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“Omni Sight Seeing, originally released in 1989 during YMO’s initial hiatus, is an exhilarating musical journey around the world as filtered through Hosono’s kaleidoscopic lens. This work stands as a manifestation of his concept of “Sight Seeing Music,” putting his own tasteful spin on the “world” music encountered during his explorations of global cultures. From Japanese minyo and Algerian rai, to American swing jazz and the self-described, extraterrestrial “Ether music,” his eclectic influences coalesce into a sound that is unmistakably Hosono’s, and many consider this album to be the perfect summation of his mastery of pop music forms. Partly recorded in Paris with assistance from producer Martin Meissonnier (Don Cherry, Fela Kuti) and contributions from French-Tunisian singer Amina, omni Sight Seeing includes the mysterious “Orgone Box” (inspired by Wilhelm Reich and Steve Reich), the acid house “Laugh-Gas” (inspired by Rococo and the French Revolution) and the serene fan favorite “Pleocene” (conveying an “oceanic feeling”).

Admired by artists ranging from Van Dyke Parks to Mac DeMarco, Hosono continues to forge ahead as he heads into his fifth decade as a musician. With the re-release of his key albums for the first time outside of Japan, his genius will be discovered by a whole new generation of fans around the world.” – Light In The Attic

“After the Yellow Magic Orchestra broke up for the first time some seven years later, Hosono fully established his theory of “sightseeing music” on omni Sight Seeing, a clear refutation of the homenogizing phenomenon of “world music.” His inveterate genre-hopping takes us between the acid-house epic “Laugh-Gas” and the Steve Reich-inspired keyboard exploration “Orgone Box,” between the ambient experiment “Korendor” and the bizarro pop of “Pleocene.” Other songs reference Algerian raï and American swing. A winking eccentricity flows through it all, as if Hosono saw each trope he encountered as another card in a deck, ready to be shuffled and made into the stuff of magic tricks. This unabashed love of trying new things without fear of failure is what makes Hosono’s catalog so delightful even now.” – Pitchfork

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