The Official Shiina Ringo Thread

[sxesven]

Just because she deserves it. For all your Ringo/Tokyo Jihen related news, chit-chat, and what not. Let the games begin.

I'll just start off with a random cool picture.



Note: I didn't call this 'The Official Tokyo Jihen Thread' for a reason, if you're wondering - this thread is for everything Ringo: her old solo works, Tokyo Jihen, and whatever the future will bring.

[nmskalmn]

She plays the drums?

[PSYCHEDELICOdust]

Word, was wondering when one would pop up.

[BanFan]

I have a similar picture of aiko in mind when I look at that...

I heard/saw STEM for the first time today, and wow!! I was blown away. I've heard the Shouso Strip album and Memai, so this song makes me want more!

What album is STEM from? *Hopes it's the 3rd one with Memai*

[luminaire]

"memai"? Since when did Ringo have a song called "memai". Or do you mean "meisai"? O_O

If so, then yes, "meisai" and "kuuki" ("STEM", re-arranged and re-performed) are both on "karuki zaamen kuri no hana". I'm not through digesting the album yet, there's a lot (and I mean A LOT) of stuff in there. =)

Yay, Ringo thread! And she looks more badass on the drums than aiko. She also plays the piano, guitar and the violin - not too sure about the last one though, but I see her posing with it in the "utaite myouri" booklet, so I think she does. She's a very accomplished musician, and a very creative person. =)

[~K+]

She does have a song called 'memai', it's a b-side I believe, and it's fantastic! (As are most of her B-sides really) 'memai' is one of my favourites and the second song I heard from Shiina I believe.

And I want "Karuki zaamen kuri no hana"! Can't find it for a reasonable price...

I simply adore the single version of STEM, I must get it once I get a job and before yesasia lists it as temporarily out of stock. Seeing as BanFan said heard/saw, you must be talking about 'kuki~STEM~Daimyou asobi hen~', that version is only available on the said single.

And she plays alot of things...o_o

[nmskalmn]

Originally Posted by ~K+

And she plays alot of things...o_o

I've seen videos of her playing guitar and piano but not drums. Any other instruments?

[sxesven]

Originally Posted by ~K+

She does have a song called 'memai', it's a b-side I believe, and it's fantastic! (As are most of her B-sides really) 'memai' is one of my favourites and the second song I heard from Shiina I believe.

Indeed, Memai's a brilliant song, I love it.

Originally Posted by ~K+

And I want "Karuki zaamen kuri no hana"! Can't find it for a reasonable price...

I bought the Japan version at YesAsia. It's a tad expensive, but it's Shiina you're shelling out for, haha. So it's worth it, it's an astonishing album.

Originally Posted by ~K+

I simply adore the single version of STEM, I must get it once I get a job and before yesasia lists it as temporarily out of stock. Seeing as BanFan said heard/saw, you must be talking about 'kuki~STEM~Daimyou asobi hen~', that version is only available on the said single.

Correctamundo. But the album version, Kuki, is simply brilliant as well. I love the live rendition she did of it on Electric Mole.

That said, the PV for kuki~STEM~Daimyou asobi hen~ is absolutely amazing.

Originally Posted by nmskalmn

I've seen videos of her playing guitar and piano but not drums. Any other instruments?

She plays the vocal chords, that's for sure. I'm not sure what's the deal with those pictures of Shiina behind the drums. I got them off DC++, no description or anything. There's two more like it:

Originally Posted by luminaire

And she looks more badass on the drums than aiko.

Hell yeah, haha. At least Ringo looks like she knows what she's doing. Nevertheless, definitely a similar picture.

[~K+]

Hey, it's the guy from Tokyo Jihen on the last pic! With that hair, these looks like really old pictures though.

[sxesven]

Yup, they're definitely some old ones. I'll try and find some more info on them though, 'd love to know what they're all about. A recording session I'm sure, but which I wouldn't know exactly. Definitely around 2000 or so I'd guess.

[natalaxie]

yay a shiina thread!!! omg i wanna buy karuki zamen kuri no hana!!! u guys convinced me lol. i read some article saying it was completely shocking and off the wall, totally didnt make sense. and that her first 2 albums were so conservative compared to that crazy one lol. so i cant wait to hear it, i love it when ringo is shocking. i keep discovering songs on shouso strip, like i had the album for a month or so then i found myself listening to yokushitsu 5 times a day, then it was sakana, yami ni furu ame, tsumi to batsu and now honnou cant get enuf

[~K+]

It took me so much effort to find 'Shouso Strip' when I was in Hong Kong, only one CD store out of the dozens I've been to have it! I should've gotten her first album from that store as well as the GIBISU single I saw in the 2nd hand store though...

[sxesven]

Originally Posted by ~K+

It took me so much effort to find 'Shouso Strip' when I was in Hong Kong, only one CD store out of the dozens I've been to have it! I should've gotten her first album from that store as well as the GIBISU single I saw in the 2nd hand store though...

Hell, I want Muzai Moratorium so badly as well. It's still available at Amazon.co.jp and CDJapan.co.jp, so I'm definitely getting it as soon as possible. It's so brilliant, incredible.

And natalaxie, yes, Karuki Zamen Kuri No Hana is very 'avant-garde', you could say. Here's what music*****.org said about it:

Yoshimi battles the Shoojo Robot
Shéna Ringö goes further than the Flaming Lips have yet to go.

Shiina Ringo is no longer Japan's answer to Courtney Love, as E!Online stated back in 2000.

No. She's now Japan's answer to the Flaming Lips.

On first listen, it's easy to be blown away by the magnitude of Shiina's fourth album, Karuki Zaamen Kurinohana. Everything is fair game -- traditional Japanese instruments, found sounds, strings and lots of distortion.

But it's hard to shake the feeling there's something familiar about it, something precedented about the way Ringö-chan weaves dreamy symphonies with rumbling rock beats.

And it has been done before -- with the Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin back in 1999 and again in 2001 with Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. (And again this year with The Delgados' Hate and at any time with any number of Mercury Rev albums.)

But Shiina isn't merely following in Dave Fridmann's footsteps -- she's upping the ****ing ante.


Karuki Zaamen Kurinohana goes far beyond weaving orchestral textures into pop songs. The rock band becomes the orchestra.


Shiina has always possessed a penchant for heaping layers upon layers of sound in her music. This album is no different, but the sonic pallete from which she draws is far broader.

In the opening track "Shuukyoo" alone, listeners can expect to hear a full-size orchestra, a complement of Japanese koto, tortured guitars, sitar, mandolin, drum samples and a thundering drum kit.

"Doppelganger" starts off with the minimal textures of Björk's Vespertine-era work, only to be disrupted midway by a manic double-time beat.

"Yattsuke Shigoto", which appeared as a rocker on the single box set Zechoshuu, turns into movie musical number complete with a disco beat. Meanwhile, the human beat box on "Torikoshi Kuroo" gets an intermitent rude awakening by a full band.

The album loses steam when it ventures into more standard arrangements. "Okonomi de" and "Ishiki" may have set out to ground Karuki Zaamen Kurinohana from its more indulgent moments, but instead, they deflate the momentum established in the first half of the album.

Thankfully, Shiina reclaims her eclecticism on the concluding track, "Sooretsu", perhaps the best song to sum up the album. It starts off with a nice, rhythmic feel but concludes with a grandiose organ straight off the Akira Symphonic Suite.

It's difficult not to put Karuki Zaamen Kurinohana on repeat. The album offers so much sonically, it would take all year to digest it. The heap of accolades rained on the likes of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and Wilco's Yankee Foxtrot Hotel seem pretty pale by comparrison.

Dave Fridmann and Wayne Coyne -- take note. (And get your buddies in Number Girl to hook you up.)

[luminaire]

My bad, I never knew Ringo had a song called "memai" on the "koko de KISS shite" single. I'm very sorry. m(_ _)m

The only singles of hers I've ever listened to are "mayonaka wa junketsu", "STEM ~daimyou asobi-hen~" and "ringo no uta". Maybe I should go look for more Ringo singles. =X

I loved music*****.org's review of "KZK". =)

I think the "STEM" single is out of print, neowing.co.jp lists it as OOP. Towerrecords.co.jp and HMV.co.jp still have the normal press though, maybe it's whatever they have left in stock.

I want Ringo-hime's first two albums! I think the extended OBI for the OS for "muzai MORATORIUM" looks ugly. =X

OT, but it's damn anal how most online pages have already subsumed Ringo under Jihen, so you can't key in romanji to look at her discography. Tower Records annoyed me that way.

[BanFan]

I did mean meisai..><;

Though I'd like to hear the other song...

[kayokyokufan]

Yay, a Shiina Ringo thread. I love her!

[sxesven]

The next issue of ROCKIN' ON JAPAN (April) will feature an interview with Shiina.

●東京事変
正式に東京事変名義となって初めてのツアーを成功させた椎名林檎が、バンドと自身の今後のヴィジョンを語る 独占単独インタヴュー

Basically it says that it will be about the Tokyo Jihen tour that just ended and the future of Tokyo Jihen, and such. Can't wait, to be honest, I hope someone puts up a translation.

[Ryoko]

Yay! A Ringo-chan thread ^_^ I wonder when the tour dvd is coming out.

[elepop]

My friend is a fan. But i can't say i'm one since i've only heard one song.

I must say, it was quite good though!

[~K+]

I was going to upload "memai" for you all, but it seems umm...I've lost it along with "Ichijiku no Hana"............

Could I request for those along with her cover of Janis Ian's "At seveteen", "17" on the Tsumi no batsu single? I've heard a cover of that song from a HK indie group and am interested in Shiina's version.

Anyway...I was always under the impression I have 'memai' backed up somewhere, but it seems I didn't. So I uploaded some other B-sides instead.

Click here

Cheers!

Edit: Is there a first press for 'Tsumi to batsu' and 'GIBISU' with a different cover or something? Because I read a CD Review on these two singles back when they were released in a magazine, and the picture shown weren't the ones normally listed in CDJapan, yesasia, HMV and Oricon.

The GIBISU picture was a knife cutting into a wrist (no blood), with the other hand holding an apple.

The Tsumi to batsu one was her in the red suit sitting in the sliced open car with her hands covering her mouth.