New Jihen album: Dai Hakken [2011.06.29]

[mizer_unmei]

I'm not touching the other debate going. However, I will say that LOVEppears is a damn good album.


However on this...

Originally Posted by kuro_neko

grouping songs by country of origin when your dealing with international music DOES constitute genre. Walk into american record stores and you'll see pop/rap/country/soundtrack, go into one in japan and you'll jpop, western pop, classical, soundtrack, etc. Within there are many types of music but separating by cultural origin does fall in line with the definition of what a genre is, as the particular content or form in question is grouped by country of origin.

I think in record stores, the main purpose of grouping by language is to appeal to the buyer. They know the singer in question is singing in Japanese/Korean/English so they are more easily able to access the artist in that sub-category imposed by the record store.

However, I do think that the word "genre" is more to the sound and style of the music, and not the language it's sung in. I think that Nirvana and Jaurim are much better grouped together with Ringo than she with capsule or Morning Musume.

That said, I do not deny that the language one sings in and the culture the artist comes from doesn't influence the sound of the music. But looking past those broad similarities, what it comes down to is the influences, instrumentation and stylistics of the music which make way to creating and defining the genre of an artist.

[kuro_neko]

turtlefu, that isn't true.

melody, harmony, lyric, and composition can all be separate.

tori amos is famous for this. she often times has the piano come to her first, and the vocals/lyrics, instrumentation come much later after the song has already taken form. One isn't necessarily written to match the other. Oftentimes they are separate and they are married together, compromises (time signature etc) are made. To Venus and Back was a direct inspiration of this, as she made a conscious effort to write the other peripheral instrumentation first and leave the piano and vocals very last.

Florence and the Machine did something similar on Between Two Lungs, she started with the instruments she couldn't play and built the song backwards, ending with the melody and the vocal.

bjork and many other artists have talked about similar approaches.

that being said, you don't know Ringo or Ayumi's process so don't be so pretentious as to suggest you do know. or, let me guess, your an artist and a musician ;;rolls your eyes;; There is also the act of improvisation, yes they may have the basic melody, but many great vocalists embellish and scat, which can sometimes leave a bigger impact. either way, at this point this argument is only to refute each other, but if we look back to the heart of why it started we were talking about why you consider it offensive for Ringo to be compared to JPop artists like Ayumi. My point, at the end of the day, is that it is NOT offensive. That is my opinion. End argument.

and I've been trolling these forums well before you probably had any idea who ringo is so your preaching to the choir, just go ask jihad.

[deadgrandma]

I dunno whats more of a deal breaker when it came to your argument: bragging that you've been trolling here longer OR running to Jihad for backup :-p

[teattum]

But I'm pretty sure the debate is not over.

What about the guy who'll try anything to got the last word?
You have time before the daihakken release.

I'm just sweet teasing

[deadgrandma]

Well, when it comes to Daihakken, my bet is that I will personally give it 7/10

[D.K.Liu]

Sorry for butting in to the debate on... I don't even know what. (whether J-pop is a well defined music genre? whether it's fair to categorize certain artist(s) under J-pop?)

TurtleFu, I think kuro_neko is right is pointing out that there's a lot more variations to how songs (music combined with words) are written. But kuro_neko, if persons writing the lyrics of a song made significant contributions to the formation of the melody, it would make sense to have them credited for the music too. I don't know how people credit stuff in the music industry, but to me if you were only credited with the lyrics than you probably did not have major inputs to the melody or harmony.

Also, let's not forget the importance of producers, arrangers and other musicians that contribute to the recording. Whatever genre blending that might be present in an album may have more to do with these sometimes overlooked personnel.

[W3iHong]

We need a spy to bring an early release of the album... I can't wait anymore.

[Yahiko]

if none of the album versions of tengoku e youkoso is identical to the one released earlier through digital download, we gonna have 5 versions of this song!

1. tengoku e youkoso
2. tengoku e youkoso (instrumental version)
3. tengoku e youkoso (tokyo bay ver.)
4. tengoku e youkoso (for the disc)
5. tengoku e youkoso (for the tube)

[mr. Pillow]

Originally Posted by Yahiko

tengoku e youkoso (tokyo bay ver.)

I could totally see Ringo singing some kind of medley between this and Sakuran and it would be AWESOME. Something like this would breathe new life into a song I've never really liked. Great find!

[Scribble R]

Wow, tengoku e youkoso is horrible past the half-way mark, isn't it?