[TJ] 2007.07.11 - OSCA (CD) [Single]

[justriiingo]

Oh man, I think SR really stretched her upper range singing Kaban no Nakami. I used to be able to sing every note that SR can, but now I have to strain to reach the high notes on Kaban.

[k3nj1kun]

Originally Posted by fluffiethesock

>:-{o

Angry man with mustache!

I was just watching OSCA again, and I started thinking...

It would be awesome if the OSCA dancers became a part of the band, and they were featured in all of TJ's videos and concerts. Sure, it'd get annoying really quickly (especially to those who don't like them in OSCA), but the idea made me laugh a bit as I considered what TJ would be like with them as a permanent addition.

I guess I'm just a little sad that I'll never see them again... I think they fit the song creepily well.

i agree FTW

[Tsuchiya]

Originally Posted by Maou

So... Can you tell me how B.B. King, John Mayer, Eric Johnson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Brian May, Hirama Mikio, Sugizo, Duane Allman, Allen Collins and Eric Clapton have similar tones? You seem to be implying that since I have such a narrow view on what good tone is. You are reminded about it because I try to explain what I don't like about a particular thing instead of simply saying I don't like it. It's the same thing as you saying Uki is ace because he's unique. We hear that just as often, but you don't see me telling others to shut up about it.

Before I address this, those of you going around signing their posts with "Peave & Love" to mock me do realize that it was a joke, right? I put it there to give an indication that even though my tone (lol) was kind of harsh, I actually don't care that much about the goings-on of an internets webboard.

Really though, some of the posts I read. Theories of why Uki was asked to join the band and why he hasn't been fired (i.e. because he and Ringo are old friends)...get a clue! It's kind of grating, not because I'm defensive of Uki, but because I think he's just clearly a more interesting guitarist than Hirama.

We've argued all this last year, and obviously I'm not going to change anybody's mind, but basically I don't like "traditional"-sounding guitarists. Maou, all the guitarists you listed are basically rooted in blues-rock, no? I don't actively listen to any of them, but I know all their music enough to have a pretty good idea that they're rooted in blues and classic rock (with the exception of Sugizo). I don't really know about their individual tones.

Again, that's not what I listen to. My favorites are Masami Tsuchiya (of Ippu-Do), John McGeoch (of Magazine), Bun Itakura (of Chakra), Curtis Mayfield, Bill Nelson, Adrien Belew, and Ben Whitesides (of the Joggers). I'm not even a guitar player, either; I play fretless bass, and my favorites are Percy Jones and Mick Karn, two of the most unusual bassists out there.

I just thought that a big reason why all of us are into Ringo is because she's doing something different. To me it makes perfect sense that Uki is in the band. I think "Toumei Ningen" is an amazing song, a song that very few bands could create. The b-sides of "OSCA"? They're enjoyable and even rather moving (the vox in particular), but any band can make that kind of music.

[Tokyo Jihad]

Originally Posted by Tsuchiya

I just thought that a big reason why all of us are into Ringo is because she's doing something different. To me it makes perfect sense that Uki is in the band. I think "Toumei Ningen" is an amazing song, a song that very few bands could create. The b-sides of "OSCA"? They're enjoyable and even rather moving (the vox in particular), but any band can make that kind of music.

Some of us are fans because she had a record of making top-shelf music, not because it was "something different." In honest fact, the main thing that turned me on to Shiina was how "Western" her music sounded -- how similar it was to shit I've heard before (generally, not like 'ripping off' you know what i mean.)

I can appreciate and love songs that are different, wierd, whatever. Stoicism is love, Hatsukoi Shoujo coulda been brilliant if it was on Adult/Variety. However theres a point to me where you have to say "Ok Shiina, now you're trying too hard to have a certain sound and ignoring the kind of music you do so fantastically to begin with." -- Sure, maybe any band can make a song that sounds similar to Pinnochio or Kaban, but they'd fail in equaling the quality.

[kuro_neko]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Jihad

In honest fact, the main thing that turned me on to Shiina was how "Western" her music sounded -- how similar it was to shit I've heard before (generally, not like 'ripping off' you know what i mean.)

yes, I love how when I walk into Tower Records in Japan I hear nothing but shamisen and koto playing the pluck pluck pluck of familar songs of olde.

in the words of Margaret Cho, that is "so fucking Mulan"

[Tokyo Jihad]

Yeah, Tadashii Machi is sure full of koto playing...>_>

[Kasanagi]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Jihad

Some of us are fans because she had a record of making top-shelf music, not because it was "something different." In honest fact, the main thing that turned me on to Shiina was how "Western" her music sounded -- how similar it was to shit I've heard before (generally, not like 'ripping off' you know what i mean.)

I can appreciate and love songs that are different, wierd, whatever. Stoicism is love, Hatsukoi Shoujo coulda been brilliant if it was on Adult/Variety. However theres a point to me where you have to say "Ok Shiina, now you're trying too hard to have a certain sound and ignoring the kind of music you do so fantastically to begin with." -- Sure, maybe any band can make a song that sounds similar to Pinnochio or Kaban, but they'd fail in equaling the quality.

SR sounds... Western?? Man you'll need some examples here coz I'm having trouble with the connection. Sure maybe Gibs, Superstar and Tegami, Kaban or even identity but the rest I just dunno. I can't even imagine any western band making kzk, sounan or himitsu... or by western you mean rock? Coz's thats pretty much the first thing that got me into SR, then the rest just flows naturally.

Woohoo guitar debates, gotta love those!!

[kuro_neko]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Jihad

Yeah, Tadashii Machi is sure full of koto playing...>_>

you don't mean tadashii machi, you mean tsumiki asobi

and if you think having koto or shamisen makes a record "Asian" or "Eastern" maybe you should go get some albums by artists like David Bowie.

[Tokyo Jihad]

I'm well aware you meant Tsumiki, but I'm pointing out thats the exception, not the rule.

And its still inherently a western kinda kinda, with the eastern instruments as a contrast -- an almost 'funny' contrast to the rest of the album, placing them in the most "charged" and "hard" song.

EDIT: Kasanagi, yes, i mean rock music from "the west" - America and Uk. Not western as in "country music" or anyuthing
Western music as in "music from western nations"

[kuro_neko]

but your still missing the larger point both myself and kasanagi are bringing up

what is it that qualifies any of the music as "western" versus, I suppose, "eastern"? You haven't really answered that yet. My point about Tower and Ringo's music is that when you say "western" in meaning a general sound, your talking about 80% of the popular Japanese market in general I would say, considering it is the second largest in the world (behind the US) and works in a very similar fashion. You could argue there are differences in what the popular music is, but it is hardly anything that would be categorized as "Western" vs "Eastern." You don't find shamisen in the place of guitars, which is what I'm getting at.

So unless you can actually describe and flesh out your claims me and Kasanagi are going to question them, I can't help but feel that its large generalizations like that that seperate things into the "Us" and "Them" which is so much a large part of xeniophobia.