|
Product Reviews & Information Discuss singles, albums, and DVDs. |
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
2011.04.18, 02:30 PM | #261 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: London
Posts: 480
|
^ Souretsu is genius because by rights it should be a total cacophany but it's not, it's amazing.
My favourite tracks from the album these days are Poltergeist and Okonomi de. Although when KZK properly intoxicates, there's always a different favourite and a different track that gets you in a new way each time. There seem to be a lot of clever use of harmonising to ascending / descending scales in KZK (think the music box accompaniment to the B-side version of Ishiki and the "fairground"-style accompaniment to Poltergeist between the chorus and verse) which is always a great way to write a pleasing song. I love the clockwork thing in Poltergeist as well as the lighter in Meisai. Part of the difficulty of talking about KZK is that the music follows its own logic (and her ego?) to the exclusion of all other reference points. The brain casts around for some and goes ... "???" So can anyone "recommend an album that sounds like KZK"...? Only really Shugo Tokumaru ever really reminded me of this in its sonic flavour. I had a pet theory that the 20s jazz idiom in Meisai and Okonomi de are "found sounds" from her time in the UK like the detuned piano she apparently enjoyed playing. There were one or two TV theme tunes at that time with similar drawing-room type strings (Jeeves and Wooster, Fawlty Towers [which is pastiche Beethoven]) but that has the same volume of corroborating evidence as my theory that Suberidai is influenced by UK garage - i.e. literally nothing. I think it was merman I picked up from that Kuki was called "Sei", meaning gender - this is actually true AFAIK - and the album is split into a male and female half. The second half does definitely sound more "female". Last edited by so_cold : 2011.04.18 at 03:26 PM. |
2011.04.18, 04:15 PM | #262 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Honolulu
Posts: 1,592
|
That's completely how I feel. My favorite tracks constantly shift. It's really an amazing album that each track sounds distinct yet feels like just one part of the whole. I almost feel like the album should never be listened to as a single track, rather it is meant to be listened to as a whole in one sitting.
Stylistically, it's also really interesting, because, what the heck is it? Is it a pop album? Jazz? Rock? Folk? The best answer I ever got was Shiina-kei. Kuki was called Sei? Like, the character used? Because I know that she used the character 茎, which does indeed mean stem (or stalk). EDIT: I've never heard of that artist before, but listening to his music and researching a little, he does sound like a less-Jazz/less-punk Shiina. I read that he plays all the instruments in his album. I heard for KZK, Shiina played almost every instrument (that she could) and then arranged the ones she couldn't. Last edited by TurtleFu : 2011.04.18 at 04:18 PM. |
2011.04.18, 07:17 PM | #263 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 4,766
|
Souretsu is good for scaring the fuck out of people who think Japanese Music is only about AKB48
|
2011.04.19, 08:28 AM | #264 | ||
apple-princess
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Tokyo
Posts: 2,183
|
Edit: Ooh, I see. Japanese KSK wiki page:
Now, it says that "性" (and that word has many readings but the most common is probably sei, gender/sex, so that's probably how we can read it here) was the original title of this song and it was completed in 2000, but after 9/11 she changed the lyrics before it was recorded. AND... wow. "Kuki" (stem, stalk) is supposed to be read as meaning "penis" [陰茎 inkei, and the kei from that word uses the same kanji as 茎, kuki] but not in a sexual way, but rather as in the continuation of the species. |
||
2011.04.19, 03:09 PM | #265 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Honolulu
Posts: 1,592
|
I guess that makes a little sense considering what I understand of the lyrics. I always thought it was about some kind of disaster.
So the song, then, is about reproduction after disaster? Death followed by birth? Shukyou before Souretsu? |
2011.04.23, 08:40 AM | #266 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Happy Valley
Posts: 3,226
|
Truthfully, I generally prefer the Electric Mole arrangements of the songs. Kuki in particular. I'm not a fan of the album version. The EM arrangements are less ambitious and simpler, but that works for me. Poltergeist is the only song performed on EM that I clearly prefer the album version. The EM jazz ending is cool, but the song loses so much with the piano arrangement.
__________________
I'd rather have a life of "oh wells" than a life of "what ifs" |
|
2011.04.23, 08:53 AM | #267 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Honolulu
Posts: 1,592
|
For me, I love KZK, but my favorite versions are the Baishou Ecstacy ones. I love orchestrated/Jazz Shiina.
Also, what the HELL is Meisai about? I've been reading the lyrics, reading different translations, and I still cannot understand it! |
2011.04.24, 04:01 AM | #268 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: London
Posts: 480
|
As for Baishou Ecstacy, I like it more than HF. I don't know why, maybe because it's a smaller orchestra, her voice doesn't get as harsh, or I'm a fan of the mole (even if it's a stick-on one), I don't know. HF is too slithery, too posh and unexpectedly dissonant (describing the Stem here), I used to think it would grow on me but it hasn't. It might just be fan theory about the two halves of the album being male and female, I don't know. Last edited by so_cold : 2011.04.24 at 04:09 AM. |
|
2011.04.24, 07:08 AM | #269 |
Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 47
|
Speaking of Kuki -- is the mashup of the album version & the (single?) version that showed up a few years ago just Protools gimcrackery, or do they actually match up that precisely?
|
2011.04.24, 08:21 AM | #270 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SGP.
Posts: 2,664
|
prolly a bit of tweaking involved to get them matched up. the originals sound like they're about the same tempo. but what's so surprising about them matching up precisely? it is the same tune after all.
__________________
"You gotta have freedom! You gotta have freedom. You gotta have peace of mind! You gotta have peace of mind." |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
[SR] 2003.12.17 - Electric Mole (DVD) [Concert Video] | frecklegirl | Product Reviews & Information | 126 | 2018.05.07 03:48 AM |
[SR] 2003.05.27 - Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana (Vinyl) [Album] | frecklegirl | Product Reviews & Information | 26 | 2018.04.21 04:50 AM |
[SR] 2003.01.22 - Stem ~Daimyou asobi hen~ (CD) [Single] | frecklegirl | Product Reviews & Information | 22 | 2009.11.03 02:33 AM |