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Old 2010.09.12, 10:36 AM   #75
so_cold
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Originally Posted by NIMH Rat View Post
As time goes on, it's going to get harder and harder to discover "Shiina Ringo" just on her own, though I have a feeling there will always be interest in her solo work in Japan and she will continue to pursue it in sometimes interesting (Sakuran) and not-so-interesting (Sanmon Gossip) ways.

But the trajectory of what can be called Shiina Ringo's career is getting tangled up in Tokyo Jihen to the point where I'm not even sure where one ends and the other begins. I just posted a thought that maybe Dynamite Out! and just about all of "Phase 1" Tokyo Jihen should be considered part of Shiina's solo career, and that Phase 1 TJ really begins in 2005 with Domestic Virgin Line and Just Can't Help It.
This is going to sound random, and you've been a fan for a lot longer than me and may understand, but there's kind of an aura to the first three album eras that doesn't for the most part extend beyond EM, but maybe to things to Kurumaya-san. Sort of a persona as manifested through music (like say, the strings in Yami ni Furu Ame, how the chorus to Kuki sounds, or the decision to thread something clockwork through Poltergeist), and it's really moving...

FWIW having seen a couple of other posts, I don't think being more playful, dancing or wearing cat ears is necessarily antithetical, because doesn't... say, Mayonaka's melody sound "playful"? (Not seen DVL other than I quite like the Keshou Naoshi on YT but really hate that Gunjou, sorry, that guitar's rhythm/tone just excites my gag reflex, Hirama is the funkier of the two). I actually think the visual aspect of JCHI sheds a good light on Adult, it sweetens the album like it sweetens plain tea, because take away the artfulness and costumes from a song like Yukiguni and it's a lot less amazing, it's like an Andrew Lloyd Webber tune basically. That's not to say there aren't some nice tunes on Kyoiku or Adult, and IMO the Phase 1-ers are right to say that era sounded like more of a beginning than an end.

If I was proselytising it's because my listening brain can't understand why songs like Kabukichou no Joou are more famous outside of Japan, or her solo-era diversity and videos don't reach more people, other than particularly English-speaking people don't try music in a foriegn language in the same way they try films in a foriegn language, unless they're carefully selected for a "world music" market. They fit the bill of a classic melody and judging by the demos, SR used to write songs that strong as a natural talent. Someone else writing the music doesn't explain why Variety or Sports suddenly sound like what they do or why SR in 2006/7 suddenly decided that that was the kind of music she wanted to put out. I'm never going to "get" that, and I need to stop trying to.

Sanmon Gossip rewarded a little pre-release excitement though.
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Last edited by so_cold : 2010.09.12 at 04:44 PM. Reason: I hate posting about Tokyo Jihen...
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