Resurrecting a dead thread!
But in all seriousness, as much as I love the answers in this thread (and I really do), I have to go with the cliché answer that every dude who has a RateYourMusic account would go with and choose
KSK. I wish I could be as contrarian as deadgrandma or as cool as Tokyo Jihad is, and you know, karateexplosion made some really good points about why the SS/Zazen/GX Ringo IS the definitive Ringo in many ways but be that as it may be, KSK is my personal favorite thing she's ever done and probably ever will do. It's greater than the sum of its parts. It's so much more than that.
So many words have already been said about the album on this forum and by others who are much more eloquent than I am. People mention how she plays 15 instruments on it, how complex the arrangements are, how great the songwriting is, etc. and I agree with all of that. People with far better musical credentials than me can take each track, pick it apart piece by piece, and explain why it's well done. It's visceral, intense, layered, beautiful, well-crafted, diverse, fragile, sincere, strange, and bold.
KSK is all of those things.
But the thing that always has stuck around with me when I listen to this album isn't actually any one of these things.
It's the fact that KSK is haunted.
I realize that's a very loaded term. What the hell does "haunted" even mean? Well, obviously no one died in the making of the album. It's not some kind of chilling epitaph to Shiina Ringo or anything (I mean, unless you're an EMFer
) so what the hell do I mean by that?
Each track is about death in some way, whether it be dark or whimsical, and it is a constant theme that permeates throughout the album. Do you feel anything when you hear the voices singing "mellow" as they ascend into heaven in Shuukyou? How about when Ringo's voice begins to say "and possess you whole" but gets cut off at the end of Doppelganger and is played out by an ominous music box? How does the screeching violin that sounds like it's in its death throes at the end of Meisai grab you? Or how about the guitar that sounds like it's a heart monitor that is coding at the end of Odaiji ni, suggesting the person who wants to "get well soon" may be in their final moments? Or the trapped, lifeless vocals Ringo delivers coupled with a simple drum loop in Yattsuke Shigoto in front of a lush orchestra of the "outside world"? Do you like the final crescendo of Kuki ending with "Entry Number One", suggesting a rebirth? Did you ever notice the middle 8 for Torikoshi Kurou seems to have ghosts singing backup to Ringo's lead vocal? Or how the haunted train finally arrives in Okonomi de? The unsettling and strange intro to Ishiki coupled with the unnerving pauses? Poltergeist almost sounds like an abandoned carnival springing to life at midnight. And do I even need to start with Souretsu?
That's what I mean. Each track feels like one facet of death and has some sort of ghostly presence that is inescapable. The best way I can describe KSK is that it feels like going to an old, abandoned temple and finding a bunch of yokai musicians doing an impromptu concert. You know how every single alien in the Cantina scene in Star Wars is memorable and eventually got their own backstory in the EU? I feel like KSK is the same way with its songs. Every single track feels like an individual character with so many layers and complexities. No other album feels that way to me. For an album that seems so fixated on death it's just so full of life. That's why I feel like it's haunted. Every track is imbued with some sort of spirit. I can't even articulate it well into words. And maybe it's just me who feels that way. But regardless, I feel like it's a massive accomplishment.