In September of last year, thanks to some great pieces of writing by the wonderful Nic from Critter Jams, I finally set out on the Haruomi Hosono expedition I've been promising myself ever since I first heard of him (in Devendra Banhart interviews, who cites Hosono as a chief influence and massive favorite). This deep dive became one of the most beautiful things to happen to me in a beautiful year. My list of all-time favorite albums has been growing at an unprecedented rate. It's as if everything Hosono touches turns to pure, living, sustaining water.
Hosono founded the band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978 and treated it as his primary musical outlet until the band's dissolution in 1983. His bandmates, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi, were geniuses in their own right. The music they made together (and separately) is insane — lovely — hilarious — dark — it can make me want to bounce madly around the room, or keep still in rapt attention, or curl up on the floor and cry (in short, see this clip).
For most of the band's run, they worked with translators Chris Mosdell and Peter Barakan and recorded songs in English. But for 1983's Naughty Boys, they reverted to Japanese. I haven't found satisfactory English translations online and thought I might try to make some.
Kai-Koh (Chance Encounter) is a Sakamoto song. It's absolutely huge. It picks you up and throws you against a stone wall. The words, though, are:
I can't sing
any more beautiful love songs.
I've been walking alone, on foot.
And I'm saying goodbye to the person I've been until now.
I've run too far away.
There is nothing left at all now.
I can't stay here.
And I'm saying goodbye to the person I've been until now.
.
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