[TJ] 2007.09.26 - Variety (CD) [Album]

[Tsuchiya]

I thought the bass line in the original "Mirrorball" was balls, so I'm happy that was axed. Didn't it have a pretty nice guitar solo though?

[HEDOfloe]

Just watch all of JCHI again to find out ^__^

[Tsuchiya]

Originally Posted by HEDOfloe

How old ARE you Tsuchiya??? And I am also baffled about the reception of SSAW. @_@

24

[HEDOfloe]

^ Now everything makes sense @_@

Just kidding; you're not that much older than everyone, what are you talking about?!?

[Tokyo Jihad]

So Tsuchiya doesnt like anything he was around to actually witness...

...that says alot. Thats like, the extreme case of "music was better before..." cept, the junction point being his birth....hmmm. Fill in this blank. =P

EDIT:

Allow me to expand my thoughts on the only song on Variety I will voluntarily listen to, and is the only track from Shiina since the Adult -era that has graced my mp3 --Fukushuu.
Seems to be getting some hard feelings. I think its a "wee" bit more harsh than I expected, maybe it has to do with where it falls in the tracklist. It's been a long time since I heard it in context. Now, unlike some Kronekodow/Boutemin/SSAW fans, I completely understand why not everyone is dancing round the campfire for the song.
Now, while I think the song would totally be welcome on the second disc of ZCS, its a genre of music that isn't totally accessible to everybody. This is more on the Tool/APC side of rock, more than the "normal" kind. And on top of that, its not even anything more than "album filler" in that genre either. I like it alot because, that kind of music is accessible to me, and it's nice to even glancingly muse that Shiina would ever play this type of song again.
Now one idea that crossed my mind is, why not have those shitty hoarse raspy KT vocals here?? It would totally fit! Listen to Identity. What were they thinking when they recorded this album??

[Maou]

Originally Posted by Tsuchiya

Didn't it have a pretty nice guitar solo though?

No. The song has no guitar solo.

Originally Posted by Tsuchiya

24

So that one year difference in our ages makes me too young to get quirky old cartoonish music like Kronekodow? Maybe you got something there. My first love was Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac. Maybe that's why I'm so high on blues players and down on these quirky messes like Ukigumo/Phase 2/3/whatever.

[justriiingo]

I think "quirky" was a good word until some people used it to describe Ukigumo.

And I didn't think SR had off-kilter tastes (I think Emils mentioned that she wanted to write songs for pop idols like SPEED)... until Ukigumo rubbed off on her (pure speculation, but whatever). Seriously, even though Ukigumo was more of a studio musician for TJ during Adult, I can hear very clearly that something has gone "wrong" in the music. And isn't Variety a glorious display of the wacky bizarre offbeat "prodigy" that is Ukigumo! And SR was too drunk to say no to him! Shame on her. She used to have so much attitude, even if it was all "fake".

Maou! One post away from 666! hahaha.

[Op2]

Originally Posted by justriiingo

And SR was too drunk to say no to him!

Are you talking about sexual intercourse, or the album?

[Glathannus]

Originally Posted by justriiingo

And SR was too drunk to say no to him!

Originally Posted by Op2

Are you talking about sexual intercourse, or the album?

Perhaps both.
One could've led to the other.

[boku belle gueule]

my turn! my turn!

so

Ramp - Not much to say. I like the Nitro fx on the drums and smooth rhodes but not the chorus it's sounds to sweet, and the rhodes on it is just annoying, without talking of that OV. guitar.

mirror ball - the slapped bass is very nice and that wahwah guitar too (it supposed to be funky I guess) but sheena has this weakness : she doesn't sound funky with her voice at all, so the track turns into an hybrid pop-rock particulary too-much for me. The disco chorus is straight taken from Muse last phase (definetly one of her main inspiration, yukiguni on adult is just sooo muse). But I like that way to take disco and to make a bit tuffer!

kyngio no hako - I just love the drums and the organ at the beginning it's almost drum'n'bass and also the reverb on the overdriven guitar, it gives to the tracks a feeling of space and speed. and the Shiina ringo signature : that slowdown at the end is really what I like. Nice job but only when the tracks doesn't turn j-rock (not my taste )

shiseikatsu - pointless tracks to me. Too mtv, too pop, to mellow, it sounds like avril lavigne to me (like we say around here : au secours!)

Osca - good, but the clip sucks. Again there is some muse influence in this one, you know they have turned a bit disco lately and so TJ does! Again the chorus is tooooooo pop, to not what I like in Shiina ringo music!

kronekodow - I'm gonna defend this title because it's my favorite on the album. I read "loony cartoon tracks". Well ok, to me it inspires a fast theatral march with that snaredrum rolling and this Shiina ringo lead in a minor that gives to the tracks something sad and not "happily cartoon" to me, and also this prepared piano at about 1:00 (again in the style of muse) is really dramatic with the voicing in "aah" supporting Shiina ringo's lead. and that fast ska verse is nice but mostly dues to the drums. anyway, I just love that title and I put it right next "poltergeist" from kzk. Ho and at the end she takes the whistle reaggae thing from "nothing I do" by Jami Cullum!!!! really!

fukushu - I love this title. It sounds a bit like Staind but with the Shiina ringo touch. That heavy rock is what like! she sounds like Aya on the first title of "a rose in the battle field" named "Prisoner". If I do a lot of references, it is because this is the way ringo works, all her works is genuwine quoting with, of course, personal touch. But at about 3:35 it's the big no-no.


Botomin - really cheap track, the first singer is sooo not in the mood. Is he trying to sing or to maow?

Tsukugi hime - Nice track, with an intersting change in the lead but a bit repetitive (that is weird for shiina ringo, that is used to master variation, modulation and all). Not much to say though.

Sake to kego - it sounds too overdriven!! but nice, dramatic even if ringo is trying to get soprano and we feel her voice giving up (but I guess this is rock'n'roll ). The modulations are junk and this gap in the middle of the track with just a guitar delay to redo exactly the same structure again, that's lame. but the slowing down tempo with the piano coming up is nice.

Killer tune - I like the drum, the guitar, the keys, not the voice, not everything together, it's just too much of sounds and not enough music.

Metro - is this a commercial jingle? it sounds like a mall things I guess.

well enough said. But I don't really feel that album even if kronekodow is what I expected from TJ/SR. The other tracks are too much pop rock to me and not enough creative.