the Shiina Ringo thread

perhaps actually releasing her albums outside of japan and offering domestic copies for sale for something less than $30 an album might be a better thing to do than filing a very expensive lawsuit

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.

KZK is a copy-protected disk, I'm sure that site has been used by most of the people who actually bought a copy just so they could actually listen to it on their ipod

To play devil's advocate, yes I agree with you where it comes to sales of her CDs outside Japan, but I wonder if having an entire album available online wouldn't hurt sales in Japan. (Not that I'm particularly anti-file-sharing.) I definitely think she could develop a large-ish cult following outside Japan if her albums were avaialable at more reasonably prices.

x-post

DOODS MY COWORKER JUST BURNED ME THE NEW TOKYO JIHEN ALBUM ITS PRETTY ROCKIN SWEEET

Excellent.

los angeles and san francisco gigs would sell out in seconds, US west coast tour, that's all I ask

I would consider going to New York for TJ. (Somehow I think asking for them to hit Philadelphia would be too much.)

Too cool: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlTpRCeI3Lw&search=shiina%20ringo

An advertisement for KZK.

and someone's uploaded the heavy metal version of 'stem' from electric mole

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

I just saw this thread for the first time, very enticing. xpost what Milton said about classical Japanese vocals over big band, I was struck by a Chinese version of that approach, though more orchestral than big band in the right before and after WWII sense, as I recall (the WWII era had more emphasis on brass), in the movie Shanghai Triad? Don't know how the soundtrack album might be, if there was one, but the music in the movie was awesome (so was the movie). I haven't gotten into Chinese opera, but the classical-to-me (and female) vocals fit the Western ballads,descended from the sort of post-operetta/parlor ballad style, like whichever of Ellington's femmes sang "Come Sunday" (but this was a lot more evocative than that)(sort of early Billie Holiday, but not too literally, just in effect)

Milton, thanks, I missed that. Fucking hell, that ending is great.

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.

The expression on her face towards the end of that is maybe the most intense I've seen her make. She appears very caught up in everything, listening very carefully.

xpost Thanks(further incentive to get a better job/computer)

I don't really understand how an album like Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana managed to go as largely unnoticed as it did (in England and the US anyway). (Well, I think it was in the Wire's year end list, but who trusts the Wire? I assume I will find a good chunk of their lists virtually unlistenable.)

wasn't in the 2003 wire year end list. I've never seen her mentioned in that magazine, or in any other western print magazine. I'm not sure she's ever gotten a mention in pazz and jop either -- not even a single vote. yet she's obviously one of the only things global pop culture is going to remember about this decade -- funny huh?

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.

that Souretsu video is what got me interested in Shiina Ringo/Tokyo Jihen when you first posted it a couple months back. Now that I'm familiar with the original version of the song, the video is even cooler. The other two videos on youtube (are there more that that?) from that concert are great, too. I would love to have been there.

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.

milton, or others posting to this thread, what other recent rock do you think I might like? What else is out there a bit like Tokyo Jihen (esp. on these live videos, esp. the Dynamire Out! one)? I think I probably would like some metal guitar, but won't put up with monster vocals, and am not so sure about a lot of the other conventions, the frequently constant ultra-aggressive drumming (not to mention some of the ethos issues). I check out a lot of the bands that get mentioned here, one way or another, and I am generally not interested in what I hear.

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."

I'm getting to really like the bossa nova track on Adult (the 3rd track). I think too often I have just been listening to it and going yes, she does a bossa nova here, when actually, when I listen close, I hear a lot of nice detail in the percussion, in the guitar, etc. (which of course shouldn't come as a surprise by now).

that was the last track to catch on for me, but once it did -- classic, it's like walter wanderley or something

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'.

I definitely have some DVDs to buy in the next year or so.

Do you notice the way "Shuukyou" uses sitar (or something similar) with shuffly beats at about 3:30, at a transitional moment, very similar to the sitar/shuffly beats combination in "Yamini Furu Ame" when she's getting ready to shoot herself (going by the video), another transitional moment. I think I've noticed several similarities of that sort between KZK and Adult, too. She often makes really smart choices about which ideas to recycle.

Tokyo Jihen on myspace:

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.

I was revolted by 'Toumei Ningen' the first time I heard it on Dynamite Out, and those myspace tracks are them at their j-poppiest. But the album's flow eventually made a case for those tracks, and I love them now.

'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.

ha, and check out 'Hard Liquor' from the halfway point on when they drop into halftime, start in with their rhythmic variations and out of nowhere plow into 'The Immigrant Song' for 8 bars.

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

I hate to be all "These aren't necessarily my favorite tracks from the album," but "Toumei Ningen" might be my least favorite. "Superstar" I like, but not as much as some people apparently do. It might be the indie-est song on the album: kind of Velvet Underground meets the Carpenters, at times, although the band always has serious chops. (Also the opening melody reminds me a bit of "Free Bird.") I've gotten to like "Shuraba" a lot. And I agree with milton, the overall flow of Adult, as it is on KZK.

"Blackout" is really really great. I love that one brief bit that reminds me of Santana somehow (maybe it's just supposed to be "Latin"--but given the overall prog. rock/fusion feel of the song, I tend to think Santana), a rhythmic break, which SR underscores with a little yelp (which sound slightly ironic to me). I kind of think the album would be stronger if it just stopped with the track immediately after that, so there would only be nine tracks. The other two songs are okay, but I think the album ends up feeling like there are a few tracks at the end, all of which would have made okay endings, but not all of which are needed. But then again, the last song is pretty good, even if she does sound a bit too much like Macy Gray toward the end.

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

Rockist, you're crazy! "Toumei Ningen" is easily my favorite track--and probably the most unique and accomplished track on the album. I think the guitar playing is what makes the song. So refreshing and fun to listen to. And I agree with Milton that it slays the Dynamite Out version, wich has guitar playing that is a lot more MOR. It's funny, because the whole Ringo Jihen message board hates the Adult version of "Toumei Ringen." They think it 'butchered' the previous version. This is an opinion I simply cannot comprehend.

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.

Maybe the mood is similar, but the two tracks sound very different.

Anyway, Adult is still my second favorite album this year.

Here's a link to three videos from the upcoming 'Just Can't Help It' concert DVD:

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.

"Ringo No Uta" is just awesome. (I still haven't checked that new link, what is wrong with me?)

Some of these 90s singles are just my version of pop heaven. She must have put out at least a few of the catchiest songs of that decade.

Anybody pick up the new 'Just Can't Help It' DVD? I'm going to soon.

The more I listen to "Waking Up" or whatever it's called the more I am convinced of its parodic intentions, not that that's all that's going on, but it's pretty strong. And wow! this sounds incredibly good. I haven't listened to it much lately.

not sure which song you're speaking of there

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

oh and cheers for dleone's zazen boys shout out

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

I'm still very interested, just realizing how broke I am.

new album is solo or jihen?

yeah, it's fucking thirty-six dollars for this, if you can find it. that does factor in. xpost

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!

really looking forward to new stuff. I was just listening to KZKNH today, and aside from some lag towards the end, it sounds better than ever.

also, wtf @ the tracklinks to this thread?

I will probably buy a new solo album, I'm sure. No EP. No videos now, because that means buying a new DVD player, which I still haven't done.

tracklinks?

Oh, I see. Weird.

trackbacks, i meant.

Yeah, I got it. I normally don't have that displayed.

How about some free limited edition bonus DVDs for her American fans?

Does anyone know what a yokusaku is?

Nope. But a "yakusoku" is a promise. If that's what you meant...

From a comment on the blog milton linked to above:

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.

Hmmmm.....
iyoku= desire or ambition

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.

Shiina Manzanita, hahaha:

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