Hi Izuru Tokoro - New Album - 11/5/2014

[deadgrandma]

The sound of the different time periods recordings themselves do sound different though...

They tried to cover by making them all super loud and normalizing everthing but it makes it sound pretty... Odd.

[TurtleFu]

Sometimes it can be to a fault. Afterall, we know that the majority of songs that Shiina have put together on her albums were not WRITTEN at the same time. And sometimes songwriters go into a marathon writing session where they write an entire album while locking themselves in a room for a week. Obviously they can sound too same-y, too full of themselves.
I'd like it more if it was less of a really good compilation album, but it's a really good compilation album.

This is really a backhanded compliment isn't it?

MM absol-fricking-lutely has a cohesive point of view. In fact, all of Shiina's albums do, aside from Sports and Dai-Hakken (which should just be called Sports V2.0) For the most part, I can listen to a random song and know which album it belongs on or is connected to, and how it can change radically based on its arrangement. Shiina Ringo (and Tokyo Jihen), are able to both have a signature sound and change their sound over time.

You know how people talk about what "era" of Madonna, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, they like? Shiina is someone you can do that with too, I think. Except this album doesn't sound like an era. It sounds like Watashi to Houden, which again, is a really good compilation album, and is incredible in how you can track the development of her career, but it doesn't have a point of view.

It just really depends on how you define a good album. Some people are satisfied with a collection of top-notch, grade A songs. You have ten songs, each is like a 10/10 on the quality scale. But for me, even if all the parts are individually fantastic, an album is more than just a collection of songs. I know that's the hipster music critic in me: "who the hell arbitrarily decided that?" you might be wondering. I don't know, it's just what I like!

I'm not nitpicking. I can say a million times how much I like this album, how much I like the new material and the old material (and also how I much prefer the stripped-down live versions of everything on this album). Stop being so defensive, jeesh.

It takes a lot of creativity to make a compilation album SEEM like it was all calculated and supposed to fit together. Tori Amos's Librarian does that, I think. But for me, compilation albums are about filling in the blanks. Would I rather listen to Disraeli Gears, or listen to the songs I actually listen to on Gold? It depends on my mood. If I wanna hear Tales of Brave Ulysses there is no point in being going through half the album. But you can't deny that a cohesive album can really transport you. My preferred way of listening to KZK is going into a dark room, getting a pair of noise-isolating headphones, putting a sleep mask on, and just getting absorbed in the soundscape. Obviously that is impractical and not how I always listen to the album (and sometimes I just wanna listen to Kuki goddam it). This is just my point of view and my style.

[gekokujyo]

wtf how does sports not have a point of view?

back to sunny - the only song that's lyrically or aesthetically out of place is carnation (and even then a case could be made). I do not claim to know a lot about japan but I think clearly, when you look at the title and the lyrical content of shizukanaru gyakushuu to hashire wa number to Nippon to arianaru tomi they all deal with themes that are very much relevant to contemporary japan. I absolutely wouldn't put Nippon on MM or SPORTS or SS

[deadgrandma]

Originally Posted by gekokujyo

wtf how does sports not have a point of view?

back to sunny - the only song that's lyrically or aesthetically out of place is carnation (and even then a case could be made). I do not claim to know a lot about japan but I think clearly, when you look at the title and the lyrical content of shizukanaru gyakushuu to hashire wa number to Nippon to arianaru tomi they all deal with themes that are very much relevant to contemporary japan. I absolutely wouldn't put Nippon on MM or SPORTS or SS

Nippon soooo could go on Sports.

I mean it was written for the World Cup.

Or is Soccer not a sport :-p

[Inseu]

Too much nitwitting mate.

[FadedSun]

If anything, I would forget more about Re:Import before I forgot about this album. This has a lot more staying power.

[gekokujyo]

Actually I'd say that Sports as an album isn't really about sports (sorry for the digression). If anything, the album, for me, was an exploration of movement, rhythm, the relationship between the body and the soul (and I'm pretty darned certain that she mentioned this in an interview somewhere before but my mind could be playing tricks on me...); Sports is more of a motif through which those ideas are expressed rather than what the album was actually about.

So to that end, no, NIPPON is a song about Japan and nationalistic pride and all that jazz, and belongs firmly on SUNNY (an album about Japan), even if it samples FOUL. I would go a lot further to suggest that it is far more similar to Kachi ikusa than it is to FOUL, actually.

[FadedSun]

JL005 is one of the best songs Shiina has made IMO. Amazing stuff.

[a_grumble_cake]

Overall I would say this is an enjoyable album, I only skip track 3 Hashirewa Nanbaa because it starts off like an old swedish sexploitation movie soundtrack and theh goes into samba, which I really don't like. Track 11 Kodoku no Akatsuki I could easily live without as well.

[deadgrandma]

Looking through the booklet, it's surprising to read some of the credits in here. A surprisingly low amount of Neko Saito for one. It is indeed SAPS on the studio version of Ima.

Gave the blu ray a spin, and the audio is far brighter than the CD. It seems to have better stereo separation and is less mushed together. Now I really want that 96/24 version!

As expected, the Ariamaru Tomi PV is an upscale (as it was on the Sexual Healing blu ray). I still find it surprising it is only in SD given the fact that the clip is from 2009, but oh well.

Carnation has never looked better and I still find it breathtaking. Probably the best looking clip on the disc.