the Shiina Ringo thread

Also, new single coming out in February. I wish they'd put out another really good studio album (or, I dunno, put out a regular live album or live compilation or something).

while the title is an idiomatic phrase meaning "stalemate", the literal translation is "absolute despair"

thanks frecklegirl!

"Sounan" continues to amaze me. Easily one of my favorite songs from the last decade.

OMG Shiina Ringo did a photo shoot at White Sands Monument in New Mexico! I've long fantasized abouot seeing Tokyo Jihen shooting a video here and having access to them because so few people would know who they were. Could happen.

http://www.tokyohive.com/2011/01/shiina-ringo-is-luminescent-for-maquillage-cosmetics/

http://i54.tinypic.com/2yytnnr.jpg

They should do a tour exclusively of New Mexico.

Preview of Shiina Ringo/Tokyo Jihen collaboration with Chiaki Kuriyama (I'm going to put the more interesting one first):

http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/?70006318_DFCL-1760&70006318_DFCL-1760_01SFL
http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/?70006318_DFCL-1759&70006318_DFCL-1759_01SFL

(This is all just coming via Electric Mole, obv.)

Also I have no idea who Chiaki Kuriyama is but apparently she was in Kill Bill.

It's not as though SR has a surplus of good songs these days.

And here's the preview of the new Tokyo Jihen single:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVmJMJULenA

It's really difficult to form any impression on the basis of this, but it sounds pretty commonplace.

The cooking eggs shot bothers me for some reason, but I was squeamish about eggs when I was a kid and have retained some of that (despite eating them, as long as they are cooked in ways I find acceptable, which definitely doesn't include hard-boiled or sunny side up--I don't want the yolk and the eggs too separated or it bothers me). Anyway, she's had lots of food in her videos over the years (maybe more with Tokyo Jihen than solo).

I wonder if TJ did in fact shoot any video footage at White Sands? Could've been for a different single.

Is Milton on vacation?

I obviously haven't been watching Electric Mole carefully enough. Actually, I think when I tried clicking on this before it didn't load and I just thought, meh whatever, I can wait.

http://ceron.jp/url/www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1Lrj9kmxJM

Whoa, yeah, that certainly looks like New Mexico.

Kameda, as an actor, has about one facial expression.

Pretty unexceptional song. Maybe their least distinctive so far. Hopefully I will have to withdraw that comment after listening more, but I don't know. . .

Also, not sure why I didn't just do this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1Lrj9kmxJM

A bit blah but not awful.

jesus christ how did this band get so fucking boring

miss u tokyo jihen mk 1

Have you checked out any of the segments from the Ultra C dvd, on youtube? They definitely still are capable of great things in live performance. It does seem a bit perverse that they are putting out such quotidian singles though. Shiina Ringo seems pretty enthusiastic about making money these days, by any means necessary. Maybe motherhood has brought this out in her.

am downloading that chlorine semen chestnut album atm - will listen tomorrow

Looking forward to all your crazy comments about it. :P

wait, was it acoleuthic who was going crazy over the dreaming and hounds of love recently in one of the kate bush threads?

dude if that is so, then i am fucking excited for your liveblog of that particular shiina ringo record

ok starting it now

I hope you are using headphones.

I am ^_^

Shuukyou is fucking awesome, needless to say. Distorto-orch pop with a TUNE et demie. Unbelievably cool.

omg this outro is mad! :D

ok Doppelganger just went down the freaking rabbit-hole

having begun track 3......alterna-dimension Mr Bungle is the best I'm coming up with. but poppier. this is truly unhinged and fantastic.

I think a violin died just then :D

Track 4 is simply gorgeous. :)

oh no my VLC player died :(

aaaaa fuck you FLAC format

:D awesome awesome awesome, Track 5 is cool as all hell

the way the baroque arrangements play off that drum-machine beat is so goddamn breezy

track 6 is a pleasant comedown from track 5's astounding heights - but there's so much still going on! bet this album is a grower...

and it has an epic ending :P

This single is a little generic and boring, but it was written by Kameda, and with the exception of "Toumei Ningen" from Adult, his songs tend to be rather generic J-pop ("Superstar," "Shiseikatsu," and "Senkou Shoujo"). For the record, I do think he's an excellent bass player.

I'm sure Ringo, Izawa, and Ukigumo will have more interesting compositions, as always.

track 7 is a freaking delight - love when the beat drops, and the chord-changes near the end - lush! :D
track 8 builds on a Beatlesy melody into something mighty. the bridge is lovely and then the song comes back with even more melody and force. this album drips with melody, and melody from unexpected directions at that. then some killah bass comes and finishes it off! and a kind of didgeridoo deathdrone...
track 9 begins with the aforementioned drone and then another ominous bassline...but just as quickly, a heavenly pop melody bashes through the mix! haaaa! and this time, with a recorder offering counterpoint! KEYCHANGE
track 10 is again segued into. actually I think all the tracks segue, and do so beautifully - another great detail. oooh and fairground organs! for a song about a 'poltergeist'! heee. this one will stand or fall on its melodies - fortunately it has some rather choice ones. and the XTC string quartet piles in on cue as well...middle-eight is cuuuuute! yeah this is her '1000 Umbrellas' pretty much...
track 11 is clearly going to be the greatest thing ever from the intro alone. *immerses self within the insane digital sensefest* OMG CHURCH ORGAN OMG DRUMSSSSSS OMG ENDING

Did you travel outside of your body during Souretsu (the last song)?

all right so now you need to either seize Shouso Strip (which is basically about as weird but with a few more hat-tips to J-Pop ("Gips," "Honnou")) or Tokyo Jihen's Kyoiku (which is kind of completely fucking unhinged, uh, "rock")

during the last song I kinda merged with the cosmos, like

then you understood the lyrics! http://www.nostalgic-lavender.net/ringo/kalksamen.html

new TJ song is clearly supposed to be boring, the video is going to lengths to depict them as bored by their own music, all is going according to plan

this morning's youtube break is Meisai!

studio PV
live (Baishou Ecstasy version)

Haha, oh god no, not more of this mediocre show-tune stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RTb_QJhpO0

Hata arrested! Hit a police officer after being arrested on suspicion of breaking into a house. I thought this was a joke at first, but it sounds like it's for real. How bizarre.

http://forums.electricmole.net/showthread.php?t=1610

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110212p2a00m0na008000c.html
http://www.tokyograph.com/news/id-7441

I listened to Sanmon Gossip for the first time in a while today and while uneven and choked with floral arrangements, it's pretty great overall, particularly when it allows itself to get lost ("Togatta Teguchi," "Bonsai Hada").