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Haruomi Hosono: “Malabar Hotel - Upper Floor…Moving Triangle”
From the album Cochin Moon (1978)
Conceived as a soundtrack to an imaginary film inspired by a visit to India, Cochin Moon is a unique and unclassifiable solo album by Japanese bassist and musical pioneer Haruomi Hosono. Also featured on this record are Ryuichi Sakamoto and Hideki Matsutake, who along with Hosono would go on to found the synth-pop juggernaut Yellow Magic Orchestra.
The music of Cochin Moon is characterized by warm, gelatinous synth textures, psychedelic dream sequences, and floating signifiers of sonic exotica that point evocatively to nowhere in particular. It consists of the epic, three-part “Malabar Hotel” plus the catchy “Hepatitis,” the raga-inspired “Hum Ghar Sajan,” and the finale “Madam Consul General of Madras,” which returns to the expansive, sequencer-driven format of the opening tracks.
Hosono and company display the combination of ice-cold technical chops and quirky experimentalism which they would later hone to a formula in Yellow Magic Orchestra. Spacey and sophisticated, this is the kind of album you might be tempted to let spin in the background, but you do so at your own risk. Lurking amidst these lush, technicolor soundscapes are flashes of genuine, terrifying weirdness. Cochin Moon rides the razor’s edge between chill-out and freak-out.
Special thanks to Chris Madak (the force behind electronic music project Bee Mask and cassette label Deception Island) for turning me on to this album.
Album art by the renowned Japanese graphic designer Tadanori Yokoo
Played 80 time(s).
May 20, 2011, 12:01pm
