Haruomi Hosono - Omni Sight Seeing (1989) - New LP Record 2025 Victory Italy Vinyl - Downtempo / Ambient / Synth-pop

This was Haruomi Hosono's first studio album in four years since his last album, Endless Talking, and the first release since moving to Epic/Sony Records. This work was the result of sessions and collaborations with Arabian musicians, with an inclination towards the "world music" that was gaining attention at the time. Deployed often in pop culture as punchline, Hosono takes such sight-seeing and transforms it into a metaphor for sample-heavy electronic music, drawing from various cultures and weaving them together into a new holistic vision. Omni Sight Seeing is the clearest iteration of this concept, as he alights on Algerian raï, Martin Denny exotica, and acid house, too. It's one part Jon Hassell-esque Fourth World, one part Duke Ellington "jungle music," with Hosono's singular outlook running through it all.