Hm, if you say that Chara/Yuki album has steel drums then I need to check that out as soon as possible.
― Patrick South (Patrick South), Friday, 18 March 2005 02:22 (nineteen years ago) link
― jdconsidine, Friday, 18 March 2005 02:55 (nineteen years ago) link
& posted 'ringo catalog' to the ilmxor blog (with multiple thanks to jody for hosting the file).
― milton parker (Jon L), Thursday, 24 March 2005 01:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― mista faka, Friday, 23 September 2005 13:57 (eighteen years ago) link
Tokyo Incidents blog has translated list of every sample in 'Ringo Catalog'. I'm very impressed, and hadn't noticed that she mostly moves through the samples in chronological order.http://www.thetokyoincidents.com/archives/2006/01/ringo_catalog_b.html#more
there's a new album out next week. the band's new logo uses romanji, they're now officially 'Tokyo Incidents', and this single's 98% sung in english. and from the few songs I've heard, they've carefully removed every last bit of strangeness from the music; this comes across as a very mannered attempt to be nothing more than a slicked out, classy but fun pop band. I don't know, but we'll see.
new PV for tokyo jihen's 'kenka joutou', perhaps not the most striking first video impression (that'd be 'ringo no uta').http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=0jbiHVQpbYc
― milton parker (Jon L), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 22:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― sean gramophone (Sean M), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 23:09 (eighteen years ago) link
for anyone who didn't hear 'sounan (sickness)' from the first TJ album, here it is... the album itself may have been a slight letdown but this song is one of her best. serpentine melody, just when you're settling in to the 'normal' production, merzbow levels of distortion are _quietly_ added across the drums just to mess with your head. and the final drum & guitar showdown is pure fire.
http://s11.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2MUDULM6U0DOM1IAEG7I79MXEA
― milton parker (Jon L), Thursday, 19 January 2006 00:17 (eighteen years ago) link
well it's definitely true I wouldn't be giving this album much of a chance if it wasn't coming from the same person who'd done Chlorine, Semen, Chestnut Flower. if you know that it did, this becomes a very strange album entirely because you know just how much she's restraining herself. It's like she's decidedly choosing to be Happy now, if only for to protect her own health. And this is pretty fun stuff, well crafted & the group is so tight, it's hard for this not to grow on me -- but only in context with CSC. Which is an album I still can't seem to stop listening to.
The production is even more reigned in this time, the brash distortion, compression & noise of their first record is gone, as are the screaming fuzzboxed vocals. Some weird soundscapes & transitions, but everything's under control.
'Kenka Joutou' is a catchy song, I'm into it. In english and everything, it could be a hit if the label pushed it in the states.
― milton parker (Jon L), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:58 (eighteen years ago) link
i agree the album is mixed, too many "core ringo-fundamental" moments (which should be a paradox), laurel-resting and so on. the weird transitions are nice but then again CSC was like an entire body of continuous transition. you can stick a drum and bass coda on a complacent samba thing or whatever but it's ultimately just a mere trace.
that said, i like the increased use of jazz as a rhythmic element & i think the single is the best thing she's been involved w/ since her solo career. it's actually when the band members are on even grounding that things work for me (sorta what the shuraba video was implying). when the spotlight inevitably catches up, you get another ballad or lounge number that burns too slow too familiar.
― )alex(, Tuesday, 24 January 2006 22:24 (eighteen years ago) link
I definitely like how live they sound as a band, the sections where they just get to dig into their parts and cook sound great. They're such great musicians, the outros on a few of these songs are the parts where I get into it the most.
even if I'm mixed on it, I'm sad that I forgot to bring this to work today.
― milton parker (Jon L), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 22:40 (eighteen years ago) link
I'm still a little taken aback that I like this record, I never would have given it a chance if it were from anyone else. I don't like impeccably slicked out cabaret pop jazz, and that's the only real way to describe this, but they nailed what they were going for so beautifully that I just kind of have to hand it to them, this is a great album.
I was planning on buying the regular edition but Amoeba had the deluxe, and I'm glad I got it, the art design on the packaging is perfect, the fake ads for cologne -- is this irony? No, it's accurate, this music hides on its own beautiful surface.
the shiina videos are all on youtube now. most of them low-resolution, but 'meisai', 'identity' & 'tsumiki asobi', 'gibbs' are worth seeing, and her best videos 'ringo no uta' versions 1 & 2 are both hi-resolution.
― milton parker (Jon L), Friday, 17 February 2006 06:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― BARMS, Friday, 17 February 2006 10:59 (eighteen years ago) link
a friend of mine who's obsessed with hollywood musicals, bob fosse productions etc. got this record the first time -- the idea of someone making a modern record in this style that isn't a museum piece completely blew her away.
KZK remains the most overwhelming, but a major reason why she hasn't caught on here yet is that she's moving too fast for critics to get a bead on.
in the pantheon of uncompromising, eccentric songwriters that really oversee their own production, 70's = joni mitchell, 80's = kate bush, 90's = bjork perhaps, 00's = shiina ringo, she's that huge
― milton parker (Jon L), Sunday, 12 March 2006 00:07 (eighteen years ago) link
http://freckle.tenkeimedia.com/nl/ringo/souretsu.html
― milton parker (Jon L), Sunday, 12 March 2006 00:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― Patrick South (Patrick South), Sunday, 12 March 2006 02:24 (eighteen years ago) link
The Feb.19th, 2006 [DOMESTIC! Virgin Line] concert was recorded and will be broadcast on SkyPerfectTV channel 721 (FujiTV 721) on March 25, from 11:00PM - 12:40AM. Don't forget to set your DVRs!
― milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 13 March 2006 01:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 01:15 (eighteen years ago) link
― ryan (ryan), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 02:42 (eighteen years ago) link
Interestingly, she comes across as more of a female Cornelius than Takako Minekawa did.
― BARMS, Tuesday, 11 April 2006 07:11 (eighteen years ago) link
it's reassuring to hear anyone else say this, I think she's peerless.
if you've got the albums and want to start in on the DVDs, I'd recommend Baishou Ecstasy -- a 60 minute concert film where her performance in one auditorium is broadcast live by satelite to five other completely full theatres. the songs from KZK are redone as acoustic jazz cabaret songs by a 30 piece big band orchestra, and the songs just work -- she opens with an Edith Piaf cover, and like most of her concert films there's an extremely unsettling narrative twist at the end
I'm not as into the Electric Mole, which is Tokyo Jihen live at Budokan playing slicked out TJ versions of the KZK songs, though the Lynchian short film interludes are _really_ bizarre this time and there's a version of "Stem" that starts like Black Sabbath, plateaus like the Carpenters and ends exactly the same way as Sachiko M's sinewave solo on Ground-zero's Last-Concert album.
The videos are compiled on the Seiteki Healing series, volume three has the KZK clips.
http://www.everlasting-dream.net/ringo/ is my favorite fan site.
― milton parker (Jon L), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 19:20 (eighteen years ago) link
Of course, I'm not sure how much comfort it should be coming from a not very popcentric* person like me, but it might even be true (or plausible, or whatever truth-like value you prefer).
I don't own anything yet, myself, but once I've moved into my new apartment, and maybe after I wait a month or two to deal with some other necessary purchases, then I will at least pick up Adult and Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana.
*though hopefully not anti-pop.
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 19:47 (eighteen years ago) link
― milton parker (Jon L), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 04:39 (eighteen years ago) link
OK, now I am even more intrigued, although I also trust Milton's rave reviews. I was looking this stuff up on eBay the other day, seems that these CDs are reasonably available. I'll have to investigate.
― sleeve (sleeve), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 04:43 (eighteen years ago) link
so is it better to start with shiina ringo solo or with tokyo incident? or does it really matter?
― A. Lingbert (A. Lingbert), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 08:17 (eighteen years ago) link
I think Shiina made her name (in Japan) during the "Shouso Strip" period culminating w/ very popular nurse cosplay-parody video for 'Honnou'. I think there's the most tension there between charting rock star and widening weirdness palette.
It's also the period when most of her Cindy Shermanesque personas cropped up, sort of the dominant theme of her solo career. Before switching to T. Jihen there was 1) japanese ghost persona of 3rd & final album - death, 2) final song built entirely out of samples from her back catalog (link still above), & 3) a final video which chronologically travels through all her previous video roles.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DQBWmLfxwxs&search=shiina%20ringo%20uta
― )alex(, Wednesday, 12 April 2006 16:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― A. Lingbert (A. Lingbert), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 17:54 (eighteen years ago) link
imagine going to a stadium show and having that be the opening song.
what alex said. I like the Cindy Sherman reference, the song's lyrics are about an apple tree that longs to be human but settles for giving away her fruit at the end of each season -- sung by a person who keeps shifting through violently different personas, it's almost painful.
― milton parker (Jon L), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 21:10 (eighteen years ago) link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyf9M7mt_RY&search=tokyo%20jihen
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Saturday, 22 April 2006 19:11 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Saturday, 22 April 2006 19:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Saturday, 22 April 2006 19:16 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Saturday, 22 April 2006 19:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Saturday, 22 April 2006 19:55 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Saturday, 22 April 2006 21:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― ryan (ryan), Saturday, 22 April 2006 21:11 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Saturday, 22 April 2006 21:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Saturday, 22 April 2006 21:15 (eighteen years ago) link
http://www.everlasting-dream.net/ringo/video.htm
ryan, do you have "Hatsuiku Status" (green cover, cartoon drawing) and "Gekokujo Xtacy"? I know I want the latter, the former I'm on the fence about. The youtube excerpts from "Dynamite Out" (like the one RS linked to) make me wish I hadn't passed on it.
― milton parker (Jon L), Saturday, 22 April 2006 21:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Saturday, 22 April 2006 22:11 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Saturday, 22 April 2006 22:15 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Saturday, 22 April 2006 22:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 23 April 2006 13:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 23 April 2006 13:33 (eighteen years ago) link
I <3 Shoso Strip.
― RoxyMuzak© (roxymuzak), Sunday, 23 April 2006 13:49 (eighteen years ago) link
Anyway, I could still go.
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 23 April 2006 13:56 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 23 April 2006 14:23 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 23 April 2006 14:25 (eighteen years ago) link
http://shiinaringo.se/pics/Tokyo%20Jihen/jihen1.jpg
― milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 24 April 2006 01:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Monday, 24 April 2006 02:14 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Monday, 24 April 2006 02:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 24 April 2006 02:28 (eighteen years ago) link
The last couple months I was only listening to Shina Ringo pre-Tokyo Jihen (including b-sides). Every song grows on you. I don’t have it in me to complain about any song from that period.
― ilm jive mind (FlopsyDuck), Monday, 15 July 2019 03:53 (four years ago) link
Tokyo Jihen is available where I am (Vietnam) under Tokyo Incidents. I listened to Adult looong ago and didn't really care for it but I might give it another listen now
― Vinnie, Monday, 15 July 2019 08:03 (four years ago) link
Try 'Variety' also, it's ace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix8Inb2wAl4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC8la4l4RhQ
― MaresNest, Monday, 15 July 2019 10:51 (four years ago) link
can't go too wrong with anything up until the end of Jihen imo. maybe that singles collection she did early in her solo career and the double cover album are patchy but still have good stuff.
sadly on both US iTunes and Play they only have two albums - the single for Koufukeron from '98 and something called "Saihate Ga Mitai -Donde Quiere Estar Mi Alma Viajero-"?
― Nhex, Tuesday, 16 July 2019 03:08 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT7LleyU-I8
found video of an early version of "koko de kiss shite" from 1996, performed with at the 'music quest' contest that lead to her getting a record deal
there's a lot of other great performances on that channel too
― ufo, Sunday, 15 September 2019 11:18 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnaIJEW676Q
tokyo jihen are back
― ufo, Thursday, 2 January 2020 15:09 (four years ago) link
That's lush
― Maresn3st, Thursday, 2 January 2020 15:28 (four years ago) link
WHAT
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 2 January 2020 15:30 (four years ago) link
Sounds a lot like Petrolz, mind.
― Maresn3st, Thursday, 2 January 2020 15:37 (four years ago) link
not really surprising considering Ukigumo has the writing credit on this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nZS1G_dQkQ
here's the reunion announcement video
― ufo, Friday, 3 January 2020 00:37 (four years ago) link
idk if anyone's mentioned this but tokyo jihen are on spotify now, under the name "tokyo incidents"
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 January 2020 20:19 (four years ago) link
Tokyo Jihen is available where I am (Vietnam) under Tokyo Incidents
oh lol i'm late
anyway the first two albums are masterpieces for anyone who doesn't know
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 January 2020 20:20 (four years ago) link
News EP out today, available on Spotify in the US!Which is good, but I still wish I wasn't restricted from just buying the mp3s here.
― Nhex, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 10:00 (four years ago) link
Looking forward to this, been listening to them a lot recently, the mid/later records are much better than I remember them, especially Variety which is ace.
― Maresn3st, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 10:07 (four years ago) link
New Jihen video up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t67VbQhh9_A
― Maresn3st, Friday, 14 August 2020 00:00 (three years ago) link
muzai moratorium: it's a great album
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Sunday, 22 November 2020 03:51 (three years ago) link
such an absurdly good debut
― ufo, Sunday, 22 November 2020 03:57 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75-c5h7obKohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L79JmTcdycc
― ufo, Sunday, 22 November 2020 04:13 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg8foBeQfcw
even her b-sides from early on are unreal
― ufo, Sunday, 22 November 2020 04:20 (three years ago) link
New TJ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS45uTF_8P0
― Maresn3st, Thursday, 13 May 2021 23:16 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pG7zs-2vQY
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 7 March 2023 13:21 (one year ago) link
The new single is pretty great and has Hisako Tabuchi from Number Girl on guitar!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl_fGKFFq_Y
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 24 May 2023 13:16 (eleven months ago) link
omg tabuchi and ringo reunited
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 24 May 2023 14:55 (eleven months ago) link
New Ohzora Kimishima is extremely good Shiinacore if anyone's interested
― imago, Friday, 29 September 2023 22:35 (six months ago) link
oh wow that's great. shiina's an obvious influence but there's a whole lot more going on than just that
― ufo, Friday, 29 September 2023 23:52 (six months ago) link
It's great on initial listens, I've only just gotten my head around 縫層 and that was years ago
― MaresNest, Saturday, 30 September 2023 00:02 (six months ago) link
Will try that!
Does anyone know why in 2023 you can get her whole discography on Spotify/Apple Music but you still can't purchase them to own in the US
― Nhex, Saturday, 28 October 2023 13:18 (five months ago) link