Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana

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Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana
加爾基 精液 栗ノ花
A decorative teacup against a black background.
Studio album by
Ringo Sheena
ReleasedFebruary 23, 2003 (2003-02-23)
RecordedToshiba EMI 3rd Studio
Studio Terra
Kroneko Studio
Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall
Atami Kajika-sou Waraku-tei (Ryokan (Japanese inn))
GenreArt pop, progressive pop
Length44:44
LabelToshiba EMI
Virgin Music
ProducerBakeneko Killer[a]
Ringo Sheena chronology
Utaite Myōri: Sono Ichi
(2002) 		Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana
加爾基 精液 栗ノ花
(2003) 		Heisei Fūzoku
(2007)
Singles from Karuki Samen Kuri no Hana
  1. "Stem"
    Released: January 22, 2003

Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana (Japanese: 加爾基（カルキ） 精液（ザーメン） 栗（クリ）ノ花（ハナ）),[b] also known as Kalk Samen Chestnut Flower[1] and Chlorine Semen Chestnut Flower,[2] is the third studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Ringo Sheena, released on February 23, 2003, on Toshiba EMI / Virgin Music. The album's lead single was a massive success, topping the Oricon charts for the first time in her career.

EMI released the album using CCCD at first. Then, the CCCD version was stopped producing, and the CD-DA version was newly released on July 2, 2008. The 2LP vinyl record version was released on May 27, 2003 and contains the bonus track "Fig Flower"[c].

The short film Kaleidoscope: A Short Film[d] acts as a visual accompaniment to the album and was released prior to the album on January 22, 2003.

Background and recording[edit]

Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana was released hot off of the success of Ringo's sophomore album Shōso Strip (2000) as well as her self-cover album Utaite Myōri: Sono Ichi (2002). The album was originally titled Wonderful, Vulgar, Eccentric[e].[f] However, she decided to change the title at the last minute after being intrigued by an argument she overheard between two male staff members on her team, who bickered over whether the smell of semen more resembled the smell of chlorine or the smell of the chestnut flowers. She thought that the nuance of the word "semen" was beautiful, and adapted it to the original title, explaining that "Kalk" fit into the original first word of "Wonder", while "Semen" fit "Vulgar", and "Chestnut Flower" fit with "Eccentric".[3] The 2001 single "Mayonaka Wa Junketsu" (真夜中は純潔, Midnight is pure) was to have been included on the album along with one of the single's b-sides, "Aisaika no Choushoku" (愛妻家の朝食, The breakfast of the devoted husband), however these tracks were dropped on the basis of not thematically fitting in with the rest of the album.

Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana saw Sheena producing a major release all by herself for the first time in her career, as opposed to working with her usual collaborators and producer Seiji Kameda.[4] The album allegedly took her an extra year to produce than her previous two studio albums did. Sheena chose to not record a band all at once as she had done on previous albums, choosing to instead record one instrument at a time by overdubbing and multitracking and layering the instruments.[4] Musically, the album combines both the standard instrumentation of a rock band as well as various other musical instruments, including folk instruments from Japan and other regions, string instruments, wind instruments, percussion instruments, as well as music sequencer and a full orchestra. In order to reduce budgets, she used her own Macintosh computer and cheap recording equipment to compose and edit the songs by herself using computer software,[4][5] while sometimes exchanging the arranged songs with Uni Inoue.[4] She recorded one musical instrument in one room of her house while recording the ensemble parts (string section, etc.) in another room.[4]

Seiji Kameda, who had been involved in the production and arrangement of her previous two studio albums did not participate in the album whatsoever. Instead, Sheena arranged the album with audio engineer Uni Inoue. Toshiyuki Mori orchestrated each of the recorded songs and arranged the entirety of "Yattsuke Shigoto".

The song titles and their places in the tracklist continue a pattern seen on Ringo's first two albums where each song title symmetrically parallels the opposite side of the tracklist. For instance, tracks 1 and 11 are written with exactly two kanji, tracks 2 and 10 are written with eight katakana characters, and so on.

Reception[edit]

Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana was ranked second in CNN International Asia's list of "the 2000s' most under-appreciated Japanese music of the last decade" on December 22, 2009.[6] Sheena also received a mention in The Guardian as one of Japan's artists who "deserve to be seen and heard in the west" in 2010.[7]

Track listing[edit]

All tracks written by Ringo Sheena; all tracks arranged by Sheena and Uni Inoue (credited as "Bakeneko Killer"), except "Rush Job" by Toshiyuki Mori, and "Fig Flower" by Ukigumo.

Track listing symmetry
01. 宗教
Religion 		11. 葬列
Funeral
02. ドッペルゲンガー
Doppelganger 		10. ポルターガイスト
Poltergeist
03. 迷彩
Camouflage 		09. 意識
Consciousness
04. おだいじに
Please Take Care 		08. おこのみで
As You Wish
05. やっつけ仕事
Rush Job 		07. とりこし苦労
Needless Worry
06. 茎
Stem
No.TitleLength
1."Religion" (宗教 Shūkyō)5:08
2."Doppelganger" (ドッペルゲンガー Dopperugengā)3:46
3."Camouflage" (迷彩 Meisai)3:44
4."Please Take Care" (おだいじに Odaiji ni)3:01
5."Rush Job" (やっつけ仕事 Yattsuke Shigoto)5:08
6."Stem" (茎 Kuki)3:50
7."Needless Worry" (とりこし苦労 Torikoshi Kurō)2:36
8."As You Wish" (おこのみで Okonomi de)5:45
9."Consciousness" (意識 Ishiki)2:45
10."Poltergeist" (ポルターガイスト Porutāgaisuto)3:41
11."Funeral" (葬列 Sōretsu)5:12
Total length:44:44
Vinyl edition bonus track
No.TitleLength
12."Fig Flower" (映日紅の花 Ichijiku no Hana)4:32
Total length:49:16

Credits and personnel[edit]

  • All English translation and pronunciation guidance: Robbie Clark

Track 1 and 11

Track 2 and 10

  • Chestnut Flower Fragrance Orchestra:[g] orchestral music
  • Yuichiro Goto: conductor
  • Ringo Sheena: vocal
  • Uni Inoue: Mellotron, electric bass guitars

Track 3 and 9

Track 4 and 8

Track 5

  • Ōoku Kinen Orchestra:[9] orchestral music
  • Yuichiro Goto: conductor
  • Toshiyuki Mori: piano, all works
  • Ringo Sheena: vocal, koto (Ikuta style), distortion koto (her own way), pipe organ
  • Ukigumo: vacuum cleaner (her elder brother Shiina Junpei's wife's possessions)

Track 6

  • Josei-jōi Kinen Orchestra:[10] string section
  • Chieko Kinpara party: string quintet
  • Kanako Tsuruta: drums
  • Uni Inoue: electric bass guitar
  • Ringo Sheena: vocal, koto (Ikuta style), piano

Track 7

Track 12

  • Ringo Sheena: vocal
  • Ukigumo: acoustic guitars
  • Uni Inoue: bass

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Japanese: 化猫キラー, a pseudonym for Ringo Sheena and Uni Inoue [ja].
  2. ^ Kalk, derived from the Dutch for lime or chlorine, is rendered with ateji; its composite kanji serve only a phonetic purpose. Samen, usually read as seieki, is transliterated as zāmen, derived from the German Samen (semen).
  3. ^ Japanese: 映日紅の花, Hepburn: Ichijiku no hana
  4. ^ 短篇キネマ 百色眼鏡, Tanpen Kinema Hyakuiro Megane
  5. ^ 不思議・猥雑・エキセントリック, Fushigi, Waizatsu, Ekisentorikku
  6. ^ In an interview that was played in the special program for the album by Space Shower TV, Sheena revealed that "Kalk" was "Wonder", "Semen" was "Vulgar" and "Chestnut Flower" was "Eccentric".
  7. ^ a b 栗ノ花薫香るオーケストラ, Kuri no hana kaeru ōkesutora

References[edit]

  1. ^ ALBUM: Kalk Samen Chestnut Flower / SHEENA RINGO on Ringo's official website
  2. ^ 加爾基 is ateji for カルキ
  3. ^ "椎名林檎が宇多田と合体！？" [Ringo Sheena united with Utada!?]. Yomiuri Shimbun. Feb 21, 2003. Archived from the original on February 21, 2003. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e Ringo Sheena (February 27, 2003). "インタビューファイル" (Interview). Interviewed by Kanako Hayakawa. Tower Records bounce magazine. Archived from the original on April 29, 2003. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  5. ^ Atsushi Shikano (March 2010). "東京事変、金メダル超えのニューアルバム『スポーツ』を語る". MUSICA (in Japanese). 35. FACT: 18–22. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  6. ^ "The 00s' most underappreciated Japanese music – CNN". Retrieved August 22, 2016.
  7. ^ Nieman, Teresa (March 25, 2010). "Why Japanese pop matters". The Guardian. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
  8. ^ Himitsu Butai (秘密部隊, Secret Corps)
  9. ^ Ooku Memorial Orchestra (大奥記念オーケストラ, Ōoku Kinen Orchestra)
  10. ^ Joseijōi Kinen Orchestra (女性上位記念オーケストラ, female dominance Memorial Orchestra)

External links[edit]

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