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

[zach]

Hi everyone, I've been away for quite some time. I am chagrined to see that I've missed maybe 1200 posts of Hedo and Jihad arguing over trivialities and perceived offenses! Anyway, other than that, I have a lot to catch up on. :p

First, some trivialities of my own:

Phase 3: Gag me with yellow tape. Suggesting that we label each successive sound/musical philosophy as a "Phase" is ludicrous. If we really did that, how many phases would we be up to? It would be a lot more than 3. Let's keep Phases for describing personnel lineup please.

The appropriateness of 復讐: Hearing Fukushu in the middle of Variety is like drinking a glass of champagne with a rock in it. It's a pretty decent rock, but why the heck is it in my champagne?

CDJapan: is awesome. Now that I'm in Seoul (one of the world's fastest postal systems), by the time I get the email from CDJapan saying it's shipped I can usually go down to my mailbox and it's there. CDJapan + Seoul Postal Service = Awesomeness.

Karukigumo Seiji Kuri no Hata: fluffie, you are awesome.

Quoting: Don't disparage musical quoting (playing part of another usually well-known song) as a sign of lacking creativity. Music is a language, and having been globally spoken for millennia, it has accrued quite a massive back-catalogue (musical literature, if you will). Being able to apply quotes from that literature in the present conversation shows not unoriginality but rather great creativity. All of the great jazz musicians I have known were great quoters. Some of them would quote the original melody but in a different mode, or in sequence... it's amazing, really. I personally love quoting bits of classical songs in my jazz piano solos. It is in fact quite difficult to do. I hope this effectively ends debate on that issue.

Uki: It's a dead horse, but I haven't really beaten it much yet. Just so everyone knows where I stand, I pretty much agree with Maou and Glath on this. He's got his thing, but all too often it doesn't work for a given song. He can do many things well, but there are too many things he can't do well. When I was listening to Variety, half the time I was thinking "Oooh! that was nice" and the other half I wanted to wring his neck for destroying a perfectly good moment.

Speaking of, I've had Variety for a while now (I discovered I accidentally double-ordered it, so I've got an extra first press sitting around unopened. Guess I'll eBay it in 40 years) but didn't get much chance to listen to it. Finally, I've been able to give it several real listens now and I'm prepared to offer some observations. Most people seem to have given the song-by-song thing a pretty solid go, so I'll give more general album discussion.

Zach's Various Musings on Variety

Descriptors
Kooky, Retro, Schizo, Underdeveloped, Playful, Talent with ADD, Game Show Glam-Funk Stew

Overall
Session players unleashed. I've had the opportunity to play/perform/record with quite a few session players, and seriously, they're exactly like this album. Killer performers, but they need direction to accomplish anything monumental.

Strengths

• Variety - like the concept indicates, there is a huge assortment of sounds on this album -- textures, styles, melodies -- they're all over the place. To the point of being inconsistent, but I think it works given the concept.
• Climb on the Big Happy Retro Boat - the massive retro vibe throughout this album is its primary solidifying virtue. Without it, the album would be too inconsistent. But the kookiness and the retroness (retrocity?) are the threads binding it all together (with the exception of the aformentioned rock).
• Another musical country bears the TJ flag. Speaking metaphorically here. It's new! It's different! It's Variety!
• Easy to swallow - although Variety has a big identity crisis (discussed below), the music remains fun and accessible throughout.
• Piano/keys-driven songs - it's a sound we haven't heard often from TJ before. It's different; I'm digging it. Izawa presents an impressively diverse assortment of techniques and sounds.
• Lots of great moments - From such accomplished musicians, I would expect no less. There are many great moments on this album, where everything stacks up right and there's that tiny feeling of triumph.

Weaknesses

• Shallow - the music lacks depth, mostly from a songwriting perspective, but arguably also from an emotional perspective. The album generally comess across as feeling fun, but flat. It's mostly level ground, with few hills and valleys. (Disclaimer: I haven't attempted to understand any of the lyrics yet. When I'm talking about the emotions I'm referring to solely the delivery, not the content.)
• Tug of Funk - The funk influence from the two relative newbies could be quite nice, but it often does not jive with the jazz/rock vibe of Kameda and Hata. The whole album is a tug of war between these schools, and it suffers quite a bit from this ideological crisis.
• Pervasive Lack of Pervasive Melody - The #1 reason I am a SR fan is because she is a songwriting goddess. Throughout her history, regardless of genre, she demonstrates complete mastery of myriad songwriting forms, creating melodies that are unexpectedly perfect. This album is notably not written by her. Not even close. SR's songwriting is so far above the norm that I have become fairly spoiled. Hearing Variety is a good reminder for me of what the songwriting norm is. The melodies are good, but not outstanding, and as some have said, there is a real lack of melodies that invade your head. To my thinking, the strongest, most interesting hook on the album is the chorus of Goldfish Box (Bowl just isn't as funny so I'm sticking with Box), which tragically never returns at the end of the song after that ... well-meaning ... guitar solo.
  
  I believe Variety's marked dearth of superlative songwriting is the main reason so many have been giving the album an overall "Meh." The songs are good, but not SR good. By and large, they don't build properly, so it's impossible for them to climax properly.

Variety's Identity Crisis
Songs written by three very different artists. Squeaky-clean funk/retro in tension with messy jazz/rock. Genres changing faster than Midwestern weather. "Guest" vocals from non-singers. Traditional song-forms shot to heck. Variety has quite an identity crisis. And that even within songs!

The entire album never really decides what it wants to be. For that matter, neither do many of the individual songs. That's why I think this album is underdeveloped -- the songs aren't finished. Of course, I credit SR for salvaging that situation via the album title and concept being an Entertainment/Variety show. That's really the only way this album makes sense.

Given that likeable concept, however, the album works. The funky Uki ("I bwang when I should twang") and the perky Izawa leave their funkwagon tracks in so many places the album does have a kind of consistency. SR's singing is always good to listen to. And the playing from the rhythm section is, as always, solid. Seiji "child sniffer" Kameda even has some nice spots in which to shine.

Conclusion
Tokyo Jihen made a great album given the material they had to work with, which is mostly mediocre. It's a fun venture, but although the music has scads of good moments and the players are excellent, the songs themselves (with a few exceptions) don't really deliver the goods. Longtime TJ fans will be largely dissatisfied because musicians of TJ's caliber should be playing better songs.

And now for something completely subjective...
I miss the piano! I really, really, miss the piano. I loved that TJ was a hard-rocking band that always played live with a concert grand. The wurlys and organs are nice, but ... *sniff*

[MBF]

I received my copy today and have given it a couple of spins...

the only thing, I want to say at this point is:


MIRRORBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111111111111111111



maybe I'll write a bit more, once I've listened to the album for a while

[Tsuchiya]

Originally Posted by Maou

No. The song has no guitar solo.
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.

I actually just turned 24 five days ago. I was sort of messing around when I said that--being condescending for the sake of being condescending. To be perfectly honest, though, it's just a fact that my taste in music tends to align more with an older generation than my own.

To me, liking Variety seems to boil down to whether you like the snotty Shiina and aggressive, alternative music in general (I know you like more than that, Maou). Again, that stuff doesn't do much for me, and I tend to equate it with a younger generation--not necessarily because it's any less "mature" or "valid," but because that's what they grew up with. I don't understand reacting to "Kuronekodow" by going "Ewww...cartoon music." Honestly, that does tell me that your tastes are narrow--or at least your definition of what TJ and Shiina should be. Does Uki's hyper twang guitar do nothing for you? That little noisy piano breakdown around the minute reminds me of Sam Coomes and Quasi (yes, from the '90s). I find everything about it extremely enjoyable; my only criticism is that it ends too soon.

Do you guys not like music that is quirky and fun? Because this is good music; it's not just poppy fluff. And I don't think my opinion is a unique one. The I Love Music people seem to echo my thoughts on the album (that is, other than "Fukushuu" mainly, it's great stuff, though probably not the masterpiece that is Adult):

http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelec...threadid=39358

Lately I've been listening to a lot of late '70s-era Yoshitaka Minami, so a track like "SSAW" just makes sense. Tokyo Jihen must listen to a lot of that stuff..."city pop" or whatever they call it in Japan. Or maybe they don't, who knows. All I know is that as accomplished musicians in their what, 30s and 40s, they probably have more expansive tastes in music than some Shiina obsessives who post daily on her message board. I don't think this about musicians in general, but I can feel it with the members of Tokyo Jihen. By the way, didn't someone once post a list of a ton of bands that Shiina likes? I wouldn't mind checking that out again.

Jihad, a statement like "music used to be better" is actually quite valid, especially coming from someone like myself who is constantly seeking out new music and always listening to it with an open mind (well, to an extent). Who doesn't have a preference when it comes to production values, the kind of instruments that are popular (i.e., harpsichord in the late '60s, fretless bass in the early '80s), and just the general styles of music that are popular at a given time?

[Tokyo Jihad]

How is old Shiina "snotty"? Nu-shiina is who is snotty, old Shiina "kept it real"
Yume no Ato -- aggressive music.

[HEDOfloe]

Originally Posted by zach

Hi everyone, I've been away for quite some time. I am chagrined to see that I've missed maybe 1200 posts of Hedo and Jihad arguing over trivialities and perceived offenses! Anyway, other than that, I have a lot to catch up on. :p

Not cool Zach.

Originally Posted by zach

Shallow - the music lacks depth, mostly from a songwriting perspective, but arguably also from an emotional perspective. The album generally comess across as feeling fun, but flat. It's mostly level ground, with few hills and valleys. (Disclaimer: I haven't attempted to understand any of the lyrics yet. When I'm talking about the emotions I'm referring to solely the delivery, not the content.)

I mainly agreed with everything you said, but I just wanted to talk about this part. I think you really explained it very well. This is what I have been struggling with the album. I really love listening to it, but I haven't rated all my songs as such because I just can't they just don't get over the hump and have that moment, the climax of the song which really captures me like their older songs. Tsukigime Hime and Sake to Geko, for example, sound like something I just have to love, but I don't. I really like them but they just don't have that emotional power that their previous works have. They have their "hills and valleys" but they just don't go high enough to really capture me.

It's sort of disappointing whenever I think about it, but never while I'm listening to it, I just go along with it and enjoy it. Fortunately, like you said, the music is pretty easy to swallow, and it's easy to just go along and enjoy it. I don't want to look too far into the future since we barely just got the album, but I think anyone who did not like the album should not be so down on the band because it was such a crazy theme that I doubt we'll get anything like it again. Since I really like it, though, I wish Ringo had worked more on it because it is a good theme and idea that she could have only made better.

[zach]

Originally Posted by HEDOfloe

Not cool Zach.

Yeah, please understand I wrote that after catching up reading an 85-page thread which was mostly you two. If you're offended, reread this entire thread and see if you're still offended. If so, then I'll apologize.

Originally Posted by HEDOfloe

Tsukigime Hime and Sake to Geko, for example, sound like something I just have to love, but I don't.

And, ^nice one.^ I think you have adroitly expressed the feeling of listening to a song that just doesn't quite deliver on its own promise.

[HEDOfloe]

Originally Posted by zach

Yeah, please understand I wrote that after catching up reading an 85-page thread which was mostly you two. If you're offended, reread this entire thread and see if you're still offended. If so, then I'll apologize.



And, ^nice one.^ I think you have adroitly expressed the feeling of listening to a song that just doesn't quite deliver on its own promise.

Yeah yeah I know what you mean; I was jokingly offended .

[justriiingo]

Originally Posted by zach

Conclusion
Tokyo Jihen made a fantastic album given the material they had to work with, which is mostly mediocre. It's a fun venture, but although the music has scads of good moments, the songs themselves (with a few exceptions) can't really be taken seriously.

While I think this album is nowhere near fantastic, you're right about the material being very mediocre. I don't believe any of the songs would have been pressed onto a CD if this were still the Kyouiku/Adult era.

From what I remember Tokyo Jihen was formed to deliver a special, high-quality brand of pop music that would charm everyone. At least that was the idea behind Kyouiku - it was to educate the masses about superior forms of music. Three albums later, I don't think TJ ever delivered. (Adult was probably closest to that goal, at least according to some music critics.)

And really, what's wrong with associating TJ with a certain "sound"? Many established artists have a certain sound signature too - "this sound is reminiscent of Pink Floyd!", "sunshine, whimsical pop of the Life-era Cardigans", "quiet, contemplative like Kings of Convenience", and whoever in the spotlight doing something different will always get compared to Bjork. If there's something I value above musical performance, it's focus. If SR can display such focus through the various genres the tried, I don't understand why it isn't showing up in Tokyo Jihen, especially in Variety. And for all you know, my definition of the SR sound is broader than you think. Variety sure is a huge step out of that boundary, and if they're gonna continue with this kind of sound in the next album... let's just hope they do it better.

[Kasanagi]

I agree with what Zach said, we do get dazzled and spoil by SR's songwriting wizardry. I can trace the linage of the songs from the first 2 TJ album back to Tadashii Machi, Gibs and other SR works, but not for Variety.

Well, atleast I'm glad TJ is far from selling out, as some have orginally feared. I think if children sniffin'Kameda gets complete control of TJ, thats when we should expect TJ going mainstream and doing anime soundtrack. And bunny ears. lots of bunny ears. Uki + Izawa are too odd ball to write anything commercial.

And on the Phase issue; shouldn't it be Phase 2.1
- Change of line up: +1
- New Album: +0.1

[Op2]

Originally Posted by Kasanagi

children sniffin'Kameda

Win.