the Shiina Ringo thread

my favorite pop album of this decade so far by a wide margin.

she reinvented herself completely for Kuruki. it's like trying to compare The Kick Inside to The Dreaming.

milton have you heard the double cover song album? it's stylistically all over the map, even for her... it wasn't that much of a leap to hear kuruki turn out how it did at the time, like she drew in all the incompatible tangents and made it messily/wonderfully work.

I heard KSK and worked backwards; her second album Shoso Strip is my 2nd favorite. Each of her records were progressively further out, so KSK isn't really a reinvention, it was a straight line but not the ones her mainstream fans imagined.

I wasn't sold on her double cover album, the production was slightly more mainstream jpop, but the song selection was beautifully all over the place, singing in french/german/english/japanese, and there are a couple songs I really love. 'Haiiro no hitomi' is great.

it was apparently her final solo release, the concept of which is a mini-career retrospective. she's since joined the band Tokyo Jihen (same band she toured KSK with, documented on the Electric Mole DVD, live at Budokan. The album doesn't translate to stadium rock too well, I don't like these live versions -- though there is a very very strange short film with Ringo backstage after the show at the end)

only problem with Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana is that it is too short. easily one of my favorite pop albums ever.

'Sounan' is one of the best things she's ever done, and 'Laugh At Facts' is cool. Overall TJ leaves me a little cold but in context as a followup to her weirdest record it's an interesting move.

The things I like about her:
- amazing integration of traditional asian instruments in a rock context (something most jpop almost never does; it's against the rules, in pursuit of perfect emulative form)
- awareness of the japanese underground, her records are studio polished but unlike other jpop actually seem to have absorbed things like melt banana, otomo, merzbow (the very end of KSK sounds like Ground Zero's 'Consume Red')
- demented, extremely aggressive lyrics. no submission & brutal honesty that's completely absent in most other jpop

the first two have gone missing in TJ but the lyrics I've seen translated indicate that she's still raving.

http://www.dyske.com/index.php?view_id=848

Name more bananas mainstream Jpop! When I heard KSK I started looking for the recent good stuff...

Speaking of which, has anyone heard the new Yuki album?

Hm, if you say that Chara/Yuki album has steel drums then I need to check that out as soon as possible.

& posted 'ringo catalog' to the ilmxor blog (with multiple thanks to jody for hosting the file).

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

http://freckle.tenkeimedia.com/nl/ringo/souretsu.html

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!

Interestingly, she comes across as more of a female Cornelius than Takako Minekawa did.

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.

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.

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.

so is it better to start with shiina ringo solo or with tokyo incident? or does it really matter?

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

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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyf9M7mt_RY&search=tokyo%20jihen

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.

I <3 Shoso Strip.

Anyway, I could still go.

http://shiinaringo.se/pics/Tokyo%20Jihen/jihen1.jpg

ok im ordering Adult right now....

http://www.everlasting-dream.net/ringo/specials/patipati99.htm

Yes.

I can see the reasons why Virgin hasn't even licensed her records in the States so far -- the english speaking world has low tolerance for pop sung in a different language. When an artist or group is selling out stadiums in Japan, the motivation to start over and slog through a tour of mid-sized clubs is low. And the few times there's been a push, the results have been mixed: Puffy, Dreams Come True, Utada Hikaru (Puffy only got a second chance after their tie-in cartoon show). So why should Virgin take a chance on an iconoclast cult-figure like Shiina...

Except I think it's completely obvious that she's the one with a chance to cross over here, Jpop for people who are usually allergic to Jpop. The sheer number of english fan sites is mindblowing, all in the relative absence of any professional critical support -- everything online is unedited, self-published, and there's a lot of it. She's really got to tour the States, it would be the loudest thing that's happened over here in some time.

http://www.pliink.com/mt/marxy/archives/000346.html

That's for sure (not that it's only true of us). I run into it a lot when I get excited about some new foreign language music.

I would go see her live.

also, doesn't it seem odd to say ringo is the best j-pop? if anything, she shows how to subvert j-pop, and make it art-rock

I would agree that her voice, and also her singing, are not as unimpeachable as her songwriting (and production--if she's involved with that a lot--I don't know).

What do you think of her voice on the Tokyo Jihen Dynamite Out! version of "Sounan"? It doesn't have the littlegirlishness of some pop singers, but also she isn't doing a lot of weird effects (like on her version of "The Lady is a Tramp").

the only record she's done that's full on art rock is KZK... most of her releases are actually very much within the Jpop continuum, though the most extreme example. that's why I think she's the one that's going to make it here. that, and the fact that she is a mainstream artist in Japan: plays Budokan, stadium tours, a double platinum record, etc.

I did not like Jihen at first, the first record is a mixed bag. But the jump from the first one to Adult is so huge, I don't think we've seen the last of weird-Shiina.

Also, "Kurumaya-san" is a cover of an old Enka hit, so the melody is much more traditionally eastern. That song, though, it's amazing.

about her voice not grabbing you, well that's always an obstacle to listening, though Shiina's voice is one of the best things about the music for me, strung out between studied hit-the-abstract-jazz-note precision and total unhinged dementia. She's got more than a few personas.

if you had to pick ONE shiina/jihen song to sell someone on her magic, what would it be?

Playing a video might speed up the process of winning over a new listener. It worked that way for me in this case, and I'm not usually that big on music videos (but I think she generally has good videos). If you go the video route, "Ringo No Uta" strikes me as a very good starting point. (Isn't this all going to depend on someone's tolerance for a little tweeness or occasional Beatlesesque orchestral segments, or just pleasant melodies.) "Instinct" also seems very immediately catchy to me, but the video will be a plus for some, a minus for others. "Yamini Furu Ame" is catchy, though a friend complained that the video was going to give her nightmares. It seems like fairly mild stuff to me, however. Tokyo Jihen's "Himitsu FOR DJ" was the first one I watched, I think, and I immediately became interested (but what would someone with a high resistance to slicked out cabaret pop jazz funk disco think?).

My pick for most perfect song at the moment is the Dynamite Out! version of Tokyo Jihen doing "Sounan." But it's a little more conventional than some of her other material (basically very melodic classic rock imo).

If none of this works, by them a spicy tuna roll and some iced green tea and then try again.

but any of those three would probably be enough to get you interested in the others

Rockist_Scientist OTM about the Beatlesque orchestrations - Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite was the first thing that came to mind when I first heard Poltergeist.

Karuki zamen kuru no hana was the most immediate album for me, although I think Shosu Strip is more obviously mainstream.

Despite all of this, I still like it a lot, but I can't help wondering if I am not going to like Shoso Strip better overall. I will say that KZK works well as an album, as a whole, so that is probably part of its reputation as well.

http://www.thetokyoincidents.com/archives/2006/01/adult_impressio.html

almost woke this thread up last night -- I bought that bootlegged Hibari Misora DVD of her NHK special from Barbara's Enka site. Misora's really something, and the original version of "Kurumaya-san" is mindblowing. Planning to transfer the audio from the disc, I'll post an mp3 when I get back.

Enka's very interesting stuff; coming right out of WWII, the instrumentation is straight up big band & western derived, but all the vocal styles sung on top are still pure pentatonic classic japanese vocal lines, dramatic recitationals w/ beautifully ornamented melodies, much more of a striking hybrid than what j-pop has become for the last 15 years or so.

Enka is song of resignation. Resignation must be sweet so that it is endurable.

note symmetrical min:sec values of album length

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/Sprad/KZK.png

I would have to agree that "Torikoshi Gurou" is a weak point, although I like "Okonomi de" (which frankly reminds me of one of those 70s Todd Rundgren hits--not exactly, of course).

anyway here's the hisari mibora version of 'kurumaya-san', transferred from that TV special -- I doubt the studio version is this dramatic: http://www.sendspace.com/file/d66t45

http://seitekihealing3.tripod.com/1/PDVD_042.JPG

might as well just link the whole site, it's a bizarre html simulation of the 'seiteki healing 3' DVD menu w/ screen captures

http://seitekihealing3.tripod.com/

Hisari Mibora's "Kurumaya-san" is great. Any idea when the TV special was recorded? How long did it take for them to get such a workable fusion of western big band music and traditional Japanese music, after WWII? (Was it maybe already in the works, despite the war?)

There's a lot of orientalist clap trap in this thread . . .

Like?

the earliest Misora on the NHK special seems to date from late 40's/early 50's (all the captions / voiceovers are in japanese). the 'kurumaya-san' segment seems to date from late 60's/early 70's? to set the scene, the song's first verse is staged with her being dropped off by a rickshaw driver outside her house, she pays him; he leaves and she begins the first vocal solo; then instead of going inside she wanders off into her garden and sings the 2nd verse, then she approaches the camera and sings the 2nd solo.

the whole special is good, I can recommend Barbara's Enka site.

I think you will get your wish eventually. I believe this thread's Google rank is rising.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR0rjMO7JE4&search=tokyo%20jihen

http://www.jpopmusic.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=54414&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

The service providers that have refused to disclose personal information on their clients say disclosure would require a court order as it involves matters of individual privacy.

In a similar suit, the court ruled in June last year that Internet service providers must disclose the names and addresses of individuals who posted singer Ringo Shiina's songs on the Internet.

that french site that's had KZK up for about three years has prompted more album sales than anything the record label's bothered to pursue. I've bought six albums, five DVDs and six singles, all at import prices -- add up that revenue, you executive idiots -- all because of one mp3 of 'stem' posted to said the gramophone & that KZK site. those people are doing your work for you, you stupid suits.

those idiots don't even have her stuff up on itunes yet.

x-post

An advertisement for KZK.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOqGPdaJlwg&search=shiina%20ringo

she's unusually saccharine on the chorus, but it's worth it for the Sachiko M jam at the end

don, I have to hook you up with a copy of that song Milton posted a while back. I think you'd like it. It's a shame you don't have a high-speed connection (most of the time anyway?) because you could check out a lot of this stuff on youtube.

granted she's not even being distributed by her label in the west, and professionals can't review something more than a few months old, or vote for last year's album. you'd think that they'd have been ready by adult, though. I've zero investment in seeing my tastes reflected, I'm only frustrated without that press intrest, a group of that stature can't afford to tour. And then I see things like Souretsu on youtube and I just want to scream (I honestly did consider flying out to tokyo for that show).

on the other hand, the media isn't needed. look at the number of views of any of her youtube videos. I hope her management is, anyway. the Japanese audience is slimming into a hardcore cult fanbase for her, but I bet you anything the Western audience is ready.

If Tokyo Jihen did end up being able to tour the US, they would probably have to scale it down at first. It would be awesome to see them in a small venue, but they'd have to sacrifice the elaborate stage show like the one in that video.

I wonder what it would take to start getting their music distributed over here. I actually did see Adult for sale at Uwajimaya's in Seattle earlier this month (for $35), but I'm guessing that's one of the very few places you'd be able to find it.

Sorry to go OT a bit, but it seems better to ask you here, rather than start a "recommend me some rock" thread where I keep saying, "No, that's not what I'm looking for."

DOMESTIC! Just Can't Help It tour -- a DVD of the May 26th concert, coming out this September -- just announced on her web site. Sounds very different than the NHK special they aired of the February concerts, which I need to get a copy of because I am sick of loading up YouTube just to watch 'Souretsu'.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=51437562

I would never put "Toumei Ningen" as the first track to listen to. OTOH, the whole selection here seems to be intentionally skipping the singles, which are available on youtube anyway. I hope people will check this out, but keep in mind that the album segues really nicely from track to track, so you are missing the larger logic.

'Sounan' is still the track I recommend to people for a first impression.

also, I've been checking out the Zazen Boys (Ringo sings on a few of their tracks). I was surprised at how prog the rhythms on some of their tracks are -- like a pop version of the Ruins -- and they've definitely pinched Ringo & Kameda's run-the-whole-drum-kit-through-12-distortion-plugins production trick. Definitely another example of the 80's/90's Japanese underground slowly seeping over into the mainstream. Their 'Usodarake' is on youtube.

all their things on youtube are way prog, if they've made it big in Japan then this is good news

(I forgot to check out the Zazen Boys, but will do so.)

I'm a bit surprised you don't like the track if you love "Blackout." I feel that the two tracks go hand in hand, in terms of mood.

http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/vmc/issue/issue_75.htm

The third one, "Blackout," is especially great. "Mirrorball" is so so...but it's not technically a Tokyo Jihen song. I guess the guitarist (Ukigumi) wrote it for some older band he was in.

in other news: new solo single in january to be followed by full album. looks like it started life as songs written for a soundtrack, but became its own thing.

I did get the Just Can't Help It DVD. A combination of a live show, completely reshot footage on a soundstage identical to the stage from the live show but with no audience, and the band playing in surreal, scenic location shots, all seamlessly edited together -- very disorienting. For the first half, there is no audience on camera, they're only on the soundtrack. But occasionally it really works in a way that further descriptions would spoil. Does not rock as hard as the first live DVD Dynamite Out, a straight document of them just burning, blowing the album versions away -- this one is more of a j-cabaret show. Great though, totally worth getting.

Also the new live versions of the older songs sent me back again to the first album. Which, amazingly, I love now, totally love it -- all the things that were too loud and tasteless now seem fun, all the things that seemed too bombastic & sentimental now work, uh-oh. It was just the surprise of a debauched, sleazy pop record coming after KZK, like someone demanding that you take them to go swing dancing in a dive bar seconds after they've given you the most religiously effective opium you've ever smoked -- fun but seriously complicated

jasrac petitioned youtube to remove most of their j-pop content, so the live version of 'hard liquor' mentioned upthread where they seamlessly turn the corner into 'immigrant song' isn't up anymore -- too bad

the other downside of jasrac pulling j-pop from youtube is that the commercially unavailable Domestic! Virgin Line clips from february are gone. Just Can't Help It is better overall, but the live versions of 'Souretsu' and 'Ideal Days For Ultramarine'... those need to come out somewhere soon.

new album is solo!

also, wtf @ the tracklinks to this thread?

tracklinks?

The descriptions given all over the place indicate that the album is an "iyokusaku", just like "KARUKI ZAAMEN KURI NO HANA", so I think Ringo'll be producing the album again.

saku= harvest or bloom

Maybe it's those two words put together, I guess that'd kinda make sense. Wanting to blossom creatively or something.... beats me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC-u0c2w7hg

http://blog.naver.com/delico4u/70010525142

http://vidsearch.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=747236124

(This thread does not come up in ilx search, incidentally.)

usually, the happier her music, the more devestating the lyrics are. it's the way in to her relentlessly perky new material -- she's singing about double suicide, betrayal, ghosts, the end of the world, graphically uneasy sex with someone she can't trust, etc.

and this new single is incredible. I'm playing it over and over. once again, after a brief intro in japanese, all in english. the bittersweet harmonies going into the chorus, it's actually as sad as it is happy. it's so good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR_OzfBeiSU

- sampled on O.lamm's new "Monolith" album.
- field recorded on Sarah Peebles' "Walking Through Tokyo At The Turn Of The Century" album

Things I have belatedly noticed on her sleeve art: On Gibusu she is cutting her hand & on Mayonaka wa Junketsu she is a mannequin. I had to see them in person to notice.

Actually, I found it by searching Google and finding it in someone else's bookmarks, which I now do have bookmarked.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
#What is the band actually called, Tokyo Jihen or Tokyo Incident?
The real name is Tokyo Jihen (actually the exact transliteration would be Toukyou Jihen), but in some Western sites, and sometimes in TJ's official site, they are called Tokyo Incident, which is none other that the translation of the original name.

01 - Gamble (ƒMƒƒƒ“ƒuƒ‹)
02 - Kuki (Œs)
03 - Sakuran (TERRA ver.) (ö—)
04 - Hatsukoi Shoujo (ƒnƒcƒRƒC©—)
05 - Papaya Mango (ƒpƒpƒCƒ„ƒ}ƒ“ƒS[)
06 - Ishiki (ˆÓŽ¯)
07 - Yokushitsu (—Žº)
08 - Meisai (–ÀÊ)
09 - Poltergeist (ƒ|ƒ‹ƒ^[ƒKƒCƒXƒg)
10 - Karisome Otome (TAMEIKESANNOH ver.) (ƒJƒŠƒ\ƒ‰³—)
11 - Oiran (‰ÔŠ@)
12 - Yume no Ato (–²‚Ì‚ ‚Æ)
13 - Kono Yo no Kagiri (‚±‚Ì–é‚ÌŒÀ‚è)

Further updates (and a new PV) here:

http://ringoran.wordpress.com/

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/pictures/s/16/34/TOCT-26210.jpg

Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117957980.html

(This drastically reworks an earlier song, with typical aplomb. With a little help from Saito Neko, her George Martin, perhaps.)

I'm still completely addicted to 'Konoyo Yo Kagiri'. Seemingly so happy but with some real poison in the lyrics and the harmonies. The other two songs are an alt arrangement & an instrumental of tracks from the new album -- the instrumental of 'Temporary Virgin' is on the soundtrack of what R_S just linked, sounds like an ultra-ornamented take on Astor Piazolla circa the late 80's Kip Hanrahan productions like Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night.

Apart from the first verse of 'Konoyo', all the lyrics are in English. And this is the first ever single of hers that's been available on iTunes UK. The five clips of songs from the new album are mostly in english. The push is coming. All those people too busy complaining about the lack of substance with Norah Jones, this album is looking right over your shoulder waiting for you to turn around.

Those five clips are something -- the whole album is arranged for 70 piece orchestra by Saito, but there's still some strange KZK-ish production on the third clip, 'Firstlove Prostitute'. I am counting the seconds until 2/21.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_ej5t2vC7E&eurl=

You can’t get enough of abusing others
That is, you have to serve your opponent
I REALLY REALLY DO

I'm into this version of 'Sakuran'. She's playing it straight, so her style sticks out, not a smooth fit. I'd be scared if it were a smooth fit though, and I like the song (if it's not her best).

I don't listen to the first album much at all. 'Tsumiki Asobi' is grade A inexplicable pop though, playing it for my friend Keith & his comment when it got to the middle: "well I guess you could call that a guitar solo"

Straight, huh? To me it just seems too mannered (though no doubt you could make that complaint about her singing in lots of songs by her that I like).

I sent a link for the "Konoyo Yo Kagiri" video to someone at work on whom I have historically inflicted a certain amount of unwelcome music sharting (we were kind of friends at one point) and I was relieved that she liked it. I was pretty sure she would though.

if the other stuff measures up, or even tops this (as apparently it does), i'll be extremely impressed

amazed at how prolific she is, still being under 30 and all.

with regard to Ned's 'all the shouting' comment it's worth remembering there are still zero stories about her in western print media (discounting Time Asia)

new tokyo jihen single 'osca' in one month:

http://doops.jp/2007/06/07/images/tjoscajckt.png

2nd single 'killer tune' coming in august, followed by album number three

not to over-anticipate

CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT!!

I'm wondering if Surmounter and Ned have picked up Karuki Zaamen Kuri No Hana yet?

hmm

NO don't hate

ugh 22 dollars? it better be damn good - i'm ordering it now

"hmm"?

"ugh 22 dollars? it better be damn good - i'm ordering it now"

Well, you SHOULD like it. I've played it for various people who have nothing in common as far as musical tastes go, and they've all loved it.

oh i'm sure i will, i'm sure i won't be able to stop playing it for like eight months.

it's just one of those things, u know, where u know it's going to blow u away but ya JUST have to put it off. i just got my confirmation from Amazon

Cool!

And you're right, it really is one of those albums that you can listen to for so long.

=)

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/Sprad/blackshiina.jpg

duplicate images!! such brevarity of the lord and followed. TRUST and COMMON for that is our fellow man and wemen. shiina is CAPTURED and is HERE.

identical twin? coffee mate?

WAHTY?

osca video get: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sP0cms8SYU

WELL

it's very... summery? her videos can be so awkward, especially when they go for "hotness". I know damn well that Jihen packaging / stills / videos have always had a savagely ironic edge to them, you're never supposed to feel _comfortably_ aroused, but... those schoolgirls are just ridiculous, that's just plain stupid on either side of the ocean. I'm glad there was a link to the song 'Sounan' in the sidebar for me to play three times in a row immediately after, that's probably still my favorite Jihen song & video.

Music for this new one written by guitarist Uki. It is catchy, if reigned in.

listening again this isn't really reigned in at all, it's ten kinds of great. that clavinet. and all the intricate counterpoint in the second half of the song. & so good to hear her skipping the english, she will always sound more insane singing in japanese

ok yes this is rolls-royce + race car addictive, could be the one.

x-post

The video is pretty bad. The song is okay, on first listen. If it weren't by Tokyo Jihen, I don't think I would have any interest in hearing it again.

I've felt that way about a lot of Jihen from the beginning, I would not return to it if it wasn't for KZK being my favorite pop album released this decade etc.

Since it is Jihen though, the details start coming out on repeat. & though I'm pretty sure the video is going for awkward rather than hot, I can't wait to hear the album and forget this clip

with hindsight you can really see how much Björk's career owes to her impeccable taste in video directors, her videos have always been more her ideal medium for her than the album format actually... Shiina's songs always sound better in the context of the albums and seem to take a hit when bundled with these very professional but often average promo clips, which is a shame 'cause youtube is probably the main way she's crossing the ocean right now

ok I think I was being mr. no-fun old-guy distracted by panties. that video isn't naive or awkward, that spastic choreography is advanced, they're having a blast falling down, in Japan four girls dance like one car

tell me it's not growing on you, RS.

oook, i've arrived! or it did, the CD (whichever one people were telling me to get, with four words) - i've only heard snippits, but it's deeefinitely for me

thanks guys, will update with squeamish, manic realizations upon further listening

It's best listened to as a unity, straight through.

i suspected this when i put it on

but it got here so fast, and had been built up for so long, and was just so exciting

that i had to put it on.

this sounds really good guys, really, really good.

I am playing it right now, inspired to put it on by the fact that you finally bought a copy.

=P track 7 is sounding hot so far

Best 22 bucks you've spent yet?? :)

Am I the only one who wasn't turned off from their first viewing of OSCA?? Some of the instrumentation stood out to me as well as Shiina's vocals. I've only seen it once so far, but I liked it.

no i think this is finally the Jihen song that could get them noticed stateside, this kind of fun translates much more directly than what they've been going for on their last few singles

it feels strange to say that when she didn't write the song, but Tokyo Jihen is increasingly its own project and I love Tokyo Jihen.

I need to listen again (at work now). Doesn't seem to have much of a hook to it, which seems like kind of a big drawback for a single, but then I guess a lot of popular indie songs don't have much of a hook. I could see this thing appealing even more to prog. fans than some of their other songs. It definitely continues to work in prog-like ways.

much like prog, it's got dozens of things that would be hooks if they repeated. reminds me a bit of Tsumiki Asobi.

Shiina Ringo - Tsumiki Asobi
Description: Geisha, ninjas, chicken dancing, foam cube fighting and Bo Jackson, wind god

Nah, that's much more of a real pop song.

Well okay, maybe they are a bit similar. I'm glad the new track at least goes for some kind of hard-edged sound (as compared to more Papaya Mango type things).

Surmounter, I just want to say, don't feel bad if you don't get into the whole album immediately. I found it improved over repeated plays. I'd avoid making a snap judgment (especially a negative one, obviously). I still sometimes am baffled as to what she is going for in certain tracks, or at least passages. It's sometimes really hard to tell where she is playing off pop and where she is simply making pop (as if that could be a clear-cut thing, but it still seems really fuzzy in this case). There are some moments that just seem sublime, and then there are others where there might be something going on that I'm a little uncomfortable with, but then there are two other layers of sound that somehow making that less acceptable layer tolerable. (Usually it's a matter of something just super-sweet undercut by distortion or dissonance or just plain odd timbres.)

for me it was the distortion that made some of the ballads tolerable, but then I grew to love the ballads, and I'm now even fine with the ballads when she does them straight

STEM is the only single from Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana, and is
presented with the same symmetry (being the reason why Kuki (STEM) appears as track two of the three track single). Meisai and Ishiki also both have track lengths of 3:13, and Kuki (STEM) at 4:23.
Each version is slightly different from it's KSK counterpart, with Kuki (STEM) being in English.

'Sengo Saidaikyuu no Boufuuu Kennai Kashou' translates to 'The
Greatest Song After WWII Within the Sphere of the Storm', referring to the drastic change in style because of the American influence evident after WWII. 'Daimyou Asobi Hen' translates to 'A Daimyou at Play Version'. ...link

Daimyou = ancient fuedal lord. watched Shiina's short film Hyakuiro Megane again last week, which supposedly illustrates some of the themes of KZK. though most of the lyrics focus on an obsessively doomed relationship, there's a strong subtext concerning national identity, the ghosts of old Japan hiding within the modern-day world, the lover might be floating Japan itself. and it's in the music, the ancient Japanese instruments filtered into Osaka J-noise music, all in the service of jazz and rock songs (the infiltrating music of the enemy / doppelganger lover)... there's a lot going on with that record

linked many times on this thread but here they are one more time: http://freckle.tenkeimedia.com/nl/ringo/kalksamen.html

blog in the middle of three part comprehensive career overview w/ samples from april/may 2007. focusing on the pop rather than the weird. which is good, I know I probably frighten people off talking about otomo yoshihide & faust alla time

http://heartonastick.blog-city.com/shiinaringo01.htm
http://heartonastick.blog-city.com/shiinaringo02.htm

Here's some old footage I don't think I've seen before:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcQtKh5BzYE

(I always live that song title.)

shoso strip is a fantastic release.

once the individual songs take shape after a few listens, the album is really hard to stop listening to. as mentioned waaay upthread, 'honnou' is stunning

once the individual songs take shape after a few listens

There's something oddly dense about the album. I know it took me a few listens to, as you say, sort out the outline of each song (even though I had a head start by virtue of having heard some songs previously).

Have you heard KZK?

third Tokyo Jihen album title is 'Variety' and is out September 26. Killer Tune single cover. 'Osca' single released tomorrow.

(w/ shouts to Orenji and all at Ringo Catalogue)

Looking forward to that new Tokyo Jihen album. [said in tone of TV new anchor banter.]

One thing about KZK that I'm not sure I've ever noted here is the use of offkilter rhythms in some songs. I need to sit down and focus as much as possible on the rhythms some time. It's often somewhat subtle, or if not subtle, overshadowed by other things going on.

Specifically, sometimes there will be overlapping rhythms that kind of pull in different directions but still work together. That's my non-technical description anyway.

rocket scientist,

i only have the first two solo records. the first one is very, very good. it has more immediacy than shoso, but is not as mature or rich.

i have heard a couple of tracks from kzk. sounds like she's doing something entirely different on that one, though i'm sure it's thoroughly rewarding. is next on the shopping list.

Okay. I don't want to detract from Shouso Strip, I just have nothing to say about it at the moment and am feeling KZK more.

that's cool :)

so it's 'shouso' not 'shoso'. my records only have the kanji on them...makes it very difficult for me to identify song titles and what not.

I usually see it as Shouso.

Since you are a fresh pair of ears (wrt Shouso Strip), I will ask what I asked earlier:

is "Byoushou Public" off Shouso Strip her tribute to the Butthole Surfers?

(Not thematically, but in some of the sounds.)

Is she really known as a Butthole Surfers fan???

I shouldn't really be surprised though, there's that story of her showing her label or whatever a list of her influences that was ten pages long.

Either way that tune is one of my favorites on that album.

Oh, I don't know if she is. It wouldn't surprise me though, especially given that particular song. I'd love to get my hands on her infamous multi-page list of influences.

Yeah, I wonder if Hanatarash is on it! :)

byoushou public... track 11 right?

fantastic song. excellent muffled vocal effect. nice spasms of guitar feedback. butthole surfers-esque? maybe just :)

damn there's a lot going on in these songs.

'Killer Tune' PV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxwmK133lmg

well I mean I love this. once again I can't believe that I love this but there's no way around it. another psychotically cheery broadway musical number played way, way too fast, written by Izawa.

the 'OSCA' EP's second b-side, 'Crosswalk' is also by Izawa with lyrics by Ringo, and it's a perfect song. I agree with the Ringo Catalogue posters calling the new b-sides Beatles-via-Cardigans ballads, but there are weird production quirks that come out on headphones, her vocals run through delay and shortwave static, or gated distortion on the drums. with songs this great I'm feeling less uneasy about Ringo having turned over all the tunewritiing to the other band members, though that still hurts a bit

Can not wait for Sept 26

Why didn't I see this on my dinner break? Now I have to wait almost four hours to hear it.

The Electric Mole version of Kuki is back!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rEjxrBcd_U

still exploring 'shousou'

a record with seemingly limitless depth

Finally checking out the OSCA EP. I know it's not the best thing to say to promote her music, but her music catches up a lot of strands of classic rock and 70s pop/rock that seem to have mostly gone missing from current music. (Either that or they generally aren't used to shape anything I like.) Not thinking of "OSCA" itself.

I think I like this "Kaban no Nakami" song.

On first and a half listen, "Pinnochio" sounds a little too much like solo HZM and Hirama. Who wrote it?

I like Uki's noodling at around 2:20-2:30. I don't remember noticing that when listening on youtube.

I don't know about this new stuff, but I will repeat--Adult is a masterpiece. I remain a little baffled by the way it goes largely unnoticed.

cannot get enough. can't think of another rock band that even comes close to tokyo jihen in 2007. reminds me of queen circa sheer heart attack/night of the opera

come on now. What little I've heard I've liked, and the production is to die for, but queen circa SHA is kind of unbeatable.

I've got all these things packed in my bag
And what's inside here is a secret I won't share

They'd embarrass me so please don't ask
If I were dying, they'd be personal effects

This cracks me up somehow. It's an odd off-rhyme and bringing death into the issue seems strange, though unsurprising coming from Shiina Ringo. Also, as I keep saying in various ways, the music is like some pure sun-drenched 70s pop/rock that she's channeling.

Incidentally, creme1, if you are a long-time ILX poster under a new name, would you be willing to disclose past your past name(s)? I have no idea who you are.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/Sprad/crosswalk.gif

love this song so much. Izawa tune, Shiina lyric. Pinocchio & Killer Tune are Izawa as well.

bars 5 & 6 of 'Pinocchio' are a straight lift of the 'You'll be older too" modulation from Paul's "When I'm 64"

rofl at Dominque getting testy at the mere concept of Shiina's albums competing w/ 30 year old Queen records. though I absolutely agree that TJ's kind of peerless right now

'crosswalk' is the english title, original title 'Kaban no Nakami (鞄の中身)' translates more precisely as 'the contents of my bag'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVFuAIZ2PWU&mode=related&search=

after admiring her for a few years via videos i just splurged on a cdjapan order. got the 2 tj albums (new one on order) plus shouso strip and karuki zamen etc. i'm listening my way through but i love the melodic depth, the weird turns toward swing, jazz, showtunes, squealing hard rock. and the tokyo jihen rhythm section is totally great.

Tokyo Jihen's Adult sounds so good.

Still my favorite of '06.

first listen through was pretty terrifying, this is really not a Shiina album. anyone with Jpop allergies will run away from the cheer, Shiina's not writing the songs and the drama and darkness is gone, this is all sugar rush Pop (i.e. the kind of sound that gives many US listeners auto-headaches). perhaps once frecklegirl's translations show up we'll how completely twisted her lyrics are, but more than ever before she's really just another member of the band -- her vocal lines are mixed at an equal level to the instruments & she even shares lead vocals on a few tracks. as a fan of the earlier records where her voice / direction was the whole point, it's hard not to miss her and impatiently wait for a return

in the meantime there are so many catchy, addictive pop songs on this record they are all competing to get caught in my head at once -- I probably should have started a new thread with this because it's really not a Shiina Ringo album, but I totally love it

"Princess Monthly" probably my favorite one track but that's just now

http://ringoran.wordpress.com/

ringoran has two tracks up including 'Princess Monthly'

I haven't heard it all yet, although I've been checking out bits and pieces of it. I find it disappointing that what I've heard does basically sound like other J-pop/J-rock in general, more than most other material I've heard by SR (certainly) and even by Tokyo Jihen as a group. I also don't like something I can't really put my finger on exactly, but there's a prog. rock whimsy, let's say, in TJ's playing that is starting to get to me. I love the fact that they have a lot of skill as instrumentalists, but I don't care for the ironic-show-offy vibe I'm getting. Maybe this impression is coming from the videos? I was thinking that she always seems to have liked a rigid looking, almost robotic, band. Think "Meisai." It's as if Tokyo Jihen has become the pretend band in the "Meisai" video, if that makes any sense at all. Of course, this assumes that SR has much to do with the videos. I'm not sure.

(I'm not buying CDs right now, or this is one I would buy.)

Does Perpetua still visit ilx? I'm trying to remember the Shiina Ringo song he posted on Fluxblog 2 or 3 years ago.

I don't read fluxblog but I found out about Ringo when Said The Gramophone posted the KZK version of "Stem" in mid-2004

I hear what you're saying Rockist but the weird thing is, I think this is their first album where they've actually _retired_ the ironic distance. when Shiina started Jihen there was an interview statement about how the new band would aspire to bring the audience 'the very best in Japanese Pop' -- everyone expected a hyper-commercial return to her earlier rock hits, but instead they got this somewhat bent, ironic package that was way too self-conscious to actually work with most Jpop fans: the inside packaging for the debut, 'mainstream' but tell me this isn't more than just a little sarcastic: http://shiinaringo.se/pics/Tokyo%20Jihen/jihen1.jpg

now that other members are supplying the songs, I don't get that same ironic remove at all -- the music finally is goofy carefree (sometimes sliiightly wistful) fun as advertised, they've finally hit their target of making a savvy adult version of Jpop that's clever without that menacing edge or discomfort that Shiina's songs have

i.e. the edge that made Shiina / TJ appealing for many western listeners, the synthesis -- 'Adult' works because you get her uneasy songs arranged and played with spotless, overpolished but totally dedicated precision. with 'Variety' many of the longtime english speaking fans on the Electric Mole board feel angrily underwhelmed or even betrayed, they don't like much Jpop and they feel like they've been dragged here, but this has obviously been the goal from the beginning

I don't like most Jpop, it's not just that it's emulative it's just they always clean things up too much -- but I really love this new record

a lot!

I don't know if the irony is retired so much as flattened to the point of minimal difference. The album cover is a 're-photographed' snapshot of your typical mainstream J-variety show & what is that if not a continued insistence on distance or a level of removal? Not sure if I can apply that reading to the music yet (Kronekodow = easiest giveaway?) but I'm neither convinced that it's *just* J-pop *or* that self-consciousness is TJ's saving grace. Maybe I am reading too much into some death-of-author automated-band angle but I like most of it so far.

well, you're right, actually the irony is still there, and this keeps it distinct from most Jpop, still feels like it's geared more for adults than kids. to tone down my point -- relative to their previous two records, this is a huge leap closer to what it's modelled on

but it's weird, if 90's Jpop was modelled on various Western genres, this is more like a Japanese band consolidating the idea of 90's Jpop, very self-consciously

What about all the 70's pop/rock stylings though? (At least in the songs I've heard from the album?) Doesn't that make it different too? Or is that pretty much the norm for J-pop and J-rock (I think some of the stuff I've heard from the EPs is more J-rock than J-pop)?

The idea & not really the sound, right? Fukushuu is the only one that sounds a bit like a calcified J-genre thing. The consolidation of what was already a kind of consolidation is an interesting idea wrt slight difference from an original model (which in turn appropriated from another model).

(Also, if part of the idea of 90's Jpop was Shiina herself, maybe she is reshuffled "Shiina" now in the band).

TJ's sleeve art trajectory - pop painting -> commodity sculpture -> rephotography - is so much more appropriation (of appropriation), so it's brilliant or it's empty sleekness (hence the polarized responses?) or maybe both.

I mean, nobody is doing deconstructive gymnastics while listening to this album but all the process stuff (arguably) makes that needed difference in terms of pleasure. That's the bigger question I guess.

I'm giving it a first listen now, and it sounds pretty good overall. (Sorry, no ideas here at the moment, just crude impressions.)

I seriously don't think I'm going to end up liking it as much as Adult, but I see more point to it than HF (not that that's saying much). "Tsukigime-Hime" reminds me a lot of Go!Go!7188, though I guess it's necessarily more fleshed out.

But I like it a little more than I had expected.

I really like "Boutomin" a lot, including the "Kabuki"-quoting at the end. Also, maybe predictably, I like "Kronekodow."

"Kronekodow," including the faux Latin jazz ending!

I think "Pinocchio" and especially "Kaban no Nakami" deserve a place on the album more than some of the tracks that made it ("Fukushuu," for example). "Kaban no Nakami" has maybe her most satisfactory English lyrics and the singing on it is okay, so if she was going to include some English language tracks, she should have included that one.

"Boutomin" real reminds me of Drums & Wire era XTC, in a way--not that it ends up really sounding anything like them. (Also reminds me of what I rememember Gino Vanelli sounding like, although I never liked him.)

(Making the usual useless comparisons here.)

Am I crazy to hear parts of "Fukushuu" as real close to "Gone Baby Gone"?

It will take a few months to know if I've just brainwashed myself into liking this, but I really do mostly like it. Even the weaker tracks don't feel like the type I must skip over.

liveblogging as always, RS

but you're not brainwashed, or if you are I am too. this music has the sound of music I usually hate, so it does prompt some gymnastics -- I'm afraid of 'empty sleekness' but this music is just way, way too clever to actually be empty, there is a point where the form becomes its own thing

I don't hear "Gone Baby Gone" but Izawa's keyboard solo in "Princess Monthly" is a bizarre transcription of the organ line in "Light My Fire" forced to fit a completely different chord sequence. jigsaw puzzle for music geeks

these CDs are so expensive I usually reburn CDRs of them for car listening, and I was never tempted to do that for Heisei Fuuzoku, not even a comp -- but Variety, already reburned, with 'OSCA' / 'Killer Tune' b-sides & all three tracks of the "Konoyo no Kagiri" single (that single by itself is better than HF as an album)

but Izawa's keyboard solo in "Princess Monthly" is a bizarre transcription of the organ line in "Light My Fire" forced to fit a completely different chord sequence. jigsaw puzzle for music geeks

I neglected to mention that (but that one I saw pointed out already on Electric Mole). Actually, I didn't catch it on my own, probably because of the peculiarity of it that you describe.

I don't agree about the "Konoyo no Kagiri" EP, except I do prefer the instrumental version of "Karisome Otome" that appears there to the album one with vocals. It's definitely hard slogging through all of HF, and I have my own edit.

I like the way parts of "Boutomin" sound like music for a kiddie TV show. (I could imagine puppets singing some of this.)

Most annoying song: "Fukushuu." I'm having trouble finding any redeeming value in that one.

"Fukushuu" is the only song on the album that throws me off the trail a bit, silly metal

Hedofloe on EM posted the composition credits

on a Saito Neko tangent, Mutant Sounds just posted the debut of his band Killing Time, their strongest / strangest. and my favorite track from the Haniwa All Stars DVD finally made it to youtube -- that's Saito on violin with the headgear

"Fukushuu" is the only song on the album that throws me off the trail a bit, silly metal

It's not really all that metal (not that I'm into metal at all--but I like some of the more metal sounding metal they've done in the past).

The beginning of "Metro" keeps reminding me of "Genius of Love" even though the two songs obviously don't sound much alike overall.

I love the doo-doo-DOO-doo-doo part on "Metro."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOQvRFt2Eho

(MP, what do you think about asking a moderator to change the thread title to "the Shiina Ringo and Tokyo Jihen thread"? I don't want to ask since you are the OP. Or should we start a new Tokyo Jihen thread?--but isn't it a little late for that?)

Does Uki say something about "a tall man lady" in "Boutomin" or is that just me straining to make sense of lyrics I can't quite hear?

I gave in and ordered a copy.

"Fukushuu" is laughably bad. It's a shame it comes smack in the middle of the album, but it would be out of place anywhere else on it. I think any of the EP songs that weren't included would have been a better substitute.

It's almost like I distrust this album for being so happy, especially because I can't stop listening to it

also, unlike earlier Shiina & Jihen albums... I'm not listening to this one like an album, I'm skipping around, going for my favorite tracks. I remain mostly an album-listener as opposed to an iPod / singles listener precisely because of trust, I mainly want to listen to artists capable enough to assemble a sustained statement, when I listen to nothing but quality singles for a few hours I get numbed out, I feel promiscuous in a bad way

Though I was wrong about what I said upthread about empty -- the songs are slick and Shiina's vocals are not surface, they are deep, when she goes for it on the chorus of 'Metro' there are a couple of seconds where you realize it's not a happy song at all, and then before you can even blink, they've turned the sunlamp back on

a great record, the fear

I'm still waiting for my copy from cdjapan. I hope it didn't get lost in the mail.

I don't care that the songs aren't as perfect as songs, and aren't as melodically transcendent (sorry, I'm too tired to choose better words) as the ones Shiina Ringo writes typically are. There's a lot else to like about this album. There are great little harmonic things all over it. (At least I think that's what they are--non-musician speaking.)

And yes, attention to detail, in general.

(Still waiting for actual CD, and then I'll go comment on Electric Mole once I have that I guess. Hi guys.)

Rockist! You are all over this thing!

And maybe Sasha Frere-Jones should be listening to Tokyo Jihen instead of all those indie bands.

x-post:

I know. Apologies. I think it's partly because I keep posting these one to three sentence comments.

You should check out the new album, if you haven't.

Only just recieved the CD of this, the artwork is really great!

I have the CD now. I'm not entirely satisifed with the sound (and I mean in terms of production and SOUND, I don't me the style of the music). It seems to be a step back from Adult. It doesn't seem as full as it should be. Maybe I've spent too much time listening to it on small PC speakers and it seems to spread out on stereo speakers? I'd say the sound improves on the second half of the album. Now that I actually have the CD, I'm feeling a little less into it--so, bummer. I still like it, I just find more ambivalence creeping back.

I think they probably should have sat on this a while more, pulled it together more somehow.

Call me crazy, but this one is actually pulling me in for repeated listens more than the previous two! I don't know what I was expecting from it, but it's much much better than I thought it would be.

yeah I'm torn about this one for all the longterm fanboy reasons -- many Shiina trademarks have gone missing from the music and I miss them -- but the result is something that I think is going to pull in a lot of people. J-pop fans who can do Puffy & Pizzicato 5 sweetness overload won't be frightened off by the intense noise & drama, and yet the new album is still enough of a polished J-pop/Western pop hybrid that it won't activate any sugar allergies that keep most people away from J-pop

I still love the record, save for that total bomb right in the middle -- but maybe it is time Jihen get their own thread

their new tour has just started -- evidently they're going for all out rock, sounds good, wish she were touring here

maybe it is time Jihen get their own thread

Do it.

I was thinking about doing it after hearing the new album.

I came "this" close...

But I thought it might have been done by now.

I think someone else needs to start the 'Tokyo Jihen - Variety' thread

in the meantime, new DVD-only single 'Senkou Shoujo' (written by Kameda)

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=ylyX11ewFVU

pretty emo'd out! nice nod to Bergman's 'Persona' at the end

Good, but a little average, but it has to be given time.

Why does youtube.com think I'm in Spain now? Everything's coming up in Spanish and Spain is given as my location.

Same thing is happening with me too.

I think it has something to do with the link. When I went into youtube cold, it went away.

yes it's very average. reminds me mostly of _other J-pop bands_. I still love it, but it's been a long slow road from crazy to get me here

I suspect non-crazy peoples won't have any problems taking to this at all though, it is quality.

showing a friend of mine the Tokyo Incidents - Souretsu DOMESTIC! Virgin LINE clip, she noted that the last line 'Your face. / Let me see it, please.' is a spin on the Japanese custom of asking someone to pull back a sheet that's covering the face of the deceased so one can pay their respects with hands folded & head bowed. And sure enough, that's her pose at the end of the clip. Usually one doesn't ask the deceased to uncover their own face, she can be a little demanding

the Sabbath > Carpenters > Folke Rabe version of Kuki is back up with a bunch of other things from Electric Mole as well

I've listened to the new album a couple of times, and... well, I feel very differently about it than you guys, Milton and Rocket, moreso with respect to any J-Pop comparisons, mainly because I'm not exactly sure if the term "J-Pop" means any particular sound anymore.

Once upon a time, sure, but today? It's like "indie rock" in that respect. You can get a sense, but there's so much breadth in J-Pop these days that everyone is going to imagine a different sound when the term comes up today... ALL of that is just to say that I don't think the new Tokyo Jihen is any more "J-Pop" than the previous two albums at all. It's lighter and has more space, sure. In fact, isn't condensation an element of "Classic J-Pop" anyway i.e. putting as much flavors of sugar into one nuclear chunk of pop fudge as possible? The new Jihen is a bit of the opposite in some ways, moreso than the previous two.

I'll listen to this album a few more times, but I'm not understanding what you guys were getting at above at all... not meant as a dis at all, just sayin'.

Well, I freely admit to not being that familiar with J-pop, so I don't think I'm prepared to martial any sort of arguments for my impression, but it's still my impression.

ok well good questions

when I say J-Pop I'm talking explictly about the 90's and maybe early 00's -- we need a new term for the last few years. I don't think it describes any one sound as much as their approach to the entire appropriation of any / many Western styles, but all redeployed / remade towards histrionically happy shiny ends. Puffy's first few records produced with Tamio Okuda are still the best example of this for me, a band with zero style loyalty, one song modelled on Pearl Jam, the next on ELO, the next Disco, the next Beatles 1964-65 complete, but all remade with... well... squeaky intent, exuberant joy

for instance even a band like Number Girl that's based entirely on emo indie comes out sounding more twee than wistful (although they did stick out simply by going for emo)

even the bands going for a very tough image, who favor 'punk' or tough sounds... there's something in the music that is inherently lighthearted and happy, it seems like a disjunct when it gets to the chorus. someone like Tomoe Shinohara might have ramped it up to such psychotic avant levels that you were left bleeding, but still... she's still J-Pop

from her first record, Shiina was always much weirder, even when she was doing Alanis / Nirvana tributes. the ringmod distortion on the vocals, the twisted lyrical content, the nods to the Japanese Noise underground, the pre-Shōwa pop influences, the Asian classical arrangements placed her outside of what I would have ever called J-Pop. She stuck out and then she took it too far for 75% of her mainstream fanbase with KZK, and since then it's been a long return through Jihen, literally announced as a 'Japanese Pop' band, a clean break from the drama & outright strangeness of her solo stuff

solo Ringo had many 'pure entertainment' moments (the 'Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You' cover with the kazoo break for instance), but with Jihen the albums really started filling up with these 'pure entertainment' numbers, the early video for their cover of Peggy Lee's "Dynamite" was really throwing down the gauntlet. the albums were still built around dark songs, though, everyone bought the first Jihen for 'Sounan' and she was still making crazyeyes during the 'Dynamite Out' live DVD. the crazyeyes are gone now, she's not writing any of the tunes, it's all (mostly) sunshine -- that intent, more than any sound or style or production method is what I'm connecting to trad 90's J-Pop. I don't think this record has much variety either, I think the title is a reference to its multiple authors and lack of a center.

that make any sense? I know you know your J-Pop a lot better than I do, most of it makes my eyes bleed

that was a longwinded way of saying 'it's more like J-pop simply because it's much sweeter than earlier Jihen'

still, even though my teeth are beginning to hurt, I still think Jihen is _the_ J-Pop band for people who would normally shy from J-Pop, the gateway drug

That totally answers my question actually, and now I'm getting what you're saying above. :D

Yeah, J-Pop hasn't completely disconnected itself from whence it came, although the artists are starting to appropriate Western stuff more interestingly and succinctly than ever before.. Kumi Koda's stuff is a perfect example of this. (No, I won't force you to go listen to Kumi Koda to understand this. lol.)

http://strikeup.wordpress.com/2007/11/06/tokyo-jihen-senkou-shoujo-pv-and-audio-rip/

& this song isn't average after all, it's kinda perfect

Re-watching clips from Tokyo Jihen's Dynamite Out! I am amazed over and over again by how completely on the band is. As much as I don't hate the new line-up (and love Adult), it's sad this version came to an end so quickly.

based on the youtube clips that one does seem like the DVD to get if you're buying one (sadly it's one of the two live DVDs I don't have). the DOMESTIC! Virgin LINE TV special is still my favorite for its first half, but it's still commercially unavailable

New PV DVD has a version of Senkou Shoujo sung in English called 'Put Your Camera Down'. I prefer the single version, especially with that video.

pictures from the current Spa & Treatment Japanese tour, posted by user kroneko in EM forums

http://photo15.yupoo.com/20071122/201225_341513000_xdszlxht.jpg
http://photo14.yupoo.com/20071122/201213_649408648_cenvbksu.jpg
http://photo15.yupoo.com/20071122/201219_220184604_hoarlidj.jpg

this tour's production looks more portable than last year's, kind of hope this means they're thinking about playing a few shows over here

did not know one my favorite b-sides was a cover

Cyndi Lauper Unconditional Love Live Japan 1991
Shiina Ringo Unconditional Love (Kabukichou no Joou b-side)

(Kabukichou no Joou was her 2nd single from 1999, way early Ringo, though the production on the drums during the bridge is quietly psycho)

Ever get the feeling that Uki really want to be playing a banjo sometimes?

Sorry, I'm not into that solo Shiina Cyndi Lauper cover.

Bad but kind of hilarious cover:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnvkSkVWLfI&feature=related

Well, okay maybe not hilarious, but very WTF.

Oh shit, a Shiina Ringo thread. Found this through google, though I usually frequent other boards here. Nice! I love finding other people who actually know about her greatness.

Senkou Shoujo: the song is good stuff, though maybe a bit too much on the poppier side (Kameda wrote it). I like the English version a little better, but that could just be the added effect from the familiarity more than the tempo change. The video is great either way.

took me a while to get a handle on variety (which my ipod for whatever reason translates as "an entertainment") but it landed on my top 10 list. in the lower reaches, because it's spottier than the first two, but i like most of it a lot. i even like fukushuu/vengeance -- their grunge song, or their concrete blonde song or whatever, i think it's kind of hilarious. it definitely misses shiina's writing, but it still has her presence, which isn't a small thing. and "ramp," "backstage," "o.s.c.a.," "my way," "killer tune," "metro," "ss/aw" -- lots of great songs. the towering piano interlude in "sake and nondrinker" is more or less classic all by itself.

http://strikeup.wordpress.com/2008/01/07/tokyo-jihen-spa-and-treatment-tour-videos-for-download/#more-142

TV broadcast of Spa and Treatment Tour aired 5 January 2008

Man, whoever runs Strike Up! is awesome. So much good stuff to download that will never been put out on DVD or anything. Not that I can afford to buy those anyway (someday I will watch you, Dynamite Out!... someday).

Mothra: Totally agree on Variety. Not as good as the first two, but still a lot of good songs, enjoyable listen despite the lack of Shiina's songwriting. I actually enjoy Fukushuu too, especially the outro and the somewhat goofy lyrics (hurt you from behind...)

'botomin' from variety is a really well-constructed little number. fine, fine vocal interplay and the bass solo is a very nice touch.

is there a site somewhere that lists songwriting/production credits etc?

I usually check this one out.

http://www.ether-sea.com/ringo/

Thanks for pointing that out Milton, I am enjoying most of it immensely. (And these concerts videos are great too.)

So I feel like I should know, but who is this extra guitarist on the live Tokyo Jihen footage?

that's Izawa on guitar for "Gunjo Biyori". Youtube for Kabuki / OSCA.

new concert's pretty great. her bicycle horn on 'Kronekodow' kills me, Spike Jones RIP

live arrangements are generally identical to the album versions, which underlines just how live the new album is

that's Izawa on guitar

Oh right, no keyboards. Duh. (Not that I knew he played some guitar as well.)

I'm trying to stream some videos from http://soundstory.tistory.com/77 but I keep getting an error message in Japanese.

I like this live "Killer Tune" a lot more than the album version (or the other live version I think I heard it). Surprisingly (since there's no chance for corrections), I think her voice sounds better here. Oversinging less?

I've never heard this ("Yami ni furu ame" in medley with other songs) live before (not that the album version doesn't sound quite a bit better, unsurprisingly):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NWDhokl_5U

that's the encore from the "Gekokujo Xtacy" DVD ('Shoso Strip'-era live)

the Budokan show that opens with the kinderchoral 'Souretsu' and 'Gunjo Biyori': http://strikeup.wordpress.com/2008/02/23/tokyo-jihen-domestic-virgin-line-live-video-files-and-audio-rip/

google can find you 'Dynamite Out!' .rar's as well. I hadn't seen the version of 'Jusui Negai (The Suicide)', her vocals on that version had me look up the lyrics, can't believe I missed those

Isn't it about time for a DVD-release announcement for Spa & Treatment?

am loving 'kyoiku' at the moment

takes many a spin to fully come to terms with it

'genjitsu wo warau' is phenomenal. wow

It's a good song, but her singing in English doesn't work for me on that one (including any live versions I've heard).

well it's got bizarre phrasing in the verses. i can deal with that. it's a pretty unflashy vocal performance overall by her standards. but yeah, the song is great.

So what's the difference between these "Dynamite Out/In" DVD's? The CDjapan descriptions are kind of vague, I know the region codes are different. Are they the same show??

Genjitsu wo warau is great! As is Kyoiku.

Dynamite Out is much better (based on what I've seen of each on youtube, which is quite a bit by now).

I had no idea that Ahito Inazawa from Number Girl played drums on "Meisai" and "Ishiki", two of my favorite tracks from KZK.
He also comes out in the video, but it looks like it's not on Youtube anymore.

Oh, so it's two different shows.
I wonder why they did that. Released one on region "2" and the other with region code "all".

Dynamite In isn't a different show, it's just out-takes, rehearsal and backstage footage from the Dynamite Out Tour.

Not the sort of the thing you'll want to watch more than once, really.

Oh wow, it's got all that, except the actual show. hahaha

I don't hate Kyouiku, but I am more and more convinced that Adult is a million times better.

Sorry, I bet some of you were expecting real news. Isn't it time for a new Tokyo Jihen single?

hahahah
well as long as this thread keeps tiding over

It's time for the Spa & Treatment DVD....