Which band member's departure would have the biggest impact on TJ?

[W3iHong]

Originally Posted by Lustau

From the least impact, to the most:

5. Hata - I understand that a drummer sets the foundation for the band, but I would think that there are legions of drummers who can do this. If you remove Hata and replace him with another competent professional, how different would the band really sound?

4. Ukigumo - I think the choice between Uki and Izawa is the difficult one. Uki's sound is so distinctive that replacing him with another guitarist would automatically result in a different-sounding band. The world is not teeming with close Uki substitutes.

3. Izawa - Although Izawa's playing is more replicable than Uki's, Izawa is a more significant source of the band's songwriting. Now that Shiina writes so little, perhaps he is the primary composer in the band.
If he left, not only the performance but the music itself would have to take a new direction.

2. Kameda - Because he has always been there and because his style remains so consistent, it is not as easy to recognize his influences on the band. There is no "pre-Kameda" to help me imagine what life would be like post-Kameda. But my impression is that he has always contributed so much to the arrangements that everything would sound very different without him. I can't really disagree with those who get on to him for a tendency towards campyness, but he has been so deeply involved with Ringo for so long that I sometimes wonder if it's possible to separate out her sound from his. I think that apart from Ringo, he is the member who influences a song most without even writing it. I'm pretty confident that without him the band would be very different, and more than any other member I have no idea what their new sound would be.

1. Shiina - If she left, I would leave too.

I don't think it is all strictly business for Ringo... Its not just playing the songs, Ringo chose her members out of so many that could have or wanted to join her. Surely, you don't think she would just let them leave without any pain. Hata could really play different beats for different genres which is pretty spectacular. Not just that, he really feels the groove of the songs in different genres.

[Entry№1]

Kameda - Kameda is a virtuoso bassist, but then again, everyone in this band is virtuoso at something. Kameda is solid and I hope he continues working with Ringo, at least in her pop works, but I think his rhythmic and melodic vocabulary might be somewhat limited. He had nothing to do with KSK, but the bass work on that album was melodic and badass, which is supposedly Kameda's trademark.

Hata - I really don't want Hata to go. He's a great drummer, works diligently, and brings fire to the band. Ringo's frustration creating sports seemed somewhat leveled at him though, and it made me wonder if Hata is very versatile, particularly when it comes to funk and jazz styles.

Ukigumo - Ukigumo has a very distinct style, and I like the twang he brings to the group. I believe his and Izawa's unique contributions were ironically crystallized on "Tokai no Manaa", and "Adult", which unfortunately highlighted Uki's weaknesses as well. I also enjoyed his part in creation of KSK, and the fact that he composed "Ichijiku no Hana" is demonstrative of his hidden prowess. However, for whatever reason, he is deduced to novelty in TJ. For whatever creativity he possesses, he is frequently boring and pretentious, and almost doesn't appear to understand the concept of "rock" in itself. I almost would like to see him leave the group but continue to work with SR in her solo work.

Izawa - Izawa is relatively benign, but has rare displays of skill in composition. I think he possesses great skill, of course, but as a wannabe pianist myself, I generally hate his tones, who I believe one member once, appropriately, referred to as "assy"-sounding. Izawa would be my choice to leave.

Ringo - Let's not even talk about that. Actually though, she could probably stop being the vocalist but reside as a contributing songwriter. Most of the time I think she just go back to solo and stay.

[Lustau]

Entry No. 1:

I enjoyed your post and agreed with almost all of what you said.

Concerning Kameda: As you said, KSK proves that Shiina can thrive without Kameda's input. But Tokyo Jihen can't really take KSK as a model for its future arrangements, so we really have no idea what a post-Kameda Jihen would be like. We just know it would be very, very different. I would be terrified to face life without Kameda, but also kind of excited.

Uki is an odd fit with the gruop. His sound, which I enjoy, doesn't always seem to mesh with the others. Even more than that, I think his tastes in music sometimes clash with what the rest of the group is trying to accomplish. His songwriting sometimes stands out and makes the albums feel disjointed, but it seems as if Shiina feels obligated to shoehorn him into the album to affirm him as an equal member of the group. I agree that perhaps collaborating with solo-Shiina would be a better fit. If she felt like doing his kind of music (and she is versitile enough to), or if he produced an Ichijiku no Hana, she could benefit from his unique contributions. But if his talents don't fit her project, she wouldn't be held back by his limitations.

In your discussion of Izawa, you say that he has "rare displays of skill in composition." Do you mean that he has "rare displays of skill" in the sense that his composition rarely displays skill (most of his songs are blech), or that his composition displays rare skill (there are few people who can compose as well)?

Apart from the effect of replacing him with a pianist with better tone, whether it would be a good thing for him to leave would depend entirely on we could find a pianist who writes better than he does. Unless, of course, if Shiina took up the songwriting slack, which would be awesome.

[Entry№1]

Originally Posted by Lustau

In your discussion of Izawa, you say that he has "rare displays of skill in composition." Do you mean that he has "rare displays of skill" in the sense that his composition rarely displays skill (most of his songs are blech), or that his composition displays rare skill (there are few people who can compose as well)?

I don't think I caught the ambiguity of the statement when I first wrote it out, but I'm glad you did. I'd have to say I mean both senses of the phrase - he is a very good songwriter who is very hit-or-miss. Even so, I don't like his aesthetic, songs of his sound too plastic-y for their generally-vintage sound. I don't know what chords he uses, but they across as triads to me. I don't know if it's just my imagination, but Izawa's songs lack the harmonic and rhythmic complexity that makes SR's usual music stand out. His melodies typically aren't streamlined enough, there are too many notes that get bunched up together in ineffective regions. I almost think he would be better suited writing for a girl group like Perfume which shoots for a cute, modern sound (which, as far as I am concerned, is not an insult).

[The Most Curious Thing]

Originally Posted by Lustau

Apart from the effect of replacing him with a pianist with better tone, whether it would be a good thing for him to leave would depend entirely on we could find a pianist who writes better than he does.

However obvious an answer it is, HZM is one of the few pianists who fits that mold. And, if PE'Z is any indication, he's perfectly content to let someone else (Ohyama Wataru in that case) take creative control of a band's direction while only contributing a few (brilliant) compositions here and there. Imagine someone like Hiromi Uehara in the same group as Shiina -- the band would fall apart.

As much as I love some of Izawa's compositions (Kingyo no Hako, Ikiru, Uten Kekkou) and arrangements (Himitsu is, and always will be, my favorite Jihen tune) I have to agree with Entry and say that Izawa would be my first choice to leave. As it stands right now, I like Izawa's contributions to the band more than Uki's, but I feel that, for the sake of the band's future, it makes more sense to replace Izawa.

As far as I'm concerned, Shiina, Kameda, and Hata are irreplaceable. Almost 100% of the time, I would say that a drummer who contributes no vocals or songwriting to a band is replaceable, but not Hata.

[Tokyo Jihad]

Get rid of anyone but Hata.

[W3iHong]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Jihad

Get rid of anyone but Hata.

And Ringo.

[TurtleFu]

Honestly, I've thought about this more, and I've come to a conclusion. I like Uki, I don't really care that much about Hirama, but HZM is SO. MUCH. BETTER. than Izawa in pretty much every single way. He's a more skilled pianist, a better live performer, and an excellent songwiter. The only think Izawa has over HZM is the guitar playing, but Ringo can always do that while she sings. Seriously, I don't care about Hirama, but I wish HZM would come back.

[Tokyo Jihad]

Originally Posted by W3iHong

And Ringo.

She can leave. Go back to being solo. Hata is the only one who has not harmed his cred too badly in Jihen.

[Glathannus]

When Hata got downmixed in Variety, nobody thought this was the biggest of the mistakes being made throughout the production of that album. Maybe the fanbase's perspective on Hata has evolved, now that we've all heard what he's brought to Dai-hakken.