Friday fun: music mix / found sounds
January 25, 2019 12:00 PM   Subscribe

Haruomi Hosono (Wiki), of Yellow Magic Orchestra fame, produced two minimal electronic pieces for Muji, released on a cassette (Discogs) as Watering a Flower (YT) in 1984. Just yesterday (Jan. 24, 2019), Vampire Weekend released a song titled 2021, sampling the start of the first Muji-inspired song, along with a second track, Harmony Hall, from their forthcoming album. Bonus Vampire Weekend: 120 minutes of Harmony Hall guitars (YT x 3) Extra freebie: Chaz Bear, aka Toro y Moi, has released a surprise new project labeled “SOUL TRASH V1” (Spin) on Dropbox via an Instagram post. Want some noise to scrub your ears, or some more mellowness? Hacker Farm has both, under the tagline "Make do and mend. Broken music for a broken Britain" (Soundcloud, YouTube)

Vampire Weekend tracks and sampling notes via NPR conversation with Ezra Koenig, and Globule, the latter of which was posted previously. MUJI music twice in 2018.

Hacker Farm also via Globule.
posted by filthy light thief (5 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
My girlfriend has been grabbing the Hosono reissues left and right. They’re great.
posted by gucci mane at 1:04 PM on January 25, 2019 [1 favorite]


The first track of Watering a Flower is some of my favorite music of all time. The comments/descriptions on this YT instance are icing on the cake.
posted by STFUDonnie at 1:19 PM on January 25, 2019 [1 favorite]


I was at a record store in Toronto last week that had a super rare ("even in Japan") copy of one of his albums. I went back and forth on whether or not to buy it. Ended up taking home some other stuff I'd been coveting instead, because every trip to the record store is like Sophie's Choice for me. Anyway. Great post, thank you for promoting the sweet jams, as always!
posted by nightrecordings at 5:01 PM on January 25, 2019


Haruomi Hosono! For all the ills that Algorithms have done to the world, I'll be eternally grateful for the City Pop rabbithole that Youtube autoplay led me down one day, eventually culminating in Sportsmen. Helluva pop song.

The Muji tape actually has a slightly interesting story behind its rediscovery and re-contextualising for Youtube.
posted by Gordafarin at 5:45 AM on January 28, 2019 [2 favorites]


“Telling the musical story of Japan's ambient era,” Patrick St. Michel, The Japan Times, 21 February 2019
posted by ob1quixote at 8:51 PM on February 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


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