Shiina Ringo - Karuki Zame Kuri no Hana (2003)

Zorbo's review on Rate Your Music (5/5):

"I think Ms. Shiina must be a Taoist. Or, if not, at least someone deeply interested in the concepts of opposites, doubles, balance and equality. Everything about this album screams a predilection with it. The title, translating to “Lime, Semen, Chestnut Blossoms”, seems bizarre, but it is a well-crafted one and, by her reckoning, a logical one. She claims that the first and last items both smell like semen and thus the title is a olfactory palindrome. Of sorts. Next, there are the titles themselves. When viewed down the page, the titles of the first and last, second and second-to-last songs, and so on, all have the same number of characters. Even the second song is called Doppelgänger, a German word meaning a person's double.

It is appropriate then that such an album, at first glance overwhelmed with doubling and copying, be so original. It is doubly appropriate that the album's sound be made of opposites. On the one hand, it's the tightest pop album I've ever heard. Not a note or melody is poorly placed. At the same time, it's all over the place. The range of instruments and styles featured on the record is astounding. Why, Ringo herself plays guitar, piano, drums, koto, shamisen, harmonica, harpsichord, and accordion, and let's not get into what her band plays. Lyrically? Well, I don't know, I don't speak Japanese. I have been informed that it uses obscure, obsolete kanji in the lyric sheet that accompanies the CD, which is of course to be expected from such a modern and forward thinking album from someone so obsessed with opposites.

This album, on paper, should not work so well. It shouldn't be so tight and perfectly crafted, but it couldn't be moreso. It sounds like a mash-up of swing, jazz, noise, a capella, rock, pop, folk and even classical, but it doesn't sound cluttered or jumbled in any way – it's wonderfully catchy and addictive, great to sing along to, relax to, or get excited about. It's brash, noisy, funky, experimental, complex, and in-your-face. It's also low-key, calm, accessible, simple and humble. Crafted by a fragile, young soul, and forged by a demonic sexual beast.

I could go on, but frankly, why bother? My point has been made and I'm just hammering it further. This album, at its heart, makes no sense. It's untouchable and innately indescribable. It defies logic, it defies theory, it defies one's prejudices or pre-conceived ideas. It defies belief that you haven't gone looking for it already."

Get it here.

Also:
Shiina Ringo - Shouso Strip (2000)
Tokyo Jihen - Adult (2006)

Shiina Ringo - Shouso Strip (2000)

Since I posted Tokyo Jihen's Adult earlier, it only made sense to upload one of Ringo's solo albums. Once again allmusic fails me, so here are some reviews from Rate Your Music:

"A great pop/rock album, that's exciting, exuberant and very, very catchy. The powerful, emotionally-charged vocals are a treat, and the little experimental tweaks in the instrumentation keep things vibrant and interesting. The chorus of "ギブス" (aka "Gips") is so uplifting it should lift the roof off your house. Highly recommended." - tommo (4.5/5)

"First of all in order to describe this to you, I must digress that on my initial experience with Ringo I couldn't put my finger on which side of the pretentious, over produced pop, mish mash/genius obscure rock album line this thing fell on. So of course I listened to it non-stop for days, researched everything I could find out about her and this album and now I can safely say that this falls on the latter side of that line.

It's a crazy, shape shifting experience, full of great, sly, mysterious guitar lines very reminiscent of Jonny Greenwood [partially due to the fact that I believe the guitar player (her boyfriend at the time) uses a Roland Space Echo or a similiar effect]. One other impressive thing about Shoso Strip is that although it's a solo album, the focus is on the music and atmosphere as a whole and not solely on Ringo.My theory about the album is that she had gone to the U.K. during the release of O.K. Computer, which had to have an influence on her music, she returned to Japan, and came out with this gem. While a slight few of the pop laden tracks get a bit average the rest of the album makes up for them. And although Ringo's voice can be a little annoying when she does her Alanis Morisette impression, she can really emote, create some memorable melodies, and shift along to the intricate changes with ease. Sometimes she does sing in a style similiar to Fiona Apple as well. On top of all that, this album is so skillfully produced that it just flows so effortlessly through all the chaotic and beautiful changes, it almost requires multiple listens.I do have a gripe with some of the guitars on here which can be really genius, but on a few tracks they seem overly simple, with your basic four chord, perfect fifth rifffage...but I'm being a bit hypercritical. Ultimately this is pretty amazing and seriously near perfect, which means a lot coming from me because I really had little affinity for female vocalists until I heard this." - TheWestWind (4.5/5)

Get it here.

Pizzicato Five - Happy End of the World (1997)

The reviewers over at RYM are a lot more helpful than the people over on allmusic/pitchfork, etc. From now on, RYM reviews take preference over professional reviews.
Anyway, let's get on with it:

"A Japanese masterpiece. The album opens with "The World's Spinning at 45 R.P.M", which is one of my favourite pop song titles ever. The song begins as a pseudo-psychedelic and Beatlesque pop track, before becoming a typically irresistible P5 number. The vibe has been set. "The Earth Goes Around" is nearly as nice, while "Trailer Music" and "Love's Prelude" are nothing but interludes – however, quite interesting ones. "My Baby Portable Player Sound" is the first smash on the album, followed by "Mon Amour Tokyo" which sounds very international in its adult-contemporary pop-schlager tripping. "Collision and Improvisation" is one of those numbers which simply sound wonderful, however inappropriate they may seem. "Arigato We Love You", finally, breaks P5 into a classic quality level; while most of this album's content reminds me of Saint Etienne, I wonder if Saint Etienne has ever made anything this catchy. "Happy Ending" leaves me quite happy, perhaps except for the ending of the song which typically consists of a long pause and a few tens of seconds of something quite non-musical. Beside that, "Porno 3003" (the title possibly inspired by the Sushi 3003 compilation?) is the only filler on the disc. All the other stuff is more or less fascinating: soundtrack to a reality film I would feel superb acting in." - fairyeee (4.5/5)

"When I was in school and the cool kids were all about Nirvana and RATM and The Manics and... well, I don't really remember, I was scrabbling around record shops looking for Pizzicato Five and Melt-Banana albums. Why this happened to me I've never been entirely clear, and it never won me any friends, but for better or for worse, Happy End Of The World ended up being one of the defining albums of my youth, and pretty much everything about it has influenced pretty much everything I'm done, musically or otherwise, for the past 12 years.

Maybe having hunted around for it so long, it could never be anything other than gold, but years later, the sweet demented vocals and the slick élan and the cut-up drums like bloody cannons are just about all I want from music. Without P5, I'd probably think the Blood Brothers were a sack of crap, and where would we be then?" - Fotzepolitic (5/5)

Get it here.

Tokyo Jihen - Adult (2006)

東京事変 (Tokyo Jihen), which translates to Tokyo Incidents, is Shiina Ringo's current main project. I don't feel like writing my own review (which I'll get around to someday), so here are some words from some fellow RYM-ers:

"I dunno, there's this certain charm about Shiina Ringo that's lacking in some J-pop singers. It's either that or she's backed by really good musicians on this album. Now I'm not that familiar with her other releases, but I got hooked on this one when I first took it for a spin. The pop and rock elements work well together, and hints of jazz and bossa just make it more worthwhile. Some of my favorites include "Himitsu", "Tasogare Naki", "Blackout" and "Tegami" (because I'm a sucker for ballads). " - Happymeal (4/5)

"Tokyo Jihen's previous album had flirted with a certain smoky jazz bar atmosphere but it is in this album that they truly embrace it. Adult finds the incidents [sic] a lot more polished and a lot more comfortable with their own sound. They tackle standard pop/rock tunes from a new jazzier angle as well as doing straightforward piano ballads, flirting with lounge and bossa nova. They can do it all. Anyway, Shiina Ringo's vocals are fantastic as always and while this record lacks the eccentricities of her solo work, it is nonetheless essential for any Shiina fan. Hell, any pop fan in general. There is a lot to love here." - ninjavsself (4.5)

Me? I gave it a 4.5/5. It's a whole lot of fun, and pretty chill. If I had more than three hours of sleep in the past two days, then I'd be a lot more articulate. Meh. Take our collective recommendation.

Get it here.