...you should pick up some goodness by Shiina Ringo (or Shena, or Sheena, or 363*#/2). I just had to do a little post about her, as she is probably my favorite musician to come out of Japan since Cornelius. Considering Japan's often bland, unoriginal popular music scene (besides the accasional Kahimi Karie) it's great to see an artist with actual chops have a brush with popularity and still keep her mind on the music. Apparently Ringo comes from a family of musicians, and studied piano and ballet as a child. She then moved on to writing music for school plays (awesome) and rock bands, eventually getting noticed by a label. I've heard from a few of my friends "she used to be popular. Not so much anymore." This is understandable; her last couple albums have been gloriously innovative and stellar in production, not as 'hip' and 'mainstream' as her earlier alternative rock projects. I read that 50 instruments from around the world went into making her last album, stuff like samisens (through effects pedals) and harpsichords (manipulated with computers). And she still writes and composes all of her music. Long live neo-classical Japanese prog rock!
That mole is strangely familiar...
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