the Shiina Ringo thread

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That song is so perfect for the Edith Piaf wannabe treatment.

― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 04:42 (nineteen years ago)

Killing Time: http://www6.wind.ne.jp/tabockly/killing.htm

Itakura Bun (guitar), the leader of Chakra started a sound experiment with one of the band's member Shimizu Kazuto( keyboard, reeds, marimba) and sound engineer Ma*to (tabla, synthesizer, computer) in 1982 "to kill time". This trio named themselves Killing Time in 1983. In 1984 a violinist Saito Neko joined the band and gave many gigs.(These 4 are the very core of Killing Time.) They've built up the enormous family of telented musicians together with Semba Kiyohiko's Haniwa project as "Haniwa-Killing Time connexion" .

Wow, thanks Milton! Did I ever send you Chakra albums? I forget.... I think I'm their #1 fan (and singer Mishio Ogawa's #1 fan). I only have 2 Killing Time albums, which are a touch meandering for my taste, but still high quality. Anyway, I had no idea about the Saito Neko connection, as I had never heard his name until this Ringo collab.

― Patrick South, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 23:37 (nineteen years ago)

Ah, I missed your previous post, which triggered my memory. Somehow you prefer Haniwa to Chakra! I think Haniwa is a little too all-over-the-map, and the production isn't as good (especially on their first album...ugh!). I love detail, but I think they have a bit too much going on to be able to take it all in. I have their live DVD and it's totally ridic.

― Patrick South, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 23:40 (nineteen years ago)

hey Patrick -- yes we traded Chakra / Mishio, and thanks, I like those, especially the Mishio -- supercute quirky songs. I love Haniwa All Stars precisely for the all-over-the-map genre splicing & disruptively artificial edits -- but I grew up in the 80's listening to Faust & Renaldo and the Loaf (which is similar in approach to parts on their first album). The first Haniwa album is actually one of the only precedents of KZK I can think of in its fusion of Eastern instruments & Western jazz / classical / rock forms -- it's far, far stranger than KZK & not for everyone, but I'm still completely in love with it.

I'm not surprised that I didn't recognize Saito given the outfit he's wearing on the Haniwa DVD, but he's one of the two lead violinists on my favorite track. Just downloaded two Killing Time records, and I think I like them -- 70's fusion updated with 80's digital production & tropical rhythms, lots of Saito violin leads & proggy lines, more smooth & jazzy but still obviously part of the Wha-Ha-Ha / Haniwa / Chakra akis.

So weird to be finding out this connection now, it's almost a relief there's a connection to Shiina, makes my Haniwa namedrop seem much less gratuitous after the fact.

― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 00:49 (nineteen years ago)

ouch, linking to my own writing, ego, I'd redact that link if I could

a vinyl rip of the debut Haniwa All Stars is on Mutant Sounds now btw -- though it also just got a 2006 CD reissue with great packaging -- as well as the followup, Haniwachan's Kanishabali, which still hasn't been found by any blogs

― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 01:05 (nineteen years ago)

Milton, what Killing Time records did you download? I own Bob and Irene.

Also, would you have any interest in writing for Keikaku?

― Patrick South, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 15:36 (nineteen years ago)

And, sorry, I may have asked you that second question already!

― Patrick South, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 17:39 (nineteen years ago)

I got Bob, Irene, & Skip. Some tracks maybe too mellow & slick fusiony for me but there's lots to like & I'm down with side two of Irene, I'll definitely buy these if I see them.

Keikaku.net is a great site, I'm not sure what I'd write for it though -- are you writing about 80's stuff for them? That's where they need to catch up.

― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 21:00 (nineteen years ago)

I'm finishing up a review of the Ippu-Do box set, which seems to be taking me forever. I feel alone being the only '80s fan, so you should back me up and maybe write a review for a reissue. Though they tend to be indie-centric, they're open to anything.

I believe a review of the new Ringo will appear within the week.

― Patrick South, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 23:53 (nineteen years ago)

Schism at the Ringo Jihen forums:

March 16: Ringo Jihen forums *important*

We are sorry to announce that the Ringo Jihen forums are now out of control due to the unreasonable and almost dictatorial attitude of one of our admin. In addiition, he banned the whole staff and all the members who tried to complain about his methods. That's why we will stop supporting the forums in order to create a new Ringo Jihen community. We will post the forums link as soon as it will be available. If you know some of the forums members, please let them know about it.

Thanks for your understanding.

Ringo Jihen

Administrator was (apparently) banning people based on what they had written in PMs! No reason was given for other bannings.

― Rockist Scientist, Sunday, 18 March 2007 15:20 (nineteen years ago)

Otherwwise, Heisei Fuuzoku is not growing on me, but I still like the original bunch of songs that I liked on it. I think maybe I am liking "Ishiki" even more. Very adult.

― Rockist Scientist, Sunday, 18 March 2007 15:23 (nineteen years ago)

Milton, why didn't you tell me Utaite Myori was eminently worth listening to? I'm only a few songs in, but I like some of it a lot.

― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 00:20 (nineteen years ago)

(I am milton parker's shiina ringo frankenstein golem zombie.)

― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 00:24 (nineteen years ago)

It seems like she recycled part of her scat from "Jazz A Go Go" on that second song on Adult.

― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 01:54 (nineteen years ago)

(I'm really sick of logging in.)

― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 01:54 (nineteen years ago)

Also Zeccho Shuu is worth hearing! That's got some good stuff on it, and I was only vaguely aware of its existence, at best.

― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 02:30 (nineteen years ago)

I loaned Shouso Strip to someone I've loaned things to off and on, for a while, and he hasn't listened to all of it yet, but he said it was all over the place and that the band was tight, so that doesn't sound like too negative of a reaction. If he likes it, I will probably throw KZK his way.

― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 14:58 (nineteen years ago)

sick of logging in too -- nu-ILM is too frustrating & no fun

There's some scary stuff on both Utaite Myori & Zeccho Shuu that keep me from listening to them all the way through, but I still need them for the high points, which I threw on my 'Ringo Singles' CDR with all those great b-sides. Which I think I'm going to need to reburn to include 'Unconditional Love'.

new album not growing on me either. spending more time just listening to the 'Konoyo No Kagiri' 3-track single.

& still listening to Saito Neko's records with Killing Time. Skip is my favorite of the three, it's beautiful & less jazz-fusiony than the other two, and side two of Irene is... a Hawaiian bar band doing Nurse With Wound covers? that doesn't even begin to explain how demented it is actually

― Milton Parker, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 18:33 (nineteen years ago)

I forgot I haven't even finished listened to all the Killing Time I picked up.

― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 19:46 (nineteen years ago)

I'm getting to like Hirama Mikio's Black Bone Musicien Label more, now that I am away from comments in which certain Hirama fanatics unfavorably compared Tokyo' Jihen's Adult to it. His voice is growing on me ever so slightly, but I still think it's the biggest weak point. (I don't know though. His whole band just ain't no Tokyo Jihen. Rhythm section not as engaging.) Favorite so far: "Aa Waga Wa Naze Ni."

(Hirama was the guitarist for the original Tokyo Jihen lineup, for anyone who might possibly be interested enough to have read this far without knowing.)

One thing that's happened when I listen to J-rock is that while at first I noticed the way J-rock sounds similar to more familiar western rock, I now find myself noticing certain approaches that are typical of J-rock itself, so, the way one J-rock band/song resembles another. (Of course, I think a lot of that is based on what western rock resources they have emphasize.) I can't be more specific than that at the moment though.

― Rockist Scientist, Friday, 23 March 2007 21:27 (nineteen years ago)

Oh good, I get to sign in again!

― Rockist Scientist, Friday, 23 March 2007 21:27 (nineteen years ago)

"Synapse" is kind of funny when he bursts into English to say "No respect" and for the stereotypical metal bits. I'm not sure those things are supposed to be funny, but I find them funny. Maybe he doesn't say "no respect." Maybe it's just Japanese words that sound like "no respect."

― Rockist Scientist, Friday, 23 March 2007 21:33 (nineteen years ago)

(But no, the weakness is in his songwriting too, and in the rhythm section. Wonderful guitarist though.)

― Rockist Scientist, Friday, 23 March 2007 21:47 (nineteen years ago)

I love you more today than yesterday. . .

― Rockist Scientist, Monday, 26 March 2007 12:37 (nineteen years ago)

I have like one album, I like it and this thread confuses me!

― Catsupppppppppppppp dude ‫茄蕃‪, Monday, 26 March 2007 16:53 (nineteen years ago)

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

― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 13:19 (nineteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

nice work Donut

http://mackro.blogspot.com/2007/04/seven-days-of-j-pop-part-vi-shna-ring.html

― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 01:50 (nineteen years ago)

Coolness.

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 11:21 (nineteen years ago)

I'm actually kind of relieved that I have stopped overdosing on Shiina Ringo. For a while there I was listening to the same CDs almost every day, often two or three times each.

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 11:21 (nineteen years ago)

it's funny, you can be addicted to her on so many levels. the melody, the innovation, the voice, the pronunciation of words, the variety. i'd be happy to listen to just her for days at a time

― Charlie Howard, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 11:25 (nineteen years ago)

so i'm placing this big amazon order now. someone push me to spend the 22 bucks for an album.

― Surmounter, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 14:59 (nineteen years ago)

I've given up on pushing you.

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 15:27 (nineteen years ago)

OKAY i'm going in for the kill!

― Surmounter, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 15:38 (nineteen years ago)

should i go with Karuki Zamen or Shoso. i know you've probably already clarified this for me, but if you could do it again i'd love it, a lot!

― Surmounter, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 15:41 (nineteen years ago)

Today I say get Kuruki Zamen etc. (I don't understand why you don't avail yourself of the files that are freely floating out there in the ether though. Not that I don't think you should buy the CDs, but why not sample first if you are curious. But whatever.)

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 15:51 (nineteen years ago)

you kind of need them both, but:

http://www.mackron.com/pics/7DaysOfJPop/ringo/ksk.jpg

― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 19:00 (nineteen years ago)

might as well post it to this thread as well -- one of the early moments that cemented my fandom was when I took home Shoso Strip and heard a Cluster sample at the end of her song 'Identity' -- when the entire song runs down, the turntablist has a copy of 'Seltsame Gegend' from Curiosum playing very quietly, and the final sound in the song is a Moebius synth squeak

undoubtedly uncleared, she probably doesn't even know what the turntablist brought to the studio session, but there it is, the Cluster / Shiina connection, I'd like to think at least three other people in the world heard that and flipped out when they heard it

― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 19:39 (nineteen years ago)

someone's been diggin up the cluster threads

― Surmounter, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 19:45 (nineteen years ago)

So thanks to that donut blogpost I understand what all the shouting's about now.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 29 April 2007 23:25 (nineteen years ago)

Cool. So now there's no reason not to order all her CD's immediately.
:)

― Jack Burton, Monday, 30 April 2007 06:33 (nineteen years ago)

her album & DVD packaging is across the board amazing

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 July 11th, followed by third album & a two month tour of Japan in small venues

― Milton Parker, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 18:27 (nineteen years ago)

That's good news. (I haven't been keeping up with any of the SR forums in the past couple weeks, so this is the first I've heard about the new single/album.)

― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 20:29 (nineteen years ago)

it's really unfortunate that the Ringo Jihen forum had that moderator civil war, and that everyone jumped ship to that other forum. there's some pretty crucial translations & insights about japanese culture on some of the abandoned RJ threads that are really helpful. the music's enough to flip out over, but when you dig into the lyrics, that's when it starts to seem like a crime that she's not touring the States

http://z7.invisionfree.com/Ringo_Jihen/index.php?showtopic=1184 (about the Hyakuiro Megane DVD, 30 minute avant garde narrative film released to accompany & illustrate the themes of KZK)
http://z7.invisionfree.com/Ringo_Jihen/index.php?showtopic=742 (people trying to decode the WWII collaborationist imagery of my favorite video of hers, 'Meisai' -- pretty incredible, occasionally tense thread)

then fun stuff like this:
http://z7.invisionfree.com/Ringo_Jihen/index.php?showtopic=1016 (nov 2006 listening list: she listens to ween)
http://z7.invisionfree.com/Ringo_Jihen/index.php?showtopic=1255

― Milton Parker, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 21:12 (nineteen years ago)

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)

Yeah but you people talk loud. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 21:13 (nineteen years ago)

milton, I stopped paying attention (momentarily) because I figured nothing was going on and I also want to avoid giving in to the impulse to buy DVDs. (I don't really see that happening though, truthfully. I have huge expenses and economic uncertainties ahead of me with the reloccation I'm tentatively planning.)

― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 21:18 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200701/hirschorn-radio

Playing with the iLike beta recently, I entered my musical preferences through a handy thumbs-up feature that harvested my opinions on a range of well-known artists. Immediately, up popped the image and musical history of a young woman named “C,” whose affection for Regina Spektor, Massive Attack, and Shiina Ringo (no, I don’t know who that is either) marked her as being musically compatible with me. I was offered the chance to send her a “private message.”

Michael Hirschorn is the executive vice president of original programming and production at VH1.

you rarely see someone brag about not being very good at their job

― Milton Parker, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 21:23 (nineteen years ago)

I posted that to Ringo Jihen, incidentally. I almost sent that guy a letter telling him why he should investigate Shiina Ringo.

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 01:56 (nineteen years ago)

(Not that that makes it my intellectual property or anything hahaha.)

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 02:11 (nineteen years ago)

As something to listen to straight through, Heisei Fuuzoku sure wouldn't make a good introduction to Shiina Ringo. I am listening to it and wondering how I would react if this were the first time I heard her. The second and third tracks, both in English, would make her sound to me like someone who is just trying to imitate western popular music, and not all that successfully.

― Rockist Scientist, Sunday, 13 May 2007 18:44 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

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

― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 13 June 2007 23:16 (nineteen years ago)

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