Cochin Moon (コチンの月, Kochin no Tsuki) is Haruomi Hosono's fifth solo album. Initially intended as a collaboration with illustrator Tadanori Yokoo, who traveled to India alongside Hosono (as part of a group) for inspiration; Yokoo ended up only drawing the cover, having contracted a stomach illness during the trip,[1] rendering this as a Hosono solo album.

Cochin Moon
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 21, 1978 (1978-09-21)
Genre
Length42:47
LabelKING
ProducerHaruomi Hosono
Tadanori Yokoo (Executive)
Tsunehiro Motoyoshi
Tadao Takakuwa
Haruomi Hosono chronology
Paraiso
(1978)
Cochin Moon
(1978)
Philharmony
(1982)
Yellow Magic Orchestra chronology
Yellow Magic Orchestra
(1978)

Cochin Moon was conceptually written as the soundtrack of a non-existent Bollywood film, a trait inspired by the artists' trip. The album includes performances by Tin Pan Alley keyboardist Hiroshi Satō, Yellow Magic Orchestra member Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Hideki Matsutake. Despite being Hosono's first completely electronic solo album (at the time YMO's debut was still being recorded, making this Hosono's first electronic album to be released), the exotica feel of Hosono's previous solo work is still present. The first half of the album (named after an Indian hotel that the group was in for the trip, a picture of the hotel's front appears in the back of the album's packaging) consists of three thematically themed songs, the second half of the album (and Hosono's keyboard performance) is credited to "Shuka Nishihara" (西原朱夏), a pseudonym Hosono created as a play on Hakushū Kitahara's pseudonym.

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Haruomi Hosono/"Shuka Nishihara"

Side A: Hotel Malabar (ホテル・マラバル, Hoteru Marabaru)
No.TitleLength
1."Ground Floor···Triangle Circuit on the Sea-Forest" (一階・・・海の三角形 Ikkai···Umi no Sankakkei)2:28
2."Upper Floor···Moving Triangle" (二階・・・動く三角形 Nikkai···Ugoku Sankakkei)8:45
3."Roof Garden···Revel Attack" (屋上・・・レベル・アタック Okujō···Reberu Atakku)8:58
Side B
No.TitleLength
4."Hepatitis" (肝炎 Kan'en)4:43
5."Hum Ghar Sajan" (ハム・ガラ・サジャン Hamu Gara Sajan)8:50
6."Madam Consul General of Madras" (マドラス総領事夫人 Madorasu Sōryōji Fujin)9:04

Personnel

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References

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  1. ^ Lozano, Kevin (3 October 2018). "Haruomi Hosono: Hosono House / Paraiso / Cochin Moon / Philharmony / omni Sight Seeing". Pitchfork. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
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