apple anyone?

wohoo!!
exam's over, and i have another one and a half month to fool around with. well not exactly fooling around, but at least less stressful compared to exam weeks.

anyway, a friend of mine introduced me to a singer. she's not exactly new in the scene, she's been around for 10 years now. and in 10 years time, she had become a living rocker legend in Japan. i always wanted to try one of her songs, but somehow never got the time, or the mood for it. but after one youtube video of her and her band, i'm hooked.

her singing voice needs some time to get used to, but after you get pass the adaptation phase, she's one hell of a good entertainer. I'm talking about Shiina Ringo, the artist that inspired NANA, both film and manga/anime. she even have a group of fans that called themselves Ringo Gals who dressed up in her favourite designers' brand (Vivienne Westwood), and wear her signature VW Armour Ring.

She's really really great. her obsession on symmetry brings symmetrical lyrics and duration of her albums. plus she's not afraid to experiment in her music: from rock to jazz to techno to pop and even enka japanese traditional music). she even dabbles in 1940's-50's music style in Papaya Mango, where she sang in two languages, French and English. a song may have three different arrangements, and three totally different video clips. and a case of this is the song Yokushitsu: original version, La Salle de Bain (she totally retitled the song, and translated the lyrics into English and change the arrangement) and the third is where she collaborated with Saito Neko (first half of the song in Japanese, second half in English). her music videos (promotional videos or PVs to the japanese artists fans!), most of them are provocative, and unique. i especially fond of her collaboration clips with Saito Neko, they are such an eye feast. i included one of their work in this entry, it's the last clip.

i know i sounds like a girl in love, but what the hell!! hahaha! before i say things that may make me looks silly in front of shiina's hardcore fans, i better take my leave now. and to end this post, enjoy a few songs from her..



shiina ringo - honnou



tokyo jihen - kurumaya-san



shiina ringo x saito neko - yokushitsu

btw, ringo means apple in japanese XD