Haruomi Hosono
Philharmony


5.0
classic

Review

by anat CONTRIBUTOR (32 Reviews)
March 11th, 2022 | 28 replies


Release Date: 1982 | Tracklist

Review Summary: People tell me I’m not strong—I can’t seem to find the right charge

The naive whimsy of Philharmony is a pillow under something wholly more uneasy, wrapped in the clinical, sanitised hope of retro-futurism; that comfort and convenience will become the bastions of modern society. It at first seems like the blissfully unaware wonderings of an innocent child, the toying with words that sound funny, like picnic, pic-pic-pic-pic-picnic, but there’s a dread sewn into the sampler. The wonderings wander. The cute, saccharine arpeggios veer towards a slight dissonance, the sort where you know something is wrong but you can’t figure out what exactly. Why do I feel queasy?

The back-and-forth between heady pop and tense instrumental keeps this uncertainty looming like a caged off intrusive thought, and Luminescent / Hotaru is perhaps the finest example of the two moods meeting. Staccato mallet instruments rise and fall in layers, as though an introduction to musical notes and how they relate to one another, spirited until ripples of white noise and spectral reversed vocals interrupt, carpeted by deep, tense tones that can permeate a stomach.

Living - Dining - Kitchen plays out like a cheesy infomercial: “Standing in the kitchen / Can’t think what to eat / I have to make my mind up / Cup Noodles or Big Mac?” The exciting banalities of modern life. But there’s fear here, even if at a molecular level, made apparent by the lulling bounce between pop song and eerie experimentation, masked by the delighted chaos of arpeggio. Birthday Party follows, immediately distant from the jubilance of one. A catalogue of noises, wails, breaths and bells give way to tired, bored utterances of “happy birthday”, and the youthful fascination that opens the album feels unreachably distant.

So much so, that by the time the prototypical pop of Sports Men comes around, it’s a relief to slosh in the squalor of dejection and inadequacy. With the world hurtling towards a digital age and with the parameters of excellence rising constantly, it’s just quite nice to be able to cede to one’s owns defects. “People tell me I’m not strong,” Harry pouts. “I can’t seem to find the right charge.” The synth melodies are insistent, the drums encouraging, and as the world around us twitches and throbs towards the pointless endeavour of striving for perfection, we play along.

The glassy-eyed nature of the album’s beginning is once again trumpeted with the title track. And what has seemed so far to be perhaps disjointed, random, aimless—suddenly isn’t. It’s not carved in stone that anyone has to succumb to the cankers of cognisance. We don’t have to lose the awe with which we look at the world. I feel queasy. Isn’t it brilliant?



Recent reviews by this author
Glans Slow TreeGumshoes Cacophony
Punching Swans GAMESHOWArab Strap As Days Get Dark
Hayden Thorpe DivinerHaruomi Hosono Hochono House
user ratings (36)
4
excellent


Comments:Add a Comment 
anat
Contributing Reviewer
March 11th 2022


5830 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

to celebrate my renewed contributorship, here is a review of one of my favourite albums

I have been wanting to write a review for this album for years and have, until now, been unable to find the words

zakalwe
March 11th 2022


40186 Comments


Good Lord.
This is amazing. As in the review, haven’t a clue about the album, never heard of the fella.

parksungjoon
March 11th 2022


47231 Comments


cool

anat
Contributing Reviewer
March 11th 2022


5830 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

cheers zak, I dare you to give it a go

JohnnyoftheWell
Staff Reviewer
March 11th 2022


62357 Comments

Album Rating: 3.7

beautiful man writing about a legend man

will read listen tomorrow ily

GhandhiLion
March 11th 2022


17677 Comments


ooh I checked Cochin Moon yesterday.

FadedSun
March 11th 2022


3196 Comments


Whoa - this review came out just in time, Johnny.

anat
Contributing Reviewer
March 11th 2022


5830 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

things I love about this that I didn’t mention:

- funiculi funicula is an amazing adaptation of an opera song about mt Vesuvius’ first funicular train

- the title track feels like it could explode into entrance of the gladiators aka the circus song at any moment

- the reversed vocals of “sooo sweet” in luminescent / hotaru recorded in a way that sounds not reversed

rockarollacola
March 11th 2022


2260 Comments


twitching throbbing twitching throbbing twitching throbbing twitching throbbing twitching throbbing twitching throbbing twitching throbbing twitching throbbing twitching throbbing twitching throbbing twitching throbbing twitching throbbing twitching throbbing twitching throbbing twitching throbbing

Demon of the Fall
March 11th 2022


35543 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

This seems interesting / important. Great review.

DoofDoof
March 11th 2022


15897 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

1982 album of the year :D

anat
Contributing Reviewer
March 11th 2022


5830 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

it was the first album to make me consider music that pre-dates my existence and had thus been there waiting for me to discover it my whole life

Gyromania
March 11th 2022


37474 Comments


They should have just given you staff tbh lol. Good review, never heard of this

MiloRuggles
Staff Reviewer
March 11th 2022


3140 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Yoooooooooo, great review. Never heard of this. Shall fix this very quickly

anat
Contributing Reviewer
March 11th 2022


5830 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

y’all come back and tell me you love it, okay?

gyro I think I will never have the output volume to meet those lofty staff requirements honestly lol

FadedSun
March 11th 2022


3196 Comments


"They should have just given you staff tbh lol. Good review, never heard of this"

Have you heard of Hosono? Perhaps you've heard of the Japanese group YMO? Yellow Magic Orchestra. Ryuichi Sakamoto? There's a ton of Japanese musicians from the 60s 70s and 80s that were all hovering around the same circles, working together, and most of them ended up making names for themselves as solo artists.

anat
Contributing Reviewer
March 11th 2022


5830 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

yeah they’re a fascinating and seminal group of musicians, hosono it feels like is fairly responsible for shaping japanese and techno pop. he’s definitely someone that more people ought to be aware of

brainmelter
Contributing Reviewer
March 12th 2022


8416 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

hell yea, need to hear this again

MiloRuggles
Staff Reviewer
March 12th 2022


3140 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

>Yellow Magic Orchestra, Ryuichi Sakamoto

okokokokok this is now the next album i shall listen to

heyadam
March 12th 2022


4430 Comments


album rules. always gravitated more towards sakamoto’s solo stuff, but hosono’s sense for catchy melodies are next level



You have to be logged in to post a comment. Login | Create a Profile





STAFF & CONTRIBUTORS // CONTACT US

Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


Site Copyright 2005-2023 Sputnikmusic.com
All Album Reviews Displayed With Permission of Authors | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy