life grips

September 6, 2017 8:14 PM

Watering a Flower (花に水) is a cassette of ambient synthesizer music by Haruomi Hosono, commissioned by MUJI in 1984 for use as store background music. Well, sort of.

Don't read the comments.

posted by theodolite (31 comments total)

The top comment - "I played this at my vacuum cleaner's funeral" - made me guffaw in a way that usually only the neural network posts do. I just read it again in my own comment and I'm still laughing.
posted by fast ein Maedchen at 8:17 PM on September 6, 2017 [17 favorites]

This has led me down an incredible Youtube journey through weird obscure ambient stuff, thank god for /usr/bin/youtube-dl
posted by Jimbob at 8:29 PM on September 6, 2017 [6 favorites]

getting kind of an Achewood quality in there

This music is appropriate for a shop that only sells like owl figurines and one human skull
posted by Countess Elena at 8:36 PM on September 6, 2017 [5 favorites]

This randomly popped up in suggested videos on YouTube a few weeks ago for me, and since listening to it my suggested videos have been wonderful. Lots of Casiopea.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:47 PM on September 6, 2017 [5 favorites]

Human music?
posted by stannate at 9:00 PM on September 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

There is so much about this that I love that I barely know where to start.
posted by turbid dahlia at 9:05 PM on September 6, 2017

"Your door is ajar."
posted by josephtate at 9:26 PM on September 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Wow. What an unexpected joy. Thanks, theodolite...
posted by twsf at 10:23 PM on September 6, 2017

This is amazing. The comments are amazing. The one that made me laugh till I cried was "listening to this music makes me feel like i've been walking for 10 miles with a pebble in my shoe, only to take it out and find out it's a human tooth" but it might have been less about that comment itself and more the buildup of amusement/tension from reading the other comments. And I have watched so many cockatiel and ukulele videos lately (don't judge, we all have our thing) that I thought nothing could penetrate the fog of my Youtube recommendations, but watching this once did indeed turn it into a playlist of wonderful chill music. A+
posted by sunset in snow country at 10:24 PM on September 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

My boyfriend and I just spent like ten minutes listening to this and reading selections from the comments to each other. Thank you.
posted by egypturnash at 10:25 PM on September 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm enjoying this fellow a lot. This reminds me of a combination of Plaid, Kermit The Frog, Luke Vibert, and Stereolab, so in other words it's wonderful.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 10:27 PM on September 6, 2017

And Mint Jams! It's like a crazy nintendo lounge-metal-shredding slap-bass extravaganza!
posted by Jon Mitchell at 11:01 PM on September 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Was wondering why the link posted as read until I clicked and realized from the thumbnail that the youtube suggested this to me a while ago. Did not know the comments were pure gold. Now, I must go, a sweater store in Roppongi needs me.
posted by gideonswann at 11:28 PM on September 6, 2017

In a different vein.
posted by sebastienbailard at 12:02 AM on September 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

"Harry" Hosono is one of music's greats and you already like something he's made whether you know it or not. He founded YMO with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi, composed music for Miyzaki's Nausicaä, collaborated with Van Dyke Parks and James Brown, and has more solo projects and collaborations than most people have hot dinners.
posted by ardgedee at 3:55 AM on September 7, 2017 [8 favorites]

What is especially nice about this piece is that it accurately named. When you listen to the music you can tell that there really is only one flower.
posted by Jane the Brown at 3:58 AM on September 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

The comments are incredible.
posted by Sebmojo at 4:30 AM on September 7, 2017

Talking: A bespectacled family of four -- mother, father, sister, brother - sit round a round dining table dipping spoons into empty bowls, pantomime eating. They occasionally smile and nod at each other, indicating how good nothing tastes. There is a soft early Saturday afternoon rain falling outside the window. Across the suburban street and up on their neighbor, Mr. Herbert's porch overlooking his lawn, the mailman is in a life and death struggle with Mr. Herbert's Doberman.
posted by Sebmojo at 4:31 AM on September 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

Stan Maertens
1 week ago
This tape was made to listen to while reading the comments of this upload of the tape.
posted by Sebmojo at 4:33 AM on September 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

This must be one of those things that if you don't get it you don't even know what you would need to get in order to try getting it.
posted by Soi-hah at 5:21 AM on September 7, 2017

I just put this on and my toddler immediately sat down, fell over on the floor, and silently clutched the nearest hard plastic object while staring directly ahead
posted by phooky at 6:06 AM on September 7, 2017 [5 favorites]

Somehow, the music gives me the same good feeling that I got when I noticed that the tags on this post say "a e s t h i c".
posted by Kortney at 6:11 AM on September 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

One of my favorite Hosono discoveries via Youtube's AI recommendations. I had recently been obsessively listening to two of his albums online after my turntable died and realized that if I just let YT's "suggested list" have its head it would inevitably lead me home to music I might never have discovered otherwise. All of his music is at least witty and interesting if not downright smart and great.
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 7:34 AM on September 7, 2017

This feels like living in Animal Crossing -Youtube comment
posted by Chrischris at 7:37 AM on September 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

Okay, I can't quite figure this out. The first Youtube comment says that this is actually a pastiche of Haruomi, not a real album, and the FPP implies it. Is that true? It's great, I just want to know.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:53 AM on September 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

I got into similar territory recently by just letting playlists run forever and occasionally "re seeding" (by that I mean clicking on "Mix" for a tune in the suggestions).
Hiroshi Yoshimura - Something Blue
Iury Lech - Barreras
Mort Garson[Plantasia] 1976
posted by yoHighness at 8:20 AM on September 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

Music for Airports meets Earthbound
posted by cybertaur1 at 8:47 AM on September 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

This all makes me so happy.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 10:18 AM on September 7, 2017

"I would play this in my basement if I were raising moths"
posted by Bob Regular at 10:37 AM on September 7, 2017

Although I listen a lot of YMO, I was surprised to see this pop up on youtube recs a few months ago. I like it to the point I've considered doing something with sparse pattern arrangements someday.
posted by lmfsilva at 12:21 PM on September 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

Young Space Hobo came over and asked if I had changed my phone's alarm music.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 1:25 PM on September 7, 2017 [1 favorite]