[TJ] 2009.12.02 - Noudouteki Sanpunkan (CD) [Single]

[justriiingo]

Wow. I actually want to listen to this song again.
I like it much more than the A side.
Verse has got the suspense and tension, but I think the release in the chorus is just a bit too rar rar rar... but then again this song is called "frustration" for a reason.

That latin bit at 1:40... i'm not sure what to make of it. It's a fun little bit, but it might sound better in a different song maybe. The boys need to be banned from singing, really, it is not sonically pleasing!

What did SR do to her voice? I sense a tinge of metallic in there. Why does she not want to sing in her actual voice anymore?

Final verdict: Much better than the A-side.

Note: As usual, Uki is excluded out of the mix in my enjoyment of this song.

[kuro_neko]

still haven't heard gaman, but I have some notes to add:

received the ringohan newsletter from zarya and no album information is listed yet (bummer). They might decided to send out a special email concerning that at some point between now and the next letter (like they did with SG, there was a series of fan club news letters sent out all within a matter of a few days).

kameda wrote on his blog that the night before they were scheduled to start recording in September the inflammation in his wrist was so bad he had to call and cancel and everyone was very supportive and nice, he is lucky to be in such a great band. this makes me wonder if this might have played a role in deciding the name for the new phase (physical limitations).

okay, concerning, the liner notes, scribble, I thank you for looking into it, but I'm going to read them and post my notes as follows:

ringo entered her 10th anniversary and realized she had to go back and focus on that, but after variety she was very excited to jump into the new work as a band because Variety was a jumping off point for the band. She always felt like she needed to mute herself while recording to avoid bad blood in the band, and even izawa admits that when you write a song that includes the entire band it can lead to bad blood. Jihen was and is very much a session band, but they all have their own experience with solo projects and the like, so during the break they all did their own thing. Ringo got very interested in pursuing jazz like she had never before and she felt like she couldn't do it as she was so she went off and did some very intense research, but didn't tell anyone, not even the band members about it. then they scheduled recording sessions and the idea was just to get together and create, see what happens. it is about a reaction in the body, training your body to get to where it needs to be. She wanted to slowly get them to point where they could do, for example, swing, but they aren't machines so they started day by day, like a training camp, to get them to that point. The importance in recording at this point was body over mind, getting your physical body actually ability to feel the beat and feel the groove, and that sort of became the motto for this phase if you will. The lyrics were originally composed on the spot not to convey at meaning but just a feeling or a sound to help with the compositions and then they were thrown out. But certain pieces, like the ramen line, were left in in the end because of a direct link between the process of writing and finalization.

Concerning Gaman, Izawa says the theme was to put your mind away and without thinking, just do. but obviously to do that the band members have to be using their minds, be actually conscious, to play their instruments, so he wonders if it all started with some writing. And for no special reason he thought that if Ringo sang in Kansai Dialect it would be cute, so he asked her. This left Ringo, who had never lived in Kansai, feeling very hesistant singing the lyrics this time around. When Izawa wrote it he always thought "can Tokyo Jihen do THIS?!" "can Ringo sing like THIS?!" "can Kameda play like THIS?!" (he is emphasizing on his need to challenge his bandmates here)

Like some famous anatomist said, our individuality lays in our bodies, and finally with this new direction Jihen is patenting a "jihen groove" in a way, combining the music and their talents with a physical element that can echo inside of us. Ringo ends the notes with noting that the new albums theme is Sports.

part two: kronekodow newsletter interview

[a_grumble_cake]

very interesting. Thanks neko!

[Scribble R]

thank you soooooo much, kuro neko!

Wow, this is some really strange spiritual new-age weird stuff that Ringo/the band is up to

Oh, and I respect them more as musicians for this. I just hope it works out...lol...

[kuro_neko]

part two! ringohan letter! no album news but a mini interview with ringo!

they start off talking about the watering kiss mint CMs and ask her about how that was. She remarks that it is amazing how when you but only a little time, what you have wished for becomes even deeper. The interviewer mentions he is surprised at how she incorporated her entire body into the moon walk and Ringo admits that she practiced "rock dance" when she was a junior high school student and lower body work is important (lol). She hopes that whenever people out there who are still waiting get to view the CM, it will make them happy.

they asked her what type of image she had in mind when making the new single and she replies saying that when the five of them get together and make this happen, it is like bringing an entirely new menu up (on a computer, presumably she means finding all these new options she hadn't had before).

the interview admits as the time passed in the PV she was panicked wondering how it would end and he noticed this was similar to the video for OSCA, directed by the same director, and he wanted Ringo's thoughts on the PV. she just mentions she is happy that everyone took care of themselves (physically).

Concerning the moonwalk in the video, they were at the point of almost being done with the entire video and the director said to ringo that he would have liked her moonwalk done a little differently, so she went and really wanted to get it right, and luckily she ran into her brother, her taught her how to do it just the way the director wanted. She hopes she can show this to the director when he visits her during the coming lives, nonchalantly of course. concerning the band members, she has seen Uki and Izawa doing the moonwalk before and since they happened to finally have a song that could utilize it, not because she was jealous, but just because they could, they wanted to do it, and Kameda and Hata both said that they had no choice left but to do it too and they were both able to do it in their own way in the end once it had been properly explained.

Concerning Gaman, Izawa sent her the demo around new years and the beats where so fast she wasn't sure if she was supposed to be writing lyrics to it or not, she couldn't pen regular lyrics in a natural voice to such short notes, so she asked him and the rest is history. She was so nervous and unsure about the lyrics she wanted to get some help but she was so busy in the studio and preparing with the tour that really just had to do it alone and she thought she would just try over and over and over until she got it right.

finally, at the end, he asks her for a word to all of us about the new single and she asks that if we like we would please use it as part of our "up" routine in the morning!

it ends with some review of tour info and other fanclub only issues and thats all

[Superficial Fan]

On first few listens, I like this. It may be a weakness that I can kind of hear how it's spliced together (in terms of distinct musical sections), or that it sounds spliced together, in a way that much of SR's solo music does not to me (but rather flows seamlessly). Not that seamless is always better.

I generally like when TJ goes faux Latin. And I like when the guys do the chorus, which I find amusing.

FWIW, her vocals here, past the beginning anyway, remind me more of her Shouso Strip sound (or one of them) than the vocals in most other TJ songs. I like the harsh echo on the her vocals at the very end (or the echo of harsh vocals, or whatever it is).

kruo_neko, thanks for the translations.

[Superficial Fan]

Originally Posted by a_grumble_cake

it's been 3 hours and I already listened to gaman more than 3min.
The guitar part at 03:00-03:15 seems familiar somehow...

I think it's just the particular sound he's going for (which reminds me of fusion/prog. sorts of stuff I listened to way back, but in context here it is more palatable to me than most of that is now). I could be wrong though, it could be referencing something more specific.

[Superficial Fan]

Originally Posted by Scribble R

Wow, this is some really strange spiritual new-age weird stuff that Ringo/the band is up to

Oh, and I respect them more as musicians for this. I just hope it works out...lol...

I guess you could view it that way, but I don't think of it along those lines. It actually seems like a practical approach to maintaining creativity. Reminds me a bit of some of the things Sun Ra put his arkestra through (as discussed in Space is the Place: the Lives and Times of Sun Ra. (Although, in that case there also really was a lot of spiritual new-age type stuff involved as well. But even so, some of the exercises don't require investment in any of those beliefs.)

Also, all of this talk about emphasizing the physical is encouraging to me. Their rhythm section gives them a big advantage over a lot of bands, and musically that's the most immediate connection to the body, so somehow it makes sense. (Not sure if I'm making sense though.)

[kuro_neko]

I just got my single, its uploading to the computer. the artwork is the cover we have all seen with the inside picture the same watch only with Made in Japan and the item number listed in the watch. inside the lyrics and information are printed on white in grey with the BPM listed at the top for each song (gaman is 128) and the back part of the jewel case is the exercise photo we have all seen already. the cd itself is a grey cd with a matte finish and text printed in slightly lighter grey, making for a hard read (much like SG gossip cd, which was in a skin/orange color).

as far as the music is concerned, I don't know about gaman, it sounds during several parts like melodies from various things I can't put my finger on, but on a whole I'm not a fan of insane scatterbrain type songs, this is something almost in the same vein I could imagine HZettM doing for Phase 1, so on a whole this single is interesting because it feels to me like a mixture of Kyouiku and Adult era-type recordings, which is definitely a good start for a new album!

[Superficial Fan]

Originally Posted by kuro_neko

The lyrics were originally composed on the spot not to convey at meaning but just a feeling or a sound to help with the compositions and then they were thrown out. But certain pieces, like the ramen line, were left in in the end because of a direct link between the process of writing and finalization.

I love the fact that the already infamous "cooking ramen" line is mentioned.

And I admit my Ra comparison was stretching things excessively (probably because I am trying to draw some connection between two favorite artists), not that anyone has called me on it so far. Also, the challenges here are more a matter of mutual challenges, not just SR as band-leader telling the band what to do. They give her challenges as well.