Haruomi Hosono

𝙈𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙮𝙡 𝙫𝙤𝙮𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙔𝙈𝙊 𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙙'𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙪𝙡 ’𝟵𝟲 𝙇𝙋 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙗 𝙧𝙝𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙢𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙙𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙢𝙗𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙙𝙪𝙗, 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙔𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙖𝙠𝙞 𝙎𝙝𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙯𝙪, 𝘽𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙇𝙖𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙡, 𝙁𝙧𝙖𝙣ç𝙤𝙞𝙨 𝙆, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 - 𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙍𝙄𝙔𝙇 𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙜𝙖𝙪𝙯𝙚, 𝙏𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙚 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙯, 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙊𝙧𝙗, 𝘿𝙅 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙮, 𝙎𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙪𝙢.

One of a myriad Hosono gems ripe for (re)discovery, ’N.D.E.’ stands out from his dozens of solo albums due to its imaginative navigations of a ‘90s soundfield that blossomed from ideas seeded by the likes of his band, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and the emerging, global new age consciousness during the late ‘70s and ‘80s. It remains a landmark among the vast archipelago of Hosono’s discography, which already held strong influence on city pop and Shibuya-Kei, not to mention the worldwide electro phenomenon that begat house and techno, and feels somewhat like the sound’s godfather returning to earlier pastures armed with new ideas while revitalising old ones with lessons learned over the interim. The result is an album abundant with lush rhythms and even lusher sound designs that sweep between poles of inspiration from Indian classical to advanced Goa sand stomp, cinematic cyberdub and hallucinatory techno.

Now a cult number in the Hosono nebula, ’N.D.E.’ has, until now, never been issued properly outside of Japan. This reissue corrects an historic wrong with all seven tracks primed for DJ/club and home use. Teeing off with the Muslimgauze-like tabla dervish of ’Spinning Spirits’ and concluding in radiant country folk drone on ‘Aero’, it touches on contemporaneous strains of buoyant ambient techno on the air-stepping ‘Navigations’ and the psychedelic pulse of ‘Strange Attractor’, where he knits roots in psych-rock and modal ambient with Warp-like techno, and simmers to a sort of Warrior’s dance swang in ‘Higher Flyer’.

However the club momentum is tempered by proper ambient-dub side quests, characterised by the spongiform brilliance of ‘Teaching of Sphinx’, and echoes of mid ‘90s Plaid on the effervescent ‘Heliotherapy’, with a hypnotic quality recalling Move D & Pete Namlook or Terre Thamelitz in the marriage of bullish drums to modal sax and raga drone on ‘Edge of the End’ starring fellow ambient pioneers Laswell and Shimizu.