is Shiina Ringo

Shiina Ringo

, known by her stage name , is a Japanese singer-songwriter, music composer and music producer. She is also the founder and lead vocalist of the band Tokyo Jihen.She describes herself as ""....

's first album, released on February 24, 1999 by Toshiba EMI. The album debuted at #1 and has sold over 919,000 copies.

Outline

Shiina Ringo composed nearly all the songs on this album in her teenage years, prior to her major label debut. The album combines multiple genres of music from both the East and the West, including J-Pop and grunge

Grunge

Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...

.
Both the album and song titles combine Kanji

Kanji

Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...

 and English, and the lyrics are written using English and Historical kana usage

Historical kana usage

The , or , refers to the in general use until orthographic reforms after World War II; the current orthography was adopted by Cabinet order in 1946. By that point the historical orthography was no longer in accord with Japanese pronunciation...

.

Track listing

Credits and personnel

Shiina Ringo changed the band every song.
As a guest performance, Neko Saito who continues working with her, and Chieko Kinbara who works with Björk

Björk

Björk Guðmundsdóttir , known as Björk , is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk...

.

(#1,2,4,6,8,10)

• Ringo Shiina - vocals, drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
   (#2), handclap, whistle
  Whistle
  A whistle or call is a simple aerophone, an instrument which produces sound from a stream of forced air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means...
  
  
• Susumu Nishikawa - electric guitar
  Electric guitar
  An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
  
  , acoustic guitar
  Acoustic guitar
  An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
  
  
• Seiji Kameda
  Seiji Kameda
  is a Japanese music producer, arranger and bass guitarist.He is currently the bassist in Ringo Shiina's band, "Tokyo Jihen".- Biography :He was born in New York city, and went back to Japan at one year after birth....
  
   - bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , handclap
• Noriyasu Kawamura - drums, backing vocal
  Backing vocalist
  A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
  
  , handclap

(#3)

• Ringo Shiina - vocals, acoustic piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  , melodica
  Melodica
  The melodica, also known as the "blow-organ" or "key-flute", is a free-reed instrument similar to the melodeon and harmonica. It has a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. Pressing a key opens a hole,...
  
  , handclap, footsteps
• Seiji Kameda - bass guitar, backing vocal
• Noriyasu Kawamura - drums, backing vocal, handclap, footsteps

(#5,7,9,11)

• Ringo Shiina - vocal, fake koto
  Koto (musical instrument)
  The koto is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument, similar to the Chinese guzheng, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum and the Vietnamese đàn tranh. The koto is the national instrument of Japan. Koto are about length, and made from kiri wood...
  
   (Synthesizer
  Synthesizer
  A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
  
  ), whistle
• Akihito Suzuki - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocal guidance
• Seiji Kameda - bass guitar
• Noriyasu Kawamura - drums, conga
  Conga
  The conga, or more properly the tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed Cuban drum with African antecedents. It is thought to be derived from the Makuta drums or similar drums associated with Afro-Cubans of Central African descent. A person who plays conga is called a conguero...
  
  

Guest Players

• Toshiyuki Mori - electric organ
  Electric organ
  In biology, the electric organ is an organ common to all electric fish used for the purposes of creating an electric field. The electric organ is derived from modified nerve or muscle tissue...
  
   (#1,10), acoustic piano (#5)
• Neko Saitō - acoustic violin
  Violin
  The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
  
   (#9)
• Chieko Kinbara Strings
  String instrument
  A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
  
   - string section
  String section
  The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...
  
   (#1,5)
• Tsunehiko Yashiro - electric organ (#8)