Tomita Lab JOYOUS album 23.10.2013
 

椎名林檎が、音楽プロデューサーの冨田恵一氏のプロジェクト、冨田ラボのニューアルバムに参加しました。椎名のほか、原由子、横山剣、さかいゆうと、多士済々の4人のヴォーカリストが歌声を披露している、10月23日リリースの冨田ラボの4th ALBUM『Joynus』。椎名林檎はボーカルと作詞で、3曲に参加しています。ぜひ聴いてみてください。

2013年10月23日(水)発売
冨田ラボ4th Album『Joyous』

初回限定盤(2CD) 予価3,600円(税込)
通常盤(CD) 3,000円(税込)

冨田ラボオフィシャルサイト(http://www.tomitalab.com/)


Not one, but THREE songs ;-)

Source: Kronekodow mobile site (doesn't seem to be on the full site yet for whatever reason)

Just make another solo album, Shiina!

If you put all the songs she's been involved in this year, that's almost an album's worth ;-p

What does Ringo see in this guy? All I hear on youtube are ballads.

It's not the same! :P

The fact that she released いろはにほへと under her own name though makes me think she's secretly working on a new album.

Tomita Lab/Keiichi Tomita has gradually become one of my favorite musicians, and definitely the artist I've been listening to the most since last year.

I just knew he was involved in the production of a female artist's song and another remix that I was waiting for, so imagine how... joyous I feel knowing that he is not only still on the road with his solo project but he's also collaborating with none other than Shiina Ringo herself.

A single honouring her 15th years of career. Maybe she wants to perpetuate this echo with a new album in 2014, during the same period as Muzai Moratorium.

I think I figured out why Ringo chose him.

Ordered 2CD version. Had 1300 CD japan points to use by end of the month haha.

ooohm Nakano Yoshie, isn't she from Ego-Wrappin'? This sounds quite interesting. I'm excited to hear what comes of this.

Nakano Yoshi isn't on the album.

Anyway, as for the other vocalists, Ken Yokoyama's voice is actually pretty good. The guy playing bass for him looks vaguely familiar.

横山　剣

Yuko Hara from Southern All Stars is another big name here, her voice is great!

Yuko Hara

Yuto Sakai sounds like a complete wanker:

Yuto Sakai

I can't find any info about Seisei Tashi.

Just ordered.

Oh, I thought I'd read somewhere that she was contributing lyrics...I
ll see if I can find it again.

Tomita Lab made a remix of a CRAZY KEN BAND (Ken Yokoyama's group) song, it's been released last week but it haven't leaked anywhere on the internet yet.

It's Yuu Sakai. I've heard his albums and he used to have a sound focused on soul, R&B and funk until he signed to Office Augusta and his output radically changed, being the video you posted an accurate example of it — STORY is his most famous song since the relaunch of his career.

Anyway, he is a great keyboardist and his singing has always been quite singular, I see why Tomita would pick him.

http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/-/Artist/A024314.html

Samples for the two tracks Ringo appeared on.

I can dig em, kinda sounds like the Motown stuff Jihen tried to work with but infinitely more successful/Tomita Lab seems to have a somewhat better understanding of the genre than Izawa or Uki had :-p

Tomita Lab feat. Hara Yuuko, Yokoyama Ken, Shiina Ringo, Sakai Yuu【MUSIC VIDEO】

1:00-1:42 is pretty good. Dunno what's all the other stuff.

This sounds like School House Rock...

Well, I dunno about everyone else, but damn that shit is smooooooooth. If only Ringo had met Tomita Lab earlier/Tomita Lab was in Jihen instead of Izawa... the potential!

Cute PV too.

Anyway, still have the other 2 songs on his new album to hear that feature Ringo, one of which we haven't heard anything of yet and Ringo is the sole vocalist on it.

Am I the only one that hates this Tomita stuff? I felt Izawa's contributions were some of the best to Tokyo Jihen. Tegami, Killer Tune, My Way, Ikiru, Zettai Zetsumei, Brand New Civilization... Am I crazy here?

Hm. Not so sure about this. Ringo was literally the only interesting vocalist on that. Honestly, if she wasn't featured in it, I'm not sure I'd even like the song at all.

@Hedgehog: Hey man, don't feel too bad- I'm like the only person who's said anything really positive here so far... you're not the crazy one, I AM! :-p

(But I'm quite alright with that)

Well... I inevitably love it. It's colorful and smooth as usual, and that homogeneous timbre that he builds out of so many different vocal tones is wonderful, especially on the chorus (similar to the blend Chikuzen Sato+bird on his arrangement of this FUTABA track).

But this is Tomita Lab by-the-book, I see this kind of arrangement as his safe and lazy space. Attention is surely focused on the vocals, the rest of the instruments are placed behind, which is unusual on his production (by the way, this guy always plays the keyboards/synths/piano, bass and guitars himself on studio recordings).

@hedgehog - I enthusiastically agree with you on Izawa. I really think that he's the most valuable contributor in phase 2 Jihen.

Happy to report Ringo's song (Yasashii Tetsugaku) is fantastic, the only problem is that it overpowers the rest of the album because it's so much stronger sounding than the rest- it's like an 80s-throwback pop rock/power ballad type song and the rest are more like what you've already heard.

As for the album, despite not being as strong as Yasashii, it's still pretty enjoyable throughout, though I'd only say buy it if:
A- you're a collector and NEED to get them 2 other songs featuring Ringo in your collection
B- you're a big Tomita Lab fan

Otherwise, just wait until Ukina - Yashashii Tesugaku is on that. I noticed they've chosen to put it as track 1 there too- and when you hear it you will see why, I haven't heard a more appropriate opening track in a long time.

I found this inexpressibly weird. The chorus put me on edge. Let's hire a bunch of very individual voices and see what happens if we make them sing in unison. Everyone fails to blend and yet is stripped of their individuality. I find it creepy.

Apart from that, just extremely repetitive. I'm having a hard time understanding what it's going for, or why on earth he would hire Shiina Ringo to show up for it.

I think her voice is there just well in place.

No opinions on Yasashii Tetsugaku? Would be keen to hear what others think...

Maybe no one else has heard it; I haven't.

EDIT:

Ok I have now heard the song (: I mostly like it. It's better than that huge ensemble piece whose title I have since forgotten. It sounds like it could be a Jihen song, actually, somewhere around the SPORTS era. Have since become gag-reflexively allergic to strings in her music, and so the opening made me cringe for like, 2.5 seconds. This is not an opinion that I personally hold for most of her work but it sounds like the song was almost too polished for its writing (granted she's just giving her vocals to someone else's work); would love to hear a noisier, grungier, version of this.

I think you have more chance of Ringo making a Limp Bizkit style album than that... in other words... not gonna happen :-p

As for the strings in this... completely warranted... they were quite obviously going for an over-the-top 80s sound and they delivered big time.

Would pay very good money for something like that.

Well, this is aimed at the collectors mainly, but

Joyous is getting a 2LP + 7" press in May this year.

Jetset have it listed already
http://www.jetsetrecords.net/%E5%86%...p/824004818292

Will wait and see if it gets listed on Amazon before I order.

EDIT: WHICH IT HAS
http://www.amazon.co.jp/Joyous-Analo...83%A9%E3%83%9C

Ordered it. Hopefully a HD digital release is on the cards. More convenient than any dubious vinyl ripping I could do.

You know whats weird... the Amazon listing is 4,200 yen. When I put it through, it said "Promotional discount" and ended up being 3,619 yen. I'm not complaining!

You did better than me.

Promotion Applied: -￥ 47

Seems this LP is getting a full on "LP mix" treatment, according to Tomita Lab's Twitter feed. So no slap bang from the CD cash in here. Also I noticed all 3 Ringo tracks will be on outer grooves, so no potential inner groove distortion too. Goodo.

LP tracklist (Ringo featuring songs highlighted)
A1: やさしい哲学 feat. 椎名林檎
A2: 僕の足跡 - I follow the sun - feat. さかいゆう

B1: 都会の夜 わたしの街 feat.原 由子, 横山剣, 椎名林檎, さかいゆう
B2: false dichotomy
B3: on you surround feat. 横山剣

C1: いつもどこでも feat. さかいゆう
C2: Don't throw it away
C3: 私の夢の夢 feat. 原 由子

D1: この世は不思議 feat.原 由子, 横山剣, 椎名林檎, さかいゆう
D2: trichotomy

Bonus Disc 7inch
A1: いつもどこでも feat. 児玉奈央
B1: on you surround -Instrumental-

Also @Glath: I take it you'll be adding this one to the LP collection too?

Finally, after a delay of over a month (which is becoming a trend with all Jetset vinyl I've preordered- the same has happened with the new Oomori 7" which has been pushed back to July), Tomita Lab's Joyous 2LP + 7" has finally been released and is being packed for shipping now.

I had almost forgotten about its existence with all the other things coming out. I tweaked my order on Amazon.jp (meaning cancelled and reordered at the last minute) to include the Rekishi LP with it... can't beat 15 bucks postage with DHL express (on average, 3 days from Japan to here) for 2 LPs...

Oh yusss, this is a real nice pressing.... Sounds gorgeous and warm!

Very minimal packaging though, none of the beautiful art from the CD booklet, sleeves of LPs are plain white paper. But oh well. My outer sleeve got slightly creased on bottom corner in shipping too, which is a bummer. That or the plastic sealing was waaaaay too tight (as is a problem with a few LPs I have bought). Not major enough to care heaps but still annoying.

Are you planning on ripping it? Sometimes I get the feeling that the original master may have more dynamic range than what the CD turned out to be.

Tracks like Watashi no Yume no Yume (probably my favorite off the album) and Tokai no Yoru Watashi no Machi deserve more room to oscillate!