the Shiina Ringo thread

I don't think I'd say great, but we'll see.

I definitely like it more than Variety or Sports, already, but that's not saying much.

"Dreadful Adults," great? Really? Shiina Ringo's vocals seem really weak there, although the band sounds great at time. It's a nice smooth Adult style sound, but a bit throw away, I'd say.

& oh jesus these generic show-tunes. Aaaaaaagh. How did we get here? My favorite consistently disappointing band.

bought a physical copy of 'discovery'. packaging is better than 'sports'.

and y'know, as the music gets more whatever it is, showtuney, her lyrics keep getting more extreme

which makes up for the songs on this one which I know I am never going to let myself get used to

and 'dreadful adults' is the track is this album's 'absolute despair'

is it is

That seems like a really conceptual way of appreciating the music, when you can't actually understand the lyrics. For me, merely knowing that the lyrics say this or that without the immediacy of hearing them unfold in a language I understand just doesn't do a whole lot.

Still haven't heard the new record, am visiting Japan in a month so I'm gonna wait and buy it there, TJ are touring too but I'll miss it by a few weeks apparently, bah!

on the new one, I am getting used to the songs that I knew I would never get used to.

still feels more like a collection of songs than an album -- but this one is definitely opening up in a way that 'Sports' didn't

way too easy to take this band for granted

Where did this review come from? Allmusic catching up.

http://www.allmusic.com/album/adult-r1013293/review

Don't think I've ever seen this one before and it's pretty crazy. I'll probably buy a bunch of the DVDs at some point. At least I currently have a better DVD set-up, plus a more sound-insulated apartment:

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

okay maybe a bit too silly, plus she gets into her uneven English here.

I was in Japan recently, made a trip to Disk Union in Tokyo and grabbed myself the Gekokujou Xstasy DVD, a couple of the clips compilations and the single 3cd box that looks like CD-Rs. Could have easily gone mental with it, but I noticed there is another TJ DVD just out, is this from it?

This looks like it's from a familiar TJ concert DVD (Virgin Line, is it? Milton would know), but just happens to be a segment I haven't seen before. But you could be right, maybe it simply wasn't made available until now. I haven't read up on the new TJ DVD(s?).

Or: I don't know.

that's the version of 'Kenka Joutou' from 'Just Can't Help It', the concert DVD that came out after 'Adult'. I love the spoken word intro but the metal middle 8 is pretty ridiculous. That one is not one of the better DVDs, still hard to believe they released that instead of 'Domestic Virgin Line'.

haven't been keeping up with the DVDs for a while but the youtubes from the 'Ultra C' DVD looked ok

looks like there's a new Ringo Shiina CD single coming out on November 2nd called 'Carnation'
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=TOCT-45045

I am not stoked.

I have kind of been ignoring the fact that there was supposed to be a new single out. Not really feeling this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2kaTsMxUHQ

In fact, I'd say it sucks.

I like it, does this mean there's a rekkid coming?

This cut from the new EP is much better than "Carnation":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34BVyR0K_9c

Listen to it before it gets taken down. Not exactly in love with this vocal style, but can kind of go along with it in this context. Lots of cool stuff happening.

This is the best new song I've heard from SR or TJ for a little while.

Is this the one where she's singing in French? Glad I don't understand French, if so.

This song is: 私の愛するひと (Watashi no Aisuru Hito)

Sounds pretty Sanmon Gossipy but at the moment I like it more than anything from that album.

It's kind of "Latin," the piano especially.

This is not bad. I don't remember this performance being up before:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmZDx7ZK7BY

This is the best new song I've heard from SR or TJ for a little while.

yep. also the production's way more disjointed than anything on sanmon gossip

the actual single is shiina showtune autopilot, which is a shame

I agree about the single. "Watashi no Aisuru Hito" is still kind of weak as a tune. I keep having trouble remembering how it goes--at all. It doesn't have the melodic strength of her earlier solo work (or a lot of her writing for Tokyo Jihen), but there's enough happening to keep things interesting.

new 5 song EP / new live DVD / CD 'Best Live Selection'

and then they announce they're breaking up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2BlA1WIGgY&feature=related

Oh, I missed the best live CD thing. Hopefully they go out with a bang.

'much noise for nothing'

first time she's committed suicide in a video in quite a while. and: she has replaced her mole

Did I miss something (in the video--I definitely had missed that they had formally announced they were breaking up)? I don't think she commits suicide in that video. Kills someone else, yes. I guess that's the band, symbolically.

Kind of sad and glad at the same time. What a frustrating band they have been.

Hadn't listened until now, home. Not impressed with the song.

kinda sad... i guess it was kind of inevitable. ah well, i'm sure she'll put out at least another 10 albums in her career, so i can't feel too bad... but the last few jihen/SR albums have been kinda stagnant

can i say, i have really not dug her looks for the last couple of years

by looks i mean the obsessive use of 40s themes, hair dye, etc.

http://images.yuku.com/image/png/d6f16e6eb052e7ceec8213ec7e2f52b731890c62_r.png

Meanwhile, new Shiina ballet music. No singing:

http://spacehalo.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/between-today-and-tomorrow-preview/

Can't find this on youtube at the moment. And this, well, the dress is kind of fun:

http://vimeo.com/34417460

• What's the last thing a drummer says in a band?
"Hey guys, why don't we try one of my songs?

<3 Hata, amazing amazing drummer. His only composition/vocal for Jihen is the last track on their last release of new material Color Bars and it is hard to know what to make of that entire EP.

Tokyo Collection CD: (I dig Uki's look here)

http://www.jpopasia.com/img/album-covers/2/15839-tokyocollection-3j4r.jpg

Discovery BluRay:

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/pictures/l/10/04/TOXF-5723.jpg

Can't wait for the track list of 'Tokyo Collection' compiling live versions 2004-2011. First pressing already sold out at cd japan.

http://kronekodow.com/english/gaiko/colorbars_interview.html

Incidents Tokyo, which has provided us five tour-de-force albums around the theme of television channels, ‘Education,’ ‘Adult,’ ‘Variety,’ ‘Sports,’ and ‘Discovery,’ put an end to programming with this album, ‘color bars.’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMLhJTM3xDk&feature=related

Once again, it's amazing just how perfect they sound in live performances. Yes, I guess I mean that in a muso way. The weakest link here is Shiina's belting which I'm not really enjoying much. I do find myself like this performance more than the studio version, even so.

I know someone who is going to Kyoto (next month I think) for an international studies program. I got her to listen to some SR/TJ and the one thing she really liked was the Dynamite Out version of "Sounan." She didn't say anything about the solo SR stuff. I'm tempted to throw some more recent things at her, but I'm holding off in hopes that she'll come back and say: hey, that band you were telling me about was all over TV and radio. The timing should work out that way, I think, with their recent break-up, but going out with the Color Bar EP and so on.

Hata sounds particularly amazing there. His sound is a bit different than usual in a way I can't put my finger on at the moment.

I notice she says "thank you" in Japanese here, which somehow jumps out at me since she almost always seems to say it in English.

But yeah, the belting is a bit like the worst live performances of "Killer Tune" all over again. Sorry, I am just not into it. And given the other ways she is sometimes capable of singing, I don't know why she falls back on it so damn much.

There's all sorts of new live stuff up on youtube, but I haven't been keeping track. (I continue to be pretty preoccupied with politics (not particularly in the horse race sense, though some of that as well) and "current events," and getting off the internet a bit more and reading books again. Meanwhile, more casual about music.)

Somehow I thought their last concert was due in March or even April. I didn't realize it already happened in February.