawa, Takago Higae,  and uses traditional Okinawa music as well as the composer Giacomo Puccini and the great Haruomi Hosono.  The first impression is that this is very much a techno-pop music but with touches of the old (Puccini and Okinawaian music), but the glue that holds all of this is Togawa's magnificent vocal talents.  She's a great singer.   

On one level she reminds me a bit of Kate Bush, but totally not British and very Japanese.  I once read or heard a Togawa quote that she knew nothing of Western music except for classical and Prince.  I believe her.   There are traces of psychedelic pop in her method and sound.  Listening and collecting Togawa is for sure falling into the rabbit's hole, and how one can crawl out of that space is very questionable.  Still, her recordings are consistently being reissued on the CD format, as well as in various compilations.  It's worth the adventure to check her music out.  She's great.   

Swing Low - "Swing Low" CD, Album, Japan, 1996 (Mercury)

"Swing Low" is an album by Haruomi Hosono (or known as Harry here) and singer Miharu Koshi. Hosono is a combination of Brian Eno, Brian Wilson, Les Paul, Ry Cooder (in his knowledge of music history),  and a touch of Van Dyke Parks.  He's electronic and ambient and then on another album, he's a music historian focusing on how Western music has affected the Japanese landscape.  Smart, elegant, and on top of that,  his grandfather was on the Titanic and survived that ordeal.   

Swing Low focuses on the odd mixture of classic American songwriting with touches of Electronica here and there.  Real instruments as well as computer technology.   In Japan, he's a huge influence and figure in contemporary music.  In the West, not that much and that is truly a shame.  For the fan of Hosono outside of Japan, it's a hard road to locate his recordings, unless you go to Japan.  One can usually find his solo albums in the YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra) section of a large record store.  It's worth the adventure because the listening experience is so great. 

Hosono works in themes or concepts.   Rarely is there a solo album by him that is not attached to a bigger idea or comment on a certain aspect of music.  He's hard to define in the Western sense, and to recommend a specific album is not difficult, but you have to keep in mind that is records change from one to another in an entirely different manner.  Swing Low plays with the 1950s image of American lounge music/Space Age with traces going back to Europe. One becomes a world traveler through Hosono's recordings and music. 

I think what makes Hosono so amazing is that since he's a Tokyo personality, so he looks at the world as an "other" and doesn't hesitate to borrow cultures here and there.  He's truly a world musician.  His partner-in-crime, Ryuichi Sakamoto, follows similar roots as Hosono, but the big difference to me is that Sakamoto has lived in New York City for numerous years,  and although hot American, I think he understands the American landscape through his personal experiences.  Hosono I feel gets his information through books and recordings.  And for sure, as a traveler, but Hosono is never far away from the aesthetics of Tokyo life and music.  "Swing Low" is a take on the 1950s, with its kitsch aesthetic, but also the beauty of exploring another universe, which is a weird hybrid of American, European, and Japanese pop culture.  "Swing Low" is a great album. Difficult to find, but as I mentioned above, worth the adventure.  Also, you can hear the album here on YouTube. https://youtu.be/06HcFuiHWZ4

HARUOMI HOSONO - "Omni Sight Seeing" (Epic, CD, Japan)

In my first long stay in Japan, somewhere in 1989-1990, I purchased this CD, I think, at the music store THE WAVE.   The store was located in Roppongi part of Tokyo, and it was a six-story building filled with music and film DVD's.  It also had an art movie house in its basement.  The perfect home away from home for me.  A few laters I come back to the area and I was shocked to see the store gone - and not just the store, but the entire building as well.  It was just an empty hole in the place of the structure.  It's like a dentist pulling a tooth and just leaving the open wound for the world to view.   I'm just now, getting over the depression of losing such a store and building.  Nevertheless, Haruomi Hosono's album "Omni Sight Seeing" was one of the purchases I have made at THE WAVE.  Twenty-six years later, I'm still paying attention to this album, and when I do hear it, the horrid humid summer comes to mind, that was taking place that summer in Tokyo. 

But to focus on the album, it is very much a travel-log of sorts for Hosono.  It's going around the world with Hosono, or to be even more precise, Asia.   At the time, I never heard an album like this - it is various sorts of music and its history, but through the eyes and sounds of Hosono.  In the West, he's a famed member of the Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), a band that I admire, but not love.  On the other hand, Hosono solo albums are always interesting. He's sort of the Ry Cooder of Japan - in that he's very much a historian of music and its various cultures.  But that is everything from techno-pop to Americana roots music. He works on a big canvas.  If I was to recommend one album for the new listener it would be "Omni Sight Seeing." 

There are traces of John Cage to Middle-Eastern melodies to Parisian tourism to techno to Duke Ellington on this album.  Hosono's version of Duke's "Caravan" is a solid delight.   Accordion, sax, and electronic keyboards is a very good mixture for this tune.   The whole album is very much a variety pack of goodies.  It's traveling without a passport or the fear of security.  The other highlight of the album is "Laugh-Gas," which has to be the ultimate 11 minute minimal techno cut.   Superb entertainment for all!