Takara・Monde

The old guard was changing as the 1980s were wrapping up. The three members of Yellow Magic Orchestra closed the book on the group that defined the decade for Japan and were looking to spread out in new directions and nurture new collaborations. Haruomi Hosono, in his words, set himself “adrift in the sea of ambient,” exploring sounds and aesthetics beyond his island nation. One of his longtime collaborators, the ever prolific session musician Motoya Hamaguchi, seemed to share that vision as his credits began to appear on more and more leftfield records. Hamaguchi would only release one record in which he took the creative helm, taking a sharp turn from the city pop records he mostly appeared on up to that point. With Hosono and a few other friends in tow, he explored the sounds of India, Africa, and the Middle East, fusing international instrumentation with the structure of Japanese folk song. If only he had done more as a bandleader.