I HAD A BLAST WITH THIS ONE // 東京事変 [Tokyo Incidents] - ブラックアウト [Black Out] // Composer Reaction

[@FauxieDaoJia]

I appreciate how thorough this is. It's pretty rare.

[@progperljungman8218]

Yeah! Really enjoyable track! It gave me some strong vibes of early The Tubes. Wouldn't say it's a jazz fusion track. But, just like with early The Tubes, there was some jazz inspiration for sure. Great request and a really interesting (in a good way 😉) analysis. And yes, the north of Japan definitely has snow. Especially in the mountains where there's loads of ski resorts and they also had winter Olympics.

[@solusman8200]

OMG yesss I love Blackout & was hoping someone would review it. Especially love how she performs it

[@zoukka_]

Yeahh finally more tokyo jihen. Hoping to see you react to some sheena ringo some day!

[@nebulamask81]

Love Tokyo Jihen!

[@eiatos]

That drummer was having it that day

[@rudymeixell3426]

Here. A little bit of a delay on commenting. I didn't mention that this is another song composed by Shiina Ringo when I requested it. (I think I might eventually request some Tokyo Jihen songs by some of the other members.) One thing I picked up from auto-translating the Japanese comments on this video is that apparently Shiina Ringo had a sore throat at this performance, and they decided to lower her vocal line by a semi-tone (although the sore throat obviously didn't keep her from screaming at the end). That's what random internet comments said anyway. Also, the pianist apparently had an injury at the time. At any rate, the vocals here were always obviously lower than the studio version. That's the first time I saw her health as a possible explanation. I had thought it was just an aesthetic choice. I hadn't noticed that one note you talked about as a negative, but I think I know what you mean after listening again. I suspect it is intentional, but I don't have the music knowledge to explain it. I don't see them just giving up and leaving a piano slightly out of tune. If it happened, it is more likely that they just missed it. But to my non-musician's ears they seem too high level as musicians to do that. The original studio version has what sounds to me like harpsichord at the end of it. Maybe that has a bearing on it? I don't know. I am not sure it was really harpsichord. I feel like I used to know this, but I've forgotten some of what I used to know about this band. While there is nothing really explicitly sexual in the lyrics, I tend to view it as being about getting drunk and having sex. Maybe the video reinforces that for me, with all of its unfolding flowers, its bright red roses, alternating with white flowers which link to the impulse to just get wasted. The lines: "I just want to hide a little/I know/There's nothing more than this" could mean "nothing more than this between us."The line "Let's steal away and go play somewhere" is pretty vague, but it could easily be a euphemism for sex. Maybe someone who knows Japanese can tell me why I am wrong or right about this. An interesting thing about some of the flower imagery: rhere is one shot where Shiina Ringo is lying against a background of white lilies. It turns out that in Japan white lilies are strongly associated with funerals, at least from what I have read. Maybe white flowers also are to a lesser extent, but I can't remember if what I saw extended to that. As far as Ringo dropping her outer garment, I think it does probably have a meaning, but I also have to admit she it's also just something she does a lot in concerts. Sometimes it's done in a flirtatious way, sometimes it's done in other ways. I think in this case, the dress she is wearing underneath suggests a lot more vulnerability than that large black coat, which really looks quite formidable. I also wonder if the speaker of the first line, "Where do you think you're going on the last Yamanote train," is the same as the speaker in the rest of the song. Shiina Ringo physically walks away from where she sings that line, and there is a gesture which could possibly be a gesture of disgust. It almost looks like she is physically banishing something when she makes that gesture at the end of the opening vocal line. To be clear, I actually care more about the music itself and how it makes me feel than I am about what the lyrics are about. Genre-wise, I agree there are elements of jazz, but the drumming in particular seems pretty rock. I'm actually glad you mention punk here. There may be a dash of it, although I mostly here it in the vocals. How many jazz fusion bands with vocals have vocalists who build up to some degree of harsh vocals (not metal harsh, to be sure, but still a bit)? I am surprised you didn't mention a Latin element. Listening to this song more closely, after requesting it, I realized how much more of a Latin feel there was to the piano work throughout than what I had realized. I previously had just noticed it in one of the clear piano breaks. I think there is a bit of psychedelia in it, as well, especially in the guitar work. I am glad you appreciate the bassist here, Seiji Kameda. I think he might be the most indisputably accomplished musician in the band. I am not as appreciative of bass in general as a lot of music fans are, but Kameda's bass work has always really stood out. His bass work appears on a lot of early solo Shiina Ringo, as well (and some of her later work too, I think, although I haven't kept track of who plays what on that as much). He's also a busy producer in Japan. And he has his own projects. Yeah, overall I like your description of what the musicians sound like here, especially Kameda (bassist) and Hata (the drummer). Snow: Tokyo Jihen actually have a great song, Yukiguni or "Snow Country," which seems to involve wandering in snow (I think it might have be a theme from folklore and/or kabuki). Unfortunately, there isn't a version that stands well on its own. On the album it comes from, it connects well to what comes next. In concert, it again connects directly into what comes next. Now that Bryan has asked if Japan has snow, I am tempted to just rip that song from context though. Hmmmm. . . Too many things to request.

[@progperljungman8218]

Great pick Rudy! Can you get my early The Tubes reference?

[@rudymeixell3426]

@@progperljungman8218 Thank you! I am going to have to pull a Bryan here: I am not really very familiar with the Tubes. I am sure I have heard them, but I am not familiar. How about this one: does some of the guitar here sound like it could be in a Caravan song? (I am not really a fan, but there are still some tracks, maybe live, I have on cassette somewhere that had really nice guitar lines at least.)

[@progperljungman8218]

@@rudymeixell3426 I am quite familiar with Caravan. The similarities with early The Tubes was probably too "loud" for me to hear anything else at a first listen though (once your mind gets stuck on something...). Their 1975 self titled debute should probably do the trick. Try e.g. the opener Up From the Deep (which funnily enough starts with some Japanese speaking voices 😁) Overall, I feel like they were almost like a blend of Zappa and Be Bop Deluxe in their early style. Later on, they went in a bit more mainstream pop-rock direction (still doing their own thing though).

[@rudymeixell3426]

@@progperljungman8218 I will check that out (some of it at least) to see if I can hear the resemblance. Also, I am curious why their sound hasn't really stuck with me.

[@progperljungman8218]

@@rudymeixell3426 Possibly because of their quite Toto resembling 80's? (like their biggest hit "She's A Beauty")

[@egodreas]

This made me think of my favorite Shiina Ringo song, which is probably _Crime and Punishment._ But that is an interesting one, because even though her version of it is amazing, it's one of those instances were there is a cover that is actually superior. In this case by the inimitable Ado. And Ado in turn makes me think of Vocaloid, as she's also known for having made many great Vocaloid covers. So now I'm wondering if I should recommend you some Vocaloid music. But I don't really like the more mainstream songs, and although I very much admire your range in tastes and openness to new experiences, I wonder if the really small subgenres of already very subculture Vocaloid music might be asking a bit too much? Probably too niche to be worth actual reaction videos, but if you're curious, have a listen to _Magical Doctor_ by Maretu (hardtek), _Kyakka_ by Yuyoyuppe (metalcore) or _Akari has arrived!_ by Gyari (cute jazz/scat singing).

[@MaartenT]

Japan actually has some of the snowiest cities in the world according to what I found. I knew there are a couple of places there that have huge amounts of snowfall, Hokkaido's (the Northmost island of Japan) capital Sapporo comes to mind. They even have tunnels (which turned somewhat into a mall) underneath a large portion of the city to easily get around without having to go through the snow on top. But apparently Aomori City (in the Northmost part of the main island) has Sapporo beat for the most snow per year. I have seen pictures in the past of houses in Japan with snow as high as the front door, but I don't know where those were taken. Japan also has an almost tropical climate as well on their southern most island group (Okinawa), which to be fair is pretty far from the other islands. As far as the track/band goes, I have never been the a huge fan of the little Tokyo Jihen I have heard, that being said I did enjoy this track (I love the bass). Also, I will always have a lot of respect for the vocalist Sheena Ringo since, from what I have heard, she has influenced plenty of current female rock/pop musicians in Japan. Also, she recently did collabs with a bunch of younger artists on her latest solo album as well and I will always have good things to say about more experienced musicians helping out a newer generation (which is actually something Japanese artists seemingly like to do). As far as the Yamanote train line goes, it's a big circular (most used) train line in Tokyo. I have heard "last train" mentioned before by Japanese people in the past, probably because there are way less people around in Tokyo after "last train" because so many people use the train in Tokyo. It's basically the cut-off time when people tend to go home. For info, Japan has some of the busiest train stations on the world (including the top-3, at least at one point).

[@greggerypeccary]

I stumbled upon this band a while ago and can't say I cared for them. Wasn't aware Sheena Ringo was the singer, but then I never cared for her, either (or the other chick singer like her, the one with the crown). And anyone who watched Abashiri Prison (or Furuhata's Station, for that matter) should know there's plenty of snow in Japan...

[@greggerypeccary]

Are you acquainted with Akai Ko-en? They definitely had a tricot influence: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y4PIdXZniNR1n80

[@rudymeixell3426]

Shiina Ringo's face at 3:08: me reacting to your first Tokyo Incidents reaction. 😄

[@rudymeixell3426]

General recommendation: you should really do some songs by the Velvet Underground if you haven't heard them before. (I don't think I have ever heard you mention them.) "Heroin" would probably be my first pick. Maybe "I'm Set Free" as second pick, for the gorgeous guitar soloing. I would say the Velvet Underground and Roxy Music are two of the older bands that could help you contextualize a lot of later art rock, post-punk, indie rock, noise rock, etc. that gets requested. But maybe I am too hung up on what's historically important.

[@rudymeixell3426]

Also, I have to wonder how familiar you are with the Buzzcocks or even solo Pete Shelley. They would both push your pop punk/proto-emo buttons, I think. Some very good tunes there.

[@foodwatermusic]

Y'all should request Graephyre ❤😉