Track of the Day: "Choo Choo Gatagoto," by Haruomi Hosono (1973)

A miraculously delightful track that somehow predicts the groovy, goofy slacker pop of Mac Demarco while still sounding not too adrift from its 70s soft rock home. After the groove starts, it's Hosono's disarmingly woozy and slurring three-mai tai lunch vocals that either immediately win you over or make you unable to contain a giggle. Maybe both.  Making this all more unexpected is the fact that Hosono would eventually depart from this charmingly human music to co-found the electronics and synthesizer-driven Yellow Magic Orchestra, a Japanese parallel to Germany's Kraftwerk. All I know is, whenever this song comes on, I can't help but smiling.