Don't let her nurse outfit deceive you, this girl is fucking crazy. Her name is Shiina Ringo (pronounced "Sheena" and sometimes spelled in English as "Shena").
She's a Japanese singer/songwriter who can go from sweet to absolutely wailing in one verse. She is not your typical music industry singer, her voice might revolt you at first. But there is magic in there.
Time to take the training wheels off. Did I mention she's insane?
She doesn't always sing on-key and her voice might put you off at first...but she is fucking brilliant. She can sound all nasally and still have her throat open somehow. More than that, I love her mind.
in a cafe just a little down the stairs from a city shop selling cameras and things i smelled your lighter oil mixed with coffee and cream an odor still lingered from the lines you gave me you said it did not you? "just do it kill me"
today is a day that in particular i seem to be smiling and laughing quite a lot i just had a dream and in it you had died and i had no choice then but to love you do not think to abandon or ever leave me
so wash me cut me i am underwater my lungs and breathing are quite affected please watch me closely and do check to see i dry out completely i dry through and through come shine me tear me i am underwater relying completely on zero gravity and when i do melt down entirely immediately bon appetit
it was you who was dying there right in front of me and i could not stop the tears i could not hold them in all of the little things of this little world are so very dear to me it hurts to think of them oh do not make me have those kind of dreams again
a scent so sweet that it got me dirty the troops to protect me were out on patrol please watch me closely and do check to see i dry out completely i dry through and through a lie so big that it got me dirty as soon as i said it a wound opened up and when i do melt down entirely immediately bon appetit
you said it did not you? "just do it kill me"
so wash me cut me i am underwater my lungs and breathing are quite affected please watch me closely and do check to see i dry out completely i dry through and through come shine me tear me i am underwater relying completely on zero gravity and when i do melt down entirely immediately bon appetit
i am not afraid of a little boredom why did the two of them ever chance to meet?
Holy shit I need to find the rest of this
After her solo career, she formed the band Tokyo Jihen. While I think her early solo stuff is best, gems just keep popping out.
Nah, off-pitch way too much for my taste. Stuff like this can be cool though, but to me it needs to be executed perfectly in order to work. Also, I really like the background in the second song. Deliciously psychedelic, but not too much =)
On May 06 2010 20:15 Qwertify wrote: All Japanese people are kind of weird/insane.
meh.. I'd say the same proportion of weird Japanese people and the proportion of weird American people are about the same. Just as how some people online say that America is just filled with obese mcdonalds eating people, many people incorrectly believe Japanese people are just naturally fucked up or something.
[edit: damn didnt get my post up in time] ^my last post: jk. im only judging one of you.
On May 06 2010 21:01 Pyrrhuloxia wrote: ok I've listened to two of her songs and she doesn't sound weird at all I think you just categorize all Japanese singing as weird.
:o
Try these two and re-evaluate what beautifully "flawed" voices are please:
I really like that first one and I'm indifferent to the second. I don't see how their voices are "flawed" at all.
On May 06 2010 21:08 Solaris.playgu wrote: Nah, off-pitch way too much for my taste. Stuff like this can be cool though, but to me it needs to be executed perfectly in order to work. Also, I really like the background in the second song. Deliciously psychedelic, but not too much =)
yeah, it took me a bit before I really took to it. Usually I concentrate on the singer and everything else kind of gets zoned out but with her music her voice and all the other instrumentation is just to create one awesome effect
On May 06 2010 21:16 Fosh wrote: There's always someone who enjoys something, but this is terrible imo.
haha, this post is my thoughts exactly the first time I heard it
On May 06 2010 20:15 Qwertify wrote: All Japanese people are kind of weird/insane.
meh.. I'd say the same proportion of weird Japanese people and the proportion of weird American people are about the same. Just as how some people online say that America is just filled with obese mcdonalds eating people, many people incorrectly believe Japanese people are just naturally fucked up or something.
In Japan there is word called "makoto." It denotes the path a person's inner self truly wants to take and it’s valued over truth & justice. It's an idea formed from the deconstructionist tendencies of Zen Buddhism. The cultural subjectivity it creates accounts for some pretty unconceivable things happening in Japanese society by foreign standards (like Issei Sagawa). The idea of makoto is probably the single most unique feature of Japan and what makes its society so different, especially since they value the collective over the individual. It's a contradictory facet of their society which generates a lot of conflicting forces.
In America, there is an entire corporate culture bombarding us with the way we "should" be. It's really, really hard to see it when you're in the middle of it. Really fucking hard. We also slap labels on everything and everyone, quantify and qualify according to these labels. Americans really have no concept of makoto and its only something we come to after a long personal journey, so pretty much when we look at Japan we think "thats so weird" when actually its just a bunch of individuals being who they are.
Personally, its why I find Japan so fascinating. The more people I meet and talk to the more I realize I have no clue who I really am.
On May 06 2010 23:14 Vain wrote: she doesnt sound that wierd in the 1st youtube video, but is it me or does she sounds kinda 'off' in the live video?
yeah, that was the first video of hers I ever saw and it blew me away enough for me to really listen to her other stuff. her live isnt as accurate as her studio recorded but theres just a whole different type of energy
dunno guess its whatever you like.
On May 06 2010 23:32 Scarecrow wrote: Loving it, thanks for sharing!
On May 06 2010 21:01 Pyrrhuloxia wrote: ok I've listened to two of her songs and she doesn't sound weird at all I think you just categorize all Japanese singing as weird.
Shiina Ringo seems to me a lot like Kate Bush and Bjork: histrionic female vocalists with a lot of range and power who are unto themselves works of art, i.e. that the art they represent goes beyond their music, encapsulating promo photography, stage direction in concerts, etc. That said I can't really listen to Shiina Ringo (if Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana is any indication) because my favourite elements of Bjork and Kate Bush involve picking out lyrical swabs of strength and mettle or delicacy; I can't do that with Shiina Ringo.
i.e. it's somewhat disingenuous to say that what Shiina Ringo does is "all Japanese singing." She brings something really unique to the table.
Joanna Newsom's elfish crackling voice has softened considerably since MEM due in part to her own physical inability to sustain the charade, but unlike Ringo, Bush, and Bjork, she has no range and isn't nearly as involved in her own aesthetic.
However, Jeff Mangum's nasal wheal stops being challenging or "beautifully 'flawed'" after high school. Why would you even bring this up in this topic?
Honestly her music and singing style aren't really that out there. She doesn't really even sing off key; some of her pitches are inflected a bit flat for musical purposes, but for the most part she's in tune. Perhaps what is throwing people is her style and timbre, some unconventional harmonies (by pop standards, they aren't even dissonant), and the mere fact that the OP biased everyone to hear her as singing off key (no offense).
There's some fairly interesting stuff here, she's certainly got a unique style. But this doesn't really strike me as anything that pushes the boundaries much or challenges the listener (nothing wrong with that of course). Hmm... now I kind of want to make a blog about good music that really does challenge the listener...
EPT![[image loading]](http://brianakira.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/shiina-ringo1.jpg)
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