Sometimes it’s easy to forget the 80’s and synthpop revolution in general happened across the world at the same time. While most of the well-known synth music from that time originated in the west, Haruomi Hosono was pumping out pure gold on the other side of the world.
The grandson of the only Japanese man to survive the sinking of the Titanic, Hosono eventually became popular outside of Japan as one of the trio in Yellow Magic Orchestra and is credited with heavily influencing the creation of the City Pop genre as a whole. It’s daunting to get into his large catalog of tracks, but a good starting point is Sports Men from the record “Philharmony” – easily one of the best synth tracks ever produced.
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Way back in the early 80s YMO was the second most important electronic band after Kraftwerk. Hosono was the glue that held the classical keyboards of Sakamoto and the pop sensibilities of Takahashi together to form the YMO trio. It is widely accepted that the YMO sound was primarily Hosono’s. Yellow Magic Orchestra disbanded in 1983 shortly after the release of the album “Naughty Boys”. The 1984 live recording “After Service” is still the best introduction to the bands back catalog. Although they later reformed and put out a few new recordings, to experience the band at their zenith you have to check out After Service, Naughty Boys, Technodelic and BGM. Buying the CD for After Service in my senior year in high school proved to be a seminal moment for my electronic musical journey. I highly recommend Hosono’s solo work and all YMO stuff. Also, Yukihiro Takahashi’s “Neuromantic” (featuring Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera and Andy Mackay) is an electronic masterpiece almost beyond compare.