Shiina Ringo - 2011.11.11 - Music Station

I wish I didn't take so much time to upload this, but I've been too busy with bad-paying-work life.

This "Carnation" performance is pretty much like the Countdown TV one, with playback instruments included. It's nothing memorable. But I included the parts of the show where Ringo was interviewed, as well as a small segment where children watch and react to "Koufukuron" and "Honnou", much to Ringo's embarrassment. I don't mean to sound creepy, but she's irresistibly cute when she starts panicking.

01 - カーネーション (Carnation)

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Shiina Ringo - 2011.10.29 - Countdown TV

The first televised performance of Ringo's newest single, "Carnation". Last time Ringo performed on CDTV was back in 2007, four years ago, during the Heisei Fuuzoku promotion.

Altough there's the whole orchestra there, plus Tokyo Jihen members, it seems to me that with the exception of her voice, everything else is playback. I'm not a great fan of this song, but the vocals are amazing and the stage has this huge feel similar to what we find in the PV. Altough I was expecting her to use the same wig.

Opinions aside, here is the interview plus performance.

01 - カーネーション (Carnation)

Download (MP3 V0)

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New Ringo song titled "32歳の別れ"

Just to report on some news which seem to be slightly ignored by the westen community.

Tokyo Jihen's set-list for yesterday's show had a slight change in the Encore section, where they decided to replace "Yoake no Uta" with a new Ringo penned song, called "32歳の別れ" (32-sai no Wakare; Farewell My 32 Years). Before presenting the new song, she told the audience she was a bit nervous to play it because it was still being worked on and the band didn't really rehearse much.
I must say I was a little sceptical at first, because Ringo is turning 33 in November 25th, so it almost sounded like a joke. But maybe this means this stage of her life was very important for her. There's also the possibility that this is not the final title, considering how the song is still being worked on.

This new song brings to 5 the number of solo tracks released after Daihakken: "Carnation" plus two B-Sides, "Between Today and Tomorrow" and now "32-sai no Wakare". I guess a new solo album release is turning out to be more and more expected.

Shiina Ringo - 2005.07.08 - Bokura no Ongaku 2

This episode of Bokura no Ongaku 2 focuses on Mukai Shuutoku, former member of Number Girl and founder of Zazen Boys, but Shiina Ringo is the second guest, given her relationship with Shuutoku and the fact that they are both band leaders. They talk with each other about their careers throughout the episode and then there are two live performances, altough I only included the first one, which is a duet with Ringo.

"KIMOCHI", the performed song, is originally from Zazen Boys first album, but here we're presented with a slower duet version. Ringo also collaborated on their second album, with back-vocals for three tracks.

One of the things I'd like to hear her say, when Mukai Shuutoku asked her if she had any big dreams, she said she wanted to have a second marriage. I wonder if she still feels the same in 2011.

She also mentions that Sonata, her son, calls her "Haha" instead of "Mama", which is more tradional. And he tells her things like "What's with those dresses mother?".

Surprisingly, she also says she hopes to have a daughter, to somehow compensate for the fact she always grew up wanting a sister.

It's a very endearing interview and performance, I'd say.

01 - KIMOCHI feat. 椎名林檎

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Shiina Ringo - 1996.10.10 - Music Quest '96

Look what I found! Shiina Ringo singing back in 1996. How nostalgic! Even though I only started listening to her in 2007.

Before signing up any record deal, and after she dropped out of school, Ringo participated in Yamaha's annual Music Quest contest. It was another try at success to kick-start her music career, after the previous year attempt, but this time she performed her own song, the later-to-be smash-hit "Koko de Kissu Shite". It was also the first time she publicly used her stage-name, Shiina Ringo, instead of Shiina Yumiko. In the end, the Grand Prize went to Takashi Taniguchi, but she managed an Excellence Prize and grabbed attention from all major record labels. She ended up signing with Toshiba EMI.

Funny fact: singer-songwriter aiko also participated in this contest, just like in the Teen's Music Festival '95.

Considering how the 5th edition of Music Quest was the last one, after which Yamaha decided to make normal auditions only, we can thank Ringo for not postponing her participation in the contest, as it would have undoubtedely changed her career in ways we can not imagine!

01 - ここでキスして。 (Koko de Kissu Shite.)

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PS - In order to improve the frequency of my updates, I decided to create a template for covers, instead of having to create a different one every time. So it'll be just a screenshot/photo with SR or TJ and the title. Sorry to disappoint the legions of fans of my super cool covers! I'm looking for opinions to improve this template tho, since I'm not a designer. Do you think I should make the text smaller, different color, different background, etc. I'm keeping it as it is for now.

Tokyo Jihen Live Tour 2011 Discovery (set-lists)

Instead of making a new post for every day of the Discovery tour, I decided to just keep updating this one.
Remember that you won't find any recordings here, just the set-lists.

Live Tour 2011 Discovery

For those of us who just couldn't attend any of the concerts from the Discovery tour, let's enjoy the set-lists!

Shiina Ringo - "Carnation" tracklist revealed

Just a few days before the opening concert of the Discovery Tour, there has been a lot of information coming out regarding Shiina Ringo and her solo music projects.

This time it seems the cover for "Carnation" has been revealed, along with the tracklist.

Release Date: 2011.11.02

01 - カーネーション (Carnation)
02 - 私の愛するひと (Watashi no Aisuru Hito)
03 - 人生は思い通り (Jinsei wa Omoidoori)

Track 2 translates to "The One I Love" and track 3 translates to "Life as I Wish".

Is it just me or does November seem very very far away?

Yet Another Solo Ringo Single

After collaborating in many projects as a music director/collaborator, Shiina Ringo is once again involved in another project. The ballet documentary "今日と明日の間で" (Kyou to Asu no Aida de) starring dancer/actor 首藤康之 (Yasuyuki Shuto), will have the english titled track "Between Today and Tomorrow" as its theme song, which is the exact translation of the japanese title. Altough it seems it was the english name who appeared first.

Similarly to what happened with the Sakuran movie, she will work with Saitou Neko again in what seems to be an instrumental only piece. Ringo will play the piano herself. Altough we're left unsure if this will have a vocal version as well, or even if there will actually be more tracks.

I'm not exactly sure, but from what I can gather the documentary will be an autobiography of Yasuyuki Shuto himself, directed by 小林潤子 (Kobayashi Junko). I'll probably try to add more information after more research, but what you really need to know is that it's set to be released in January 17, 2012.

This certainly seems to bring more hope for a new solo album, along with the 3-track single "Carnation" which has its release date settled for November 2nd. We're talking about 4 solo tracks already!

CS Channel

A (little bit) random post about CS Channel, Tokyo Jihen's new PV collection DVD/Blu-Ray coming later this month.

Release Date: 2011.09.21

01 - 能動的三分間 (Noudouteki Sanpunkan)
02 - 勝ち戦 (Kachiikusa)
03 - 空が鳴っている (Sora ga Natteiru)
04 - 新しい文明開化 (Atarashii Bunmeikaika)
05 - 女の子は誰でも (Onna no Ko wa Daredemo)
06 - 天国へようこそ Tokyo Bay Ver. CS Edit (Tengoku he Yokouso)
07 - ハンサム過ぎて (Handsome Sugite)

I was looking at the official promo site for CS Channel and decided to grab all the meanings for CS from the background image, which is this one:

CDMAT SPECIAL

Central67System

Chan-Son

CHART'S SOVEREIGN

Cheeky Smile

Citizen Ship

City State

Civilized Sounds

Clear Spectrum

Click Stop

Clip Session
Climax Scene

Cloudy Sky

Code SOS

Common Sense

Communications Satellite

Company Sixth-Sense

COMPOSE SPARKS

Compulsory School

Contemporary Songs

Cool Summer

Crazy Spectacle

Critical Sound

Curious Saturday

Customer Satisfaction

New ones found in the DVD:


Caviar's Stocks
Ceiling Speed
Chaos Sequence
Chemical Shoes
Chime Swells
Classy Stereography
Clear Spectrum
Comedy Show
Command S
Commercialize Stories
Computer Signal
Curry Spice

I wonder who came up with all these names. Maybe each member gave their inputs? Some of them sound very Ringo-ish, while others sound like they came from some of the male members. Who knows.

Tokyo Jihen - 2010.11.06 - EMI ROCKS

Considering there's a new EMI ROCKS festival announced for February 19, 2012, here's what we have of the first one, where Tokyo Jihen performed.

BS Fuji broadcasted a 2 hour program covering the festival, but only included 2 or 3 performances for each artist, which left us with "OSCA", "FOUL" and "Killer Tune". However, it doesn't seem the performances were much different from the ones found in the Ultra C Tour earlier that year (altough Ringo sounds a bit drunk which is cool), so we're probably not missing out much. Except for the fact that they performed two songs from "Daihakken", which we haven't heard live anywhere yet: "Tengoku he Yokouso" and "Dopamint!". Hopefully one day I'll get the complete setlist.

EMI ROCKS was a one day festival at Saitama Super Arena to celebrate EMI's 50th anniversary, with around 10 of their biggest rock bands performing, including Acidman, Tomoyasu Hotei, Miyavi, 9mm Parabellum Bullet, Base Ball Bear and others. But apparently the fun doesn't stop there, because there's another EMI ROCKS planned and we still don't know if Tokyo Jihen will make an appearance, but I say it's very likely.

Venue: Saitama Super Arena
Date: 2010.11.06
01 - 天国へようこそ (Tengoku he Yokouso)
02 - OSCA

03 - FOUL
04 - ドーパミント！ (Dopamint!)
05 - キラーチューン (Killer Tune)
06 - 能動的三分間 (Noudouteki Sanpunkan)
07 - 透明人間 (Toumei Nigen)
08 - 勝ち戦 (Kachiikusa)

Only the bolded tracks are available.

Download (MP3 V0)

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Bootleg Updated

Just wanted to let you know I've updated the FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL '04 bootleg, which now contains the whole show. Listen to the audience recording of the complete 15 songs setlist here.

Shiina Ringo - New Single "Carnation"

Just to get a little update done on this blog.

I've had little time no time whatsoever in the last weeks. But there are exciting news I want to share with everyone.

Shiina Ringo is releasing a new solo single! It's another dorama tie-in, just like "Ariamaru Tomi", so I'm hoping it'll give us the same hope for the future (new solo album much?).

Both the song and dorama are titled カーネーション (Carnation) and from what I can gather, the main theme will be motherhood. The story is based on the (real) life of fashion designer Ayako Koshino, who passed away in 2006 and is the mother of three women who are now at the top of the japanese fashion industry. It will portray her life from the teenage years through her fifties. An interesting fact is that Chiaki Kuriyama is part of the cast, one of Ringo's inseparable friends.

The dorama starts airing October 3rd, so there's bound to be some previews of the song by September. There's no release date for the single, yet.

Tokyo Jihen - Daihakken Scans

And finally, here's the booklet for the latest album. Too bad most of the english lyrics are difficult to read, due to the font. Oh well.

Daihakken (Scans)

Download (16 PNGs)

SWITCH June 2011 Scans

Kind of late, but I've been busy. And this edition of SWICTH magazine has a gazalion Tokyo Jihen pages. Not my favourite photoshoot, but there's some interesting stuff in there, particularly a list of the most influencial albums for each member of the band. From what I figured, it's only the ones that came to mind when describing inspiration for Daihakken.

SWITCH - 2011.05.20

Download (18 PNGs)

And here's the albums list, translated from the scans. Most of them are indeed worth the listening!

Shiina Ringo

Pierre Barouh - 1992 - Vivre

Tony! Toni! Toné! - 1993 - Sons of Soul

Barry Adamson - 1996 - Oedipus Schmoedipus

The Prodigy - 2009 - Invaders Must Die

Eugene McDaniels - 1970 - Outlaw

Queen - 1995 - Made in Heaven

Ukigumo

Original Love - 1994 - Kaze no Uta wo Kike (風の歌を聴け)

Yumi Matsutoya (松任谷由実) - 1989 - Love Wars

The Rotary Connection - 1969 - Songs

The Brand New Heavies - 1991 - The Brand New Heavies

Alan Jackson - 1992 - A Lot About Livin'

The Byrds - 1965 - Turn Turn Turn

Izawa

Lee Morgan - 1957 - Candy

The Beatles - 1968 - The Beatles (White Album)

The Sting OST - 1973

Hiroko Yakushimaru (薬師丸ひろ子) - 2002 - Golden Best

BUCK-TICK - 1989 - TABOO

Bill Evans - 1968 - Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival

Kameda

Michael Jackson - 1982 - Thriller

Tokyo Jihen - 2010 - Sports

Hata

Kurenai Buta (Porco Rosso) OST - 1992

Kiki's Delivery Service Vocal Album - 1989

Gustav Holst - 1981 - The Planets (Berlin Philarmonic)

Gergiev - 2004 - Tchaikovsky Symphony No.5 (Wiener Philarmoniker)

Beethoven - 1979 - Symphony No.9 (Wiener Philarmoniker)

The Boston Pops Orchestra (John Williams) - 1990 - Music of the Night

Nuovo Cinema Paradiso OST - 1989

Carpenters - 1994 - Yesterday Once More: Original Master Karaoke

Red Hot Chili Peppers - 1999 - Californication

The Beatles - 1973 - The Beatles/1962~1966 and The Beatles/1967~1970

MUSICA July 2011 Scans

Today is the release of Daihakken, and three days ago was the 2nd birthday of this blog. But that's not what I want to talk about now!

Here are the scans for the July edition of MUSICA magazine, featuring Tokyo Jihen on the cover. They did a great photoshoot at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo, altough I was hoping for even more photos. There's a huge interview with Ringo and another huge interview with the guys. If anyone wants, I can scan it.

By the way, I think these scans are better than the last ones I did, for Rockin' On Japan, because I learned a few tricks, so I'm thinking about redoing those in the near future. I want the maximum quality achievable!

MUSICA - 2011.06.16

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Tokyo Jihen - 2011.06.26 - MUSIC JAPAN

Here's Tokyo Jihen's performance of "Atarashii Bunmeikaika" at MUSIC JAPAN yesterday. It's a pretty performance, but, sadly, the instruments are all playback. Only Ringo's voice is live, and very good at that.

This marks the begin of a bunch of TV Promotions to come soon, by the way. I'm hoping we get some good stuff.

01 - 新しい文明開化 (Atarashii Bunmeikaika)

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PS - Only 2 more days for the album!

Rockin' On Japan June 2011 Scans

I wish I knew how to scan better, but for now this is the best I can do.

Here are the scans for June's Rockin' On Japan issue, featuring Tokyo Jihen. Of course I only scanned the TJ parts, not the whole magazine. I left the Ringo and Kameda interview out, because it's just text and I can't translate it, so... Unless someone shows interest in translating it, in that case you just have to ask.

Anyway, enjoy!

Rockin' On Japan - 2011.04.30

Download (8 PNGs)

PS - I know it's a huge size for just 8 files, but that's because they're around 2800 x 2000. Tell me if you think it's enough to provide lower resolution pictures.

Daihakken's Tracklist

The tracklist for Tokyo Jihen's new album, 大発見, has been revealed through kronekodow.

Album Title: 大発見 (Daihakken)

Date: 2011.06.29

01 - 天国へようこそ For The Disc (Tengoku he Youkoso)
02 - 絶対値対相対値 (Zettaichi Tai Soutaichi)
03 - 新しい文明開化 (Atarashii Bunmeikaika)
04 - 電気のない都市 (Denki no nai Machi)
05 - 海底に巣くう男 (Kaitei ni Sukuu Otoko)
06 - 禁じられた遊び (Kinjirareta Asobi)
07 - ドーパミント！ BPM103 (Dopamint!)
08 - 恐るべき大人達 (Osorubeki Otona Tachi)
09 - 21世紀宇宙の子 (21 Seiki Uchuu no Ko)
10 - かつては男と女 (Katsute wa Otoko to Onna)
11 - 空が鳴っている (Sora ga Natteiru)
12 - 風に肖って行け (Kaze ni Ayakatte Ike)
13 - 女の子は誰でも (Onna no Ko wa Daredemo)
BT - 天国へようこそ For The Tube (Tengoku he Youkouso)

Rough translation:

01 - Welcome to Heaven For The Disc

02 - Absolute vs Relative

03 - The New Civilization and Enlightenment Movement

04 - City Without Electricity

05 - Men Haunting the Ocean Floor

06 - Forbidden Game

07 - Dopamint! BPM103

08 - Dreadful Adults

09 - 21st Century Child of the Universe

10 - Former Men and Women

11 - Sky is Rumbling

12 - Go With the Wind

13 - Any Girl Will Do

BT - Welcome to Heaven For The Tube

I tried my best at the romaji convertions and translations, so hopefully they're not that bad, but it's probably better to wait for a more reliable source of translations. It looks like the symmetry isn't really present in this album. Sure, the number of kanji is the same for every correspondant track, but I don't see much similarity between "海底に巣くう男" and "21世紀宇宙の子". And why is the last track a Bonus Track? Maybe I'm missing something here...

Shiina Ringo - 2011.05.20 - Music Station

Here is the latest Music Station performance. Ringo was there without the band, promoting the single "女の子は誰でも" as if it was her own. Likely for the same reason why the Shiseido ads had to be changed to feature a Ringo-only version of the song: Hata's incident with the police.

Anyway, she didn't talk much during the whole show, but really had a great finale performance, even tho the vocals were just plain mediocre. We know she doesn't seem to put much effort into any Music Station performance, but I think this song really deserved it.

Ringo's message after the show.

I should start adding these to the Music Station's posts... they're usually quite cute or funny. I'm not sure what she's saying in this one, but I could swear it's some kind of comment about men's (男) transpiration (汗), because the guests had some kind of chat about that kind of scent. Oh well.

01 - 女の子は誰でも (Onna no Ko wa Daredemo)

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Tokyo Jihen Phase 3

Here's a little bit of humor.

A picture of Phase 3 working on the next album, called Sadistic ⊿.

Tell me the truth, wouldn't you love it?

PS - I found this picture on last.fm and just had to share it, it's just too funny :)

Current Incidents

So let's just recap everything that has happened in the last 24 or so hours.

The new album has finally been announced, and on such happy short notice: the release date is June 29, only just a month and a half from today. The title of the album is 大発見 (Dai Hakken), which means "Great Discovery" or "Breakthrough", which leads us to the likely overall theme of the 5th Jihen album: wild-life/nature television. For some reason, there's no english equivalent translation working as official reading (for now), so it seems to be the first album since "Kyoiku" to have a japanese reading title only.

It will contain 13 tracks, 4 of them being the previously released singles "天国へようこそ", "ドーパミント！", "空が鳴っている" and "女の子は誰でも". That's one less new song compared to Sports, but at least the first two singles will be re-arranged versions.

There is no mention of "夜明けのうた" being included, but I figure it's very unlikely, considering it's a cover and was released for a very specific purpose. There's, however, a new song that we can listen already in the new Tokyo Subway CM, called "新しい文明開化" (Atarashii Bunmeikaika), which means "The New Civilization and Enlightenment Movement". For curiosity's sake, the Bunmeikaika was a movement in the Meiji Period which benefited the westernization of Japan.

You can check the various CM's to listen to different parts of the song, here.

Lastly, the complete info about the previously mentioned new tour has been released. Following the name of the album, it'll be called Tokyo Jihen Live Tour 2011 Discovery, and will encompass 20 days of performances, starting September 30 and ending December 2. Too bad for me, I was hoping they'd tour in 2012, because there's no way I'll have enough money to attend this year.

Nevertheless, I like how it seems that they're going for a sort of Art Nouveau/Art Deco style with the font chosen. It matches the "Onna no Ko wa Daredemo" PV and also the choice for the credits song in the previous tour, "Rhapsody in Blue". I'm addicted to Art Deco, you see :)

That seems to be it, for now!

Some news

Hello there everyone.

I don't have much free time in my hands, so let's just skip to the point.

Tokyo Jihen are back with band activities and they spared no efforts into compensating for making us wait so long. The first news we know, released by Kronekodow, are that the postponed single for "Sora ga Natteiru" is going to be released May 11. The second news is that the band is going on another national-wide tour this year. Not much is known besides that, but you bet it screams New Album too.

Other than that, I want you all to notice the new addition in the left-side column: "Songs and Lives". Just check it out, I think it's going to be useful. Thank Yahiko (besides me), for this community effort.

Shiina Ringo and Tokyo Jihen CMs

The recently "released" new songs are being used as tie-ins with two major ad campaigns, having started this month. "Sora ga Natteiru" works as the theme song for the new Glico Watering KissMint promotional campaign, while "Onna no Ko wa Daredemo" is coupled with Shiseido Maquillage.

However, despite being Tokyo Jihen songs, only Ringo appears in the actual CMs. What's more, even the songs are not the Tokyo Jihen versions, but different ones, due to the Hata Toshiki incident/scandal, something that certainly made both Glico and Shiseido demand a Ringo-only version of the songs.

Fortunately, Glico uploaded the normal versions before any incident happened, so I got those too. Here's the list of what's in this ZIP file.

Watering KissMint CMs:

- Shiina Ringo (Sora ga Natteiru -Shinkai-hen-) 15 and 30 seconds

- Tokyo Jihen (Sora ga Natteiru) 15 and 30 seconds

Shiseido Maquillage CMs:

- Shiina Ringo (Onna no Ko wa Daredemo -Sugao-hen-) 15 and 30 seconds + Making Of

Download (MP4 H264)

Shiina Ringo - 2009.05.02 - Kame no Ongaeshi

It seems Hata Toshiki's recent "incident" with the authorities gave us the need for something else to listen to, while waiting for the unknown-to-be-released next Tokyo Jihen single and TV performances.

So here's the whole Ringo performance at Kame no Ongaeshi, Kameda Seiji's own show, which was a 2 days event where a bunch of artists he produced made live performances. As far as I know, there was supposed to be a DVD release for this, but the project was probably scrapped. So who knows? Ken Hirai duets with Ringo in "put your camera down", by the way.

For now, there's only bootlegs, and this one seems to have the highest quality and was provided to me by Yahiko.

Festival: 亀の恩返し (Kame no Ongaeshi)

Venue: 日本武道館 (Nippon Budokan)

Date: 2009.05.02

01 - 茜さす 帰路照らされど… (Akane Sasu Kiro Terasaredo)

02 - more

03 - ギブス (Gips)

04 - put your camera down

05 - 閃光少女

06 - MC

07 - 丸の内サディスティック (Marunouchi Sadistic)

Download (MP3 Various Bitrates)

Tokyo Jihen - 2006.07.02 - Society of the Citizens Vol.1

What better way to wait for Jihen's soon-to-be-released new single, than to listen to one of the greatest performances the band has ever given? That's what I bring to you!

This is one of the most sought-after Tokyo Jihen bootlegs ever, and someone over at KMC was kind enough to (finally) share it with all us westerners. The audio quality of the original files is fine, but I had to tweak the channels a bit to actually put it in great condition, in my honest opinion. The original files had the band playing in the left channel and the audience clapping in the right channel, so I tried to center everything, without really losing the stereo.

Hata Toshiki was absent from this performance due to an arm injury back then, so Yasuo Sano (佐野康夫) played that part. Some members from ZAZEN BOYS also performed along with the band in "Mirror Ball" and "Service". Ringo sang two duets with them, during their own concert at this festival, but I don't have those.

Just enjoy this amazing concert. And here's hoping that I update this blog more often...

Festival: SOCIETY OF THE CITIZENS VOL.1

Venue: 日比谷野外音楽堂 (Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall)

Date: 2006.07.02

01 - Beginning

02 - 御祭騒ぎ (Omatsuri Sawagi)

03 - 少女ロボット (Shoujo Robot)

04 - 歌舞伎 (Kabuki)

05 - MC1

06 - 茎 (Kuki)

07 - ゴング (Gong)

08 - ミラーボール (Mirror Ball)

09 - サービス (Service)

10 - 喧嘩上等 (Kenka Joutou)

11 - MC2

12 - 秘密 (Himitsu)

13 - MC3

14 - 映日紅の花 (Ichijiku no Hana)

Download (MP3 V1)

PS - Both "Gong" and "Mirror Ball" are covers of Petrolz songs, Ukigumo's band. Only "Mirror Ball" ended in a Tokyo Jihen album tho.