APPA - Full Length Debut, "Rashipoki"
 

November 5 is the day.

Their myspace
http://www.hmv.co.jp/product/detail/2798079
http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B...282_pe_snp_7VY


I don't know anything else about it, but I preordered it. My Izawa-love is greater than my HZM-love, so I'm hoping this is guud. :hmph:

It's also available at TOWER.JP.

I discovered this upcoming release barely one day ago from browsing through Amazon.co.jp and seeing the "Customers Who Bought This ALSO Purchased..." section. If it weren't for that (or for you), I probably would've never known until next year. Not a lot of us English speakers are actively checking Appa's website.

I already own their first album (never made easily available on an international basis), and supposedly there is a second album before Rashipoki - but I have yet to find the CD or the MP3s anywhere, even though you'd think it would be easier to find than the first album.

We already know that Izawa borrowed an Appa passage from their first album, and used it in his Just Can't Help It performance of Honnou. OSCA came out as a Petrolz B-Side barely before it was a Tokyo Jihen A-Side, so if Tokyo Jihen comes out with a new album in Q1 2009, we'll see if any of the tracks were borrowed from Rashipoki.

In any case, Rashipoki ought to be more refreshing than the latest TOKIO release. I already like what I've heard from Appa so far.

:D

Finally some good stuff to look forward to! :D

OMGGGGG!!!!! IT WILL INCLUDE "GYPSY"" I looove this song!! and those from the myspace are also awesome... im thinking about preordering it, too

I just pre-ordered it at Amazon, along with a St. Vincent CD I can't find anywhere else.

I'm looking forward to Amazon's "international express" shipping. Takes literally 24 hours to get to my house, and since I live in a rural area with a post office that's not considered "full service", 24 hours from Japan (via FedEx) is a couple days faster for me than EMS (which goes through the Postal Service on the United States side of the delivery). It's gonna be like receiving an EMS delivery in San Francisco - perhaps even 12 hours faster.

It shipped from hmv today! I threw in the Amagasa single...because I wanted to stretch the value of the 1200 yen shipping.

FedEx wasn't so express for me this time. Amazon sat on the goods for a couple days before shipping out (this undermines the whole 24-hour shipping I'm paying for), then FedEx attempted to deliver at my house on a Friday, 2 hours before anyone would be home. Rather than trying again on Saturday (when people are home all day), FedEx decided they wouldn't try again until MONDAY.

Got it Thursday. some impressions:

Izawa has a good singing voice, for the slow songs at least. "その透明シリアス" and "乙女のソロ" showcase his vocal ability the best. Otherwise he sounds like a guy who has had a few beers chugged down before recording vocals. "G スピ" is the prime example. He sings in octaves and sounds like yodeling Scooby Doo, the character not the band.

"その透明シリアス," "乙女のソロ," "ゲンロン " "ジプシ" and "天上アフロ " are my favorites.

His style overall is hard to generalize. Too unconventional [weird] for pop, but not "rock" enough for rock. After looking at the band portrait in the insert, I guess it makes sense that Appa makes the music it makes.

In comparison to the songs Izawa wrote for Variety and the b-sides, I think Ringo hoarded most of his good material. :lol:

I enjoyed Roshipoki. It will get more play time from me than Pianohead. But be warned, it doesnt sound like TJ. At all.

Judging by what I've already heard from Appa's first album, your review doesn't surprise me at all.

i really want to hear GYPSY T____T

but im not buying it right now.. more some 1 or 2 weeks to go >_>

Rashipoki is a better album than I expected. I liked one-and-a-half songs on Appa's first (mini-)album, and didn't think I would like more than three of the songs on a full album. This will get more replays from me than Pianohead, but not more than Pianoise in Osaka.

that reminds me I need to get Pianoize in Osaka still. :(

But the damage done after my MoRA dvd box gets processed on my card is going to have to delay it for a few months. my limit is reaching its limit

Amazon.co.jp is the only vendor who still has Pianose in Osaka in-stock. Everyone else has been sold-out for quite some time. A few weeks ago Amazon's price was around 4300yen, then recently they raised it to 4500yen. That's not a good sign. They probably don't have very many copies of it left, and once they're sold out, you will have to resort to Yahoo! Japan Auctions and all the nasty fees associated with not having your own Japanese residence. And that's when it actually shows up for auction! I don't even see any copies of it on Y!JA right now...

If you are getting two MoRA boxes, I would cancel one of them, and grab Pianoise in Osaka while you still can, because that's probably going to provide more longterm satisfaction than repackaged audio you already have. If you're getting one MoRA box, then if it were the CD box - I would drop it.

Pianose in Osaka is to 5+2=11, what Dynamite Out is to Kyoiku.
Seriously.

Is it just me or is there actually something to this album?

Don't get me wrong, I don't think this is a great album, and you can call out Izawa's singing all you want (tho, I'd call you a hypocrite since Shiina's singing can be just as unflattering. And it's miles better than his singing on Variety) but some of these tunes are really good and snappy.

Violence is a great song. Genron, Sono Toumei are pretty good too. These songs stomp all over Sake to Geko, Ssaw, Ramp, Kuroneko, and Kingyo. Even Egao and G Supi, barring the vocals, are really groovy stuff. I'll take the singing on Otome no Solo and Afuro. Even songs like La Li Ho, Oni no Te, and Tenjou Afuro which sound like crap at first are strangely redeeming.

Dare I say it, but enjoyed much of these songs on the first listen than I did much of Sanmon Gossip on its first listen. On that note, I think Rashipoki and Sanmon Gossip same to have similar idealogys behind them. If you liked SG, I see no reason not to give Rashipoki a listen.

On a cynical note: The "Jihen makes people worse" mythos is still very much in play. Shiina of course, is widely panned in Jihen. Uki is even more widely villified, yet his Petrolz work is much more agreeable. Izawa had some real stinkers on Variety including songs that didn't even sound like finished ideas (Ramp, Sake) which leaves me throroughly impressed with his work in Appa.

Violence stomps on most SG songs :ph43r:

Jihad's three picks: Violence, Genron, Sono Toumei Shirinasu

RETRO EDIT: \/ \/ Blaah, since when? Whatever, Ramp still sucks.

Ramp is Uki's

Well, I suppose I'll give it a listen.

OK, I have been listening to this album in bits and pieces in the last few months. I liked what I heard, but I gave it another listen today
on my ipod and enjoyed it even more!

Genron: When I listen to Genron, I feel like dancing like a five year old i.e. jumping and flailing around, occasionally punching the air and shouting HYAH. Playful, energetic, and you get the impression that Izawa is a bit not right in the head. You know in the TJ concerts where Izawa is head banging while playing the keyboard? Ya.

VIOLENCE:I like how Izawa in sad/sentimental/melancholy but drunk at the same time.

La Li Ho: Or epic Kronekodow. I don't know whether that's a bad thing or not :lol: Another way to put it is Kronekodow is Beta La Li Ho.

Oni no Te: While Izawa was the more emotional kind of drunk in VIOLENCE, he's the more obnoxious, aggressive kind in Oni no Te (Funnily enough, the word 'violence' is sung here at some point). I like the darker turn the song takes at the end, where it sounds like the night's gonna end at Izawa passing out and ending up in hospital with severe kidney -- er, liver damage.

Okoto Shimashou: "TOUCH ME THERE TOUCH ME THERE" (Not sic)

Gypsy: It's kind of like Genron but not as good. It makes up for that with the "Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba" bit!

G Supi Feat Scooby Doo :No, seriously, Izawa LITERALLY sounds like Scooby Doo here, yaroos included.

PACCLUE: You know when a song is good when it starts with: PAKOOROO PAKOOROO...SHAKOOROO SHAKOOROO. This is probably the most 'ambitious' song here. It's wacky, but also 'heavy.'

Tenjou Afuro : An 'eccentric' song that begins with that Hawaii HELLO HA music. Also contains Izawa autotune.

Like TJihad, I'll limit damage by saying that it's not a GREAT album, but this isn't a throwaway listen, or an album you'd only listen to because Izawa is part of TJ and you want to see if Izawa will destroy the next TJ album.
Oh, and I don't care what anyone says -- I really like his vocals here, even if they are a bit stupid and goofy most of the time.

Rashipoki vs Sanmon Gossip

I think Rashipoki is, in many ways, better than Sanmon Gossip, because Rashipoki, like SG, also has that exuberant, sugar-rushy
feel to it but unlike SG, it sounds like there's 'soul' put into it. Like it's from Izawa's, um, heart or something. Sanmon Gossip on
the other hand, merely sounds as if Ringo was just having a bit of fun, and as if it's just another notch on Shiina's Belt.

Rashipoki vs Variety

Izawa and Tokyo Jihen

Hi familiar ground. Well, I enjoyed this album without even THINKING of Shiina Ringo or TJ until the end, but if you listened to Rashipoki
you'd be wondering what Izawa would be doing next, and the answer is obviously TJ's next album.

Izawa is responsible for the arguably the best things IMHO to come out of the Variety era: Sake to Geko (Spa and Treatment), Kaban no Nakami
and Pinocchio (Well, I also like Tsukigime-hime but Izawa still wins). Heck, even Killer Tune is okay. But the above songs are hardly
'centerpiece' material apart from Sake to Geko which feels like it has missing potential.

Rashipoki has *significantly* better songs, though. Because SR isn't fulfilling all my musical needs anymore, I'm caring less and less
about a comeback, but I'll be listening to every new album she puts out till she retires. Sooo I want to see if this Phase 2 experiment
can work. I think it isn't futile where Izawa + Shiina are concerned. But then there's Uki...

(Will be posting my impressions of Petrolz album + single)

Tegami Precursor

an interesting find!
I liked this album. It was quite interesting albiet a bit weird.
I also like that solo song he played on the ultra c dvd

did Izawa release that virally?

I don't know. I just happened to stumble across it on Youtube because I was looking for some more of his solo stuff

I had found that video about a month ago and now it's conveniently stored on my HD.

I guess it was composed for Tokyo Jihen because of his singing: he sounds quite uncomfortable and can barely reach those high notes Shiina Ringo does in Adult; on the other hand, this doesn't seem to happen in Rashipoki (this is the only APPA album I could listen to, so I might be wrong).

I wish they'd release a new album. Izawa has his own swagger in Appa compared to Tokyo Jihen. Boku! Boku!

It started off as his own song, Ringo Re-arranged it and added new lyrics.

I'd also like some more appa stuff but I think after sports and ultra-c the members of jihen are gelling together a lot better than previously.

If Appa makes a new cd, Ringo will make a new solo album in that spare time, which will make Izawa upset.

I wonder if Ringo and Izawa are having an affair. It makes sense.

- Aforementioned Izawa jealousy towards HZM
- Ringo and Izawa being touchy feely (No Music No Life and another interview somewhere)
- Ringozawa compositions , one of which has Ringo singing 'I just want you to touch me; no harm is ever done by these things..'
- Don't come near me now it is time to recognise you have crossed the bar
- Izawa's alleged bitchy comments about Tokyo Jihen at the start
- Izawa dominating Phase 2
- Ringo persisting with Phase 2
- She got bored with guitarists (Or was traumatised after Hirama)

and other stuff

heheh, wouldnt surprise me. that lady is a traaaayemp-pah! :lol:

How could I order this CD? Those two sites in the first post are in japanese and I can't read it...

None of the international-shipping vendors who have carried Rashipoki, have ever listed it in English (or with romanization). However, two of the overall sites are (or can be) in English, at least with their entire shopping framework surrounding a release.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/switch-la...language=en_JP
http://www.hmv.co.jp/en/product/detail/2798079

I had no problems obtaining my copy of Rashipoki through Amazon.co.jp, and I'm still one of the least capable members of this community when it comes to reading Japanese.

got my copy on ebay :P

Alright, I was able to place the order at Amazon.co.jp, but it declined my Visa 4 times. I live in Finland and my Visa has always worked. For example I've purchased many items from CDJapan.

I'll cancel the Amazon order and try HMV next...

For those interested, there is a pretty much new appa (APPA?) channel on YouTube, and they have already uploaded 3 videos from this year!

Here is the link: appa138

Edit: only one of them is appa-related, the other two are by a band called シュローダーヘッズ (Schroeder-Headz) with Izawa as a guest keyboardist.

The only appa song on that channel is from their self-titled album, which means it's not a preview of anything they might release next. However, it's a rare album, and so a lot of Tokyo Jihen fans may not have heard more than 15 seconds of it before.

Hmm... I had never associated that instrumental passage to Kimochiyo. Even now that I listened to that Honnou performance again and it still sounds like Izawa's jazzy trademark but not necessarily a Kimochiyo extract. Is that an "officially" accepted reference?

No, but someone with all the evidence in front of them would have to be deaf to assert that 3:10-3:24 of appa's video, isn't a faster performance of 1:50-2:07 from JCHI Honnou. Is Izawa paying homage to his Jihen days? Not when appa's self-titled album already featured that passage back in 2005 (3:00-3:14 of the studio recording). There's been nothing improvisational about it. This has been the exact same passage in all three examples.

Oh yes, you are right. It's just that I had more vivid memories of the more... upbeat parts of Kimochiyo, instead of that great passage.

anyone preorder their 2nd album 'Mantra' yet?

http://tower.jp/item/3129828/MANTRA

I wouuld, but since shipping is so expensive, I'm waiting to bundle it with a bunch of other cds eventually.

Tower Records doesn't ship internationally anymore (last I heard), but Amazon Japan and HMV Japan still do. It's as much opportunity as we still have to purchase Rashipoki (without CD Japan or YesAsia).

thats okay, I was able to find it on amazon jp as well. I'm hoping someone bites the bullet and gives a short review of the album. 3 more days!

edit: http://ototoy.jp/_/default/p/29394

Sound samples

it's definately better than rashipoki!

That should be the tag line to advertise the album.


I feel like Track 8 is a guitar and some drag away from being Kowai Horror-dust. Choice joy and both versions of Eight are cute songs, for lack of a better description.

Anyone have translations of Appa song titles? I don't trust Google Translate...

01. ゲンロン = Principle or Speech?
02. VIOLENCE
03. らりほー = Rariho or Laliho?
04. 鬼の手 = Hands of the Demon?
05. お琴しましょー = I will...?
06. ジプシー = Gypsy
07. 笑顔 = Smile?
08. G スピ = G Speaker?
09. PACCLUE
10. その透明シリアス = Serious Transparency?
11. 乙女のソロ = Maiden Solo?
12. 天上アフロ = Afro Heavens or An Afro In Heaven?

Another essential album???

HMV Japan claims to have it and I just ordered. Dunno if I'll get it...

Just heard (or misheard) some of Mantra.

Before I listen to the rest... Anyone know a good software program for removing vocals from audio tracks? :-p

Oh the humanity! Such potential ruined by Izawa's voice.

I need another Appa x Petrolz feat. Deyonna...