2011-2012 Jihen Releases & Tour Discussion

[D.K.Liu]

Let's inject some data into the discussion on jpop...

On this Chinese blog on jpop, I stumbled upon this chart compiled by Nikkei Entertainment for their May 2010 issue. According to the blog entry, Nikkei conducts annual surveys the Japanese public's view of their celebrities, artists etc. The two metrics considered on this chart are: level of recognition/awareness (horizontal axis), and level of interest/how much people cared about them (vertical axis).

SR 椎名林檎 falls at around 70% recognition, 60+% interest
TJ 東京事變 falls at around 37% recognition, 60-% interest

The chart tells us nothing about the music produced by these artists of course, but the artists on the right are heard more often and thus more commonly labelled 'generic', while artists on the top are more likely to be producing something worthy of people's interest.

[BlueApple]

Originally Posted by Yahiko

The thing is, you guys talk as if things were a fact for anyone, and this is not.. some people, like me, likes the single and Tokyo Jihen status right now... So trying to make theories and comparations is like useless. We all know who disliked the single and who won't like their next song already

Yes. This. This so much. I don't see why people are saying "Nope, they are awful now and not worth listening too, blah blah blah etc." Okay we get it, you don't like them now, and think they are terrible. DON'T STATE THIS LIKE IT IS A FACT. For me personally, I do enjoy their music still. So, don't tell me that I shouldn't just because you think it sucks now. :/ Especially because it's not like I'm sitting here saying "OMG IT'S SO AWESOME U GAIZ NEED TO LOVE EVERYTHING!!!!!!"

Some people like it. Some people don't. End of story.

[Tokyo Jihad]

Originally Posted by NIMH Rat

It seems like you're calling Tokyo Jihen a bunch of hacks.

and for my next trick:

Originally Posted by Yahiko

you guys talk as if things were a fact for anyone, and this is not

Originally Posted by Yahiko

the song is not boring

Originally Posted by Yahiko

you guys talk as if things were a fact for anyone, and this is not

Originally Posted by Yahiko

the song is not boring

New song comes out. Some people don't like it, some people do. People get bent out of shape because people post that they don't like it. This must be EMF!

[gekokujyo]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Jihad

Some people don't like it, some people do. People get bent out of shape because people post that they don't like it. This must be EMF!

It must be, mustn't it!

[W3iHong]

http://forums.electricmole.net/showthread.php?t=212

‘The image of the whole arrangement put together would come to me at the same time as the song, right from the beginning. It’s just that, I didn’t think of doing a multiplex recording. I just had to take the material to the other band members and express it to them somehow, so I wrote the scores. Going over things again and again, no one followed along, so I’d just write the whole thing down for them.’

A total one-person-music-making-machine. Seeing the scores, with the tab scores and music sheets, the director was astounded, and gathered the band together for a talk. ‘She’s doing all of this on her own, but going on with this band like this, Yumiko can never advance beyond the level you guys are at now. If she was on her own, she could possibly aim a lot higher.’ He persuaded Yumiko to go solo. The five band members, all good friends, couldn’t help but break out in tears at the words of the director.

However, they couldn’t go on crying forever. For her ‘profession,’ she resolved to go ahead and make music her life. And upon finally being accepted, recognized like this, she all of a sudden became really motivated. ‘If I have the talent to get this far and do this much, I have no choice but to keep going!’ Following the advice of the director, Yumiko went solo for the Music Quest finals. The song she sang, the song rejected by her fellow band members, a song that would go on to be a huge hit, ‘Koko De Kiss Shite.’

Maybe this is happening again, maybe not. Her solo works are just as awesome from the old ones(MM, KZK,...) and sanmon gossip.

However, I do not think she wants to be alone working. Look at how much fun she is having in TJ. Maybe the advertisements were a marketing decision.

Today was the day I bought my first album, Sanmon Gossip. XD first post too!~

[SoulExperience]

Some people get bent out of shape. Bent out of shape as if it were their penis being bent over and over and over again.

[MBF]

Originally Posted by NIMH Rat

I've never considered TJ a pure rock band, or a pure jazz rock band, or a pure anything band. I see them approaching music as an adult sport of educational variety. They will not fit into any box: not the rock box, the jazz box, the Shiina Ringo box, or the EMI box. That probably dilutes their impact and/or image for some people...for others, it's always a treat to see what comes next.

That's a great way of putting it.

Good to know, I'm not the only one in this place, who thinks that way.

[Ringo~Bingo]

While this forum may act as though both sides of the opinion scale are respected I don't think that's true.

There seems to be a default postion assumed that everything released is all OMG amazing and if you dare disagree then you must be some kind of leper for refusing to drink the forum kool-Aid.

Someone called me on what I meant by relevancy a few posts up so I'll explain! I expect music that means something musically and artistically, the current single is bland and I'd wager that the only meaning behind it was to keep the bank balances healthy for the band.

Given the quality of the music she's put out before how can anybody class the current stuff as remotely worthwhile? even by their history as a band this song is garbage as well. Forget the solo output and compare it to just Kyouiku & Adult and it doesn't even stand up.

Think of your favourite songs by her and the group and how good they were and what they mean to you over the years then give the current single a spin again and tell me you feel something (seriously what do you feel). I don't speak a damn word of Japanese but even I felt certain songs from before were alive with a soul of their own and that sense of life is completely gone now.

I don't care how high up she is in a recognition chart because after all the gum ads that wouldn't be so hard!

I can't fathom how some of the older heads here can rate this music because they know what's gone before, the younger heads may only know this stuff so I'll give 'em a pass but how can the rest of you like this stuff?

I live in vain that a truly awesome record will come from them again...


And so the old EMF record spins on I guess you wont agree with me and I wont agree with you. That's democracy in action.

(wall of text!)

[justriiingo]

Now now.

It's okay to like generic music.
After all, what's generic now used to be innovative and groundbreaking....

Until too many people joined in.
And the record companies decided to cash in... (and not in a good way).

[Maou]

Originally Posted by NIMH Rat

I've never considered TJ a pure rock band, or a pure jazz rock band, or a pure anything band. I see them approaching music as an adult sport of educational variety. They will not fit into any box: not the rock box, the jazz box, the Shiina Ringo box, or the EMI box. That probably dilutes their impact and/or image for some people...for others, it's always a treat to see what comes next.

What is the "Shiina Ringo" box? It's almost as if you're implying that Ringo was limited to one kind of sound throughout her career. Isn't it the fact that she broke genres and kept giving us new sounds that we weren't expecting what made us love her so much in the first place? The range from Morphine to Aozora to 17 to Souretsu is much broader than anything Phase 2 has put out.

The majority of Phase 2's work fits into the same box: pop-rock. That is not a bad thing nor does it make this a bad song. This single is generic (other than Izawa's awesomeness) and that also does not necessarily make this a bad song. It doesn't make it a great song either. There is a middle ground and this song fits squarely into it.