In 2024, celebrating the 55th anniversary of Haruomi Hosono’s musical journey, the cover album HOSONO HOUSE COVERS was released. To delve deeper into this tribute—reimagined by 13 musicians—NiEW is launching a special short-term series exploring both the new interpretations and the original masterpiece, HOSONO HOUSE.
Kicking off the series is writer and trackmaker Shoichiro Kotetsu, who revisits the sound and context of HOSONO HOUSE, reflecting on what HOSONO HOUSE COVERS reveals in a contemporary light.
Editor’s Note: This series and article were written and produced at the end of last year. In January 2025, a devastating wildfire in Los Angeles, California, displaced hundreds of thousands and heavily impacted the city’s music community, including Stones Throw Records, the co-producer of HOSONO HOUSE COVERS. John Carroll Kirby, one of the album’s contributors, also shared news of his losses on social media. We extend our heartfelt condolences to all those affected.
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HOSONO HOUSE COVERS: Illuminating Haruomi Hosono’s Past, Present, and Future
Knxwledge and J Dilla, who carve vast records of the past into new creations; Dam-Funk and James Pants, pioneers of the ‘80s sound revival; Madlib’s Yesterdays New Quintet, which plays a “yesterday” that never existed—Stones Throw Records has always engaged with the past, honoring the musical legacy left by its predecessors.
But this is not mere escapism or regression. By revisiting pivotal moments in music history and referencing the futures that might have been, they integrate contemporary technology and values to forge something entirely new. In that sense, Stones Throw’s collaboration with Haruomi Hosono feels both unexpected and inevitable.
Editorial Note: HOSONO HOUSE COVERS was co-produced by Stones Throw Records alongside Japan’s Bayon Production and KAKUBARHYTHM.
Haruomi Hosono’s discography, as if distilling the very best of diverse pop music, unfolds like a stop-motion reel of 20th-century music history. His perspective—shaped by being born in postwar Japan, his admiration and complex relationship with Anglo-American culture, and his humorous approach to navigating it—goes beyond mere reproduction of trends. What emerges is unmistakably Haruomi Hosono’s music.
Among his works, HOSONO HOUSE (1973), his first solo album, stands as a foundational piece that set the standard for everything that followed. In recent years, the release of its reimagined counterpart, HOCHONO HOUSE (2019), has offered both Hosono himself and music fans in Japan a renewed opportunity to reflect on its significance.
Haruomi Hosono’s music, despite its profoundly original presence, did not emerge as a spontaneous mutation from nothing. HOSONO HOUSE, too, is shaped by various influences.
Hosono has frequently shared his musical inspirations through his own writings, as well as in books like Masaharu Kitanaka’s Haruomi Hosono Interview: The Endless Talking and Yusuke Monma’s Haruomi Hosono and Their Era. Drawing from his own accounts, let’s take a closer look at the influences that helped shape HOSONO HOUSE.
Musician. Hosono made his debut in 1969 as a member of April Fool. In 1970, he co-founded Happy End, and in 1973, he launched his solo career while also performing as part of Tin Pan Alley. In 1978, he formed Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), contributing to the pop music industry as a songwriter, producer, and label owner.
Following YMO’s disbandment, Hosono explored world music, ambient, and electronica, engaging in composition, production, and film scoring. In 2019, celebrating the 50th anniversary of his musical career, he released HOCHONO HOUSE, a reimagining of his first solo album, HOSONO HOUSE (1973).
In 2024, marking his 55th anniversary in music, the tribute album HOSONO HOUSE COVERS, featuring 13 artists, was released.
Incidentally, in THE ENDLESS TALKING, Haruomi Hosono speculates that the reason he is so frequently interviewed might be because he belongs to the “first generation of the postwar era.” Similarly, Tamori—who, like Hosono, has rapidly become something of a subcultural icon over the past decade—is also part of this first postwar generation, born just two years apart.
While both are far too singular to be neatly categorized by generational theory, comparing them offers a fascinating perspective on the history of postwar culture.
