the Shiina Ringo thread

"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.