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.