The seeds for Yellow Magic Orchestra are planted here, though the assembled band (including Sakamoto and Takahashi) still carries the laidback groove of Tropical Dandy and Bon Voyage Co. here. Like a yacht captain hollering at Jimmy Buffet across the bay, Hosono is in a mellow yet playful mood here, drawing on all manner of exotica tropes: bird calls, plinking marimbas, wafting Rhodes chords, swaying drums, skewering them in his own sly manner. Cocktails with wedges of pineapple, hammock naps, a tiki bar house band that might be mocking you, Hosono balances Okinawan folk songs with visionary drum machine-gamelan instrumentals, pointing towards his next re-invention.

– Andy Beta