Diorama (Kenshi Yonezu album)

diorama is the first album by Japanese musician Kenshi Yonezu, which was released on May 16, 2012.[1] It was the first studio album released under his real name, and the first to use his own voice as opposed to his Vocaloid albums released under the name Hachi. The album was one of the top independent releases in Japan in 2012, and was one of the winners of the 5th CD Shop Awards.

diorama
Studio album by
Kenshi Yonezu
ReleasedMay 16, 2012 (2012-05-16)
Recorded2010–2012
GenreAlternative rock
Length1:01:40
LanguageJapanese
LabelBalloom
ProducerKenshi Yonezu
Kenshi Yonezu chronology
Official Orange
(2010)		 diorama
(2012)		 YANKEE
(2014)
Singles from diorama
  1. "Go Go Yūreisen"
    Released: March 21, 2012
  2. "Vivi"
    Released: April 26, 2012

Background and development

Yonezu first released music on the Internet using Vocaloid software, and uploaded videos to the video steaming website Nico Nico Douga from 2009 until 2011. Many of his songs were very popular on the site, including "Matryoshka" with 5,000,000 views and "Musunde Hiraite Rasetsu to Mukuro" with 3,000,000 views amassed by the release of Diorama.[2] In 2010. Yonezu self-released two albums of Vocaloid songs, Hanataba to Suisō in February and Official Orange in November. Official Orange also featured a song where Yonezu used his own vocals, "Yūen Shigai (遊園市街, "Amusement City Streets").

In April 2010, Yonezu joined the dōjin animation collective Minakata Kenkyūjo (南方研究所, "Minakata Laboratory"), a group that he'd worked with since his "Clock Lock Works" video in November 2009.[3] The group had worked on Yonezu's songs "Clock Lock Works," "World's End Umbrella," "Sajō no Yumekui Shōjo" (沙上の夢喰い少女, "Dream-eater Girl on the Sand") and "Wonderland to Hitsuji no Uta" (ワンダーランドと羊の歌, "Wonderland and the Sheep's Song").

In March 2011, Yonezu and 7 other musicians created Balloom, an independent music label for Internet musicians to widen their musical opportunities.[4] Since the first meetings Yonezu had with the company, he intended to release music using his own voice and not Vocaloid software.[5]

Writing and production

The album was sung, written, produced, arranged and mixed all by Yonezu himself.[2][6] He began planning Diorama in 2010,[7] and the album took a year and a half to complete.[8] Yonezu did not collaborate with other musicians on the album, as he felt at the time that was not a good communicator.[7] The album is a concept album about an imaginary town that is built on top of a catfish. All of the songs are stories that happen in the town.[2] The idea of having a miniature town was one of Yonezu's first when planning the album, and he created characters and stories for the people who lived in the town.[7] Yonezu considers the lyrics of "Vivi" to be the closest to his own feelings.[7] The song "Machi" was originally titled "Furu Asa" (降る朝, "Falling Morning"), and the lyrics were put in a blog post by Yonezu on March 16, 2011.[9]

Yonezu drew all of the illustrations in the booklet himself, including the cover.[6] He drew the catfish in the style they were drawn in Edo period Japan.[7] He was also the illustrator for the videos for "Go Go Yūreisen" and "Vivi" that were uploaded to Nico Nico Douga and YouTube to promote the album. The art for the album was inspired by the art of Edward Gorey, and remained in black and white as he finds colouring tedious.[7]

The album had three illustrated music videos released, "Go Go Yūreisen," "Vivi" and "Koi to Byōnetsu." However, Yonezu had originally planned to release four or five videos for songs on the album.[10]

Promotion and release

On February 19, 2012, the song "Go Go Yūreisen" was uploaded to Nico Nico Douga and YouTube, and became the number one viewed video for the day on Nico Nico Douga on February 21.[11] The song was released as a single on iTunes on March 21.[12] This was followed by a video for the song "Vivi," released on March 15. Both songs and their illustration videos were played on music video channels.[13][14]

On March 28, Balloom began distributing free sampler CDs to stores such as Tower Records, HMV, Shinseido, Village Vanguard, Comic Toranoana, Animate and Wonder Goo.[15] Free rental CDs were also released to Tsutaya on April 6.[16] On April 5, an anime music video for "Koi to Byōnetsu" directed by Minakata Kenkyūjo was released. The video was featured on the album's DVD.[2] On April 26, the song "Vivi" was released on Dwango for a limited 24-hour period, and reached number one on the store's charts that day.[2][17][18] On the day of release, Yonezu went to Nico Nico Douga event building Nico Nico Honsha for a signing session.[19] On June 13, Yonezu made an appearance on the Tokyo FM radio show School of Lock![20]

While live concerts were not performed at the time of release, in the concert for Yonezu's second album Yankee held on June 27, 2014 in Tokyo, Yonezu performed "Machi", "Dagashiya Shōbai", "Vivi", "Hikarabita Bus Hitotsu" and "Go Go Yūreisen".[21]

Chart performance

The album debuted at number 6 on Oricon's albums chart, selling 25,000 copies.[22][23] In the same week, it reached number one on Billboard Japan's Top Independent Albums and Singles chart.[24] It returned to number one for two weeks in June 2012.[25]

After charting on Oricon's top 300 albums chart for 21 weeks, the album became the number 141 most sold album of 2012 in Japan with 48,000 copies.[22][23] It was ranked the number 9 most sold independent album/single of 2012 according to Billboard.[26] It is the most successful release on the Balloom label.[23]

Critical reception

The album was received favourably by music reviewers, with both CDJournal and Rockin' On's Kotaro Matsumura calling the album a masterpiece.[27][28] Yosuke Ito of Skream! praised the album's rock taste, strongly forged melody lines and the "word-play"-like catchiness.[29] The album was one of the winners of the 5th CD Shop Awards, an award voted on by music store personnel.[30]

In October 2012, Dojin pianist Marasy covered "Go Go Yūreisen" on his debut album V-Box.[31]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Kenshi Yonezu.

No.TitleLength
1."Machi" (街 "Town")5:40
2."Go Go Yūreisen" (ゴーゴー幽霊船 "Go Go Ghost Ship")3:49
3."Dagashiya Shōbai" (駄菓子屋商売 "The Cheap Sweets Trade")4:34
4."Caribou"4:15
5."Amefuri Fujin" (あめふり婦人 "Woman in the Rain")2:59
6."Disco Balloon" (ディスコバルーン Disuko Barūn)4:23
7."Vivi"4:30
8."Toy Patriot" (トイパトリオット Toi Patoriotto)4:13
9."Koi to Byōnetsu" (恋と病熱 "Love and Fever")4:22
10."Black Sheep"5:09
11."Hikarabita Bus Hitotsu" (乾涸びたバスひとつ "One Broken Down Bus")5:08
12."Kubi Nashi Kankodori" (首なし閑古鳥 "Neckless Cuckoo")4:23
13."Shinzō Hōei" (心像放映 "Televised Heart")4:04
14."Shōhon" (抄本 "Extract")4:04
Total length:1:01:40
DVD
No.TitleLength
1."Koi to Byōnetsu"4:25

Chart rankings

Personnel

Personnel details were sourced from Diorama's liner notes booklet.[6]

Release history
Region Date Format Distributing Label Catalogue codes
Japan May 16, 2012 (2012-05-16)[1] CD+DVD Balloom DGLA-10016/B
June 2, 2012 (2012-06-02)[32] Rental CD+DVD
Worldwide June 8, 2012 (2012-06-08)[33] Digital download
gollark: I can probably make it work by running some stuff off the random stuff API.
gollark: I really need to work out how to display this automatically.
gollark: The webserver logs or osmarks.tk files are interpreted as PCM audio and played back.
gollark: Sometimes I listen to osmarks.tk directly converted to audio, though.
gollark: It's my favourite genre, obviously.

References
  1. "diorama [CD+DVD]". Amazon Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  2. "ハチ＝米津玄師、1stアルバム「diorama」発表" [Hachi=Kenshi Yonezu, releasing 1st album Diorama]. Natalie.mu. April 27, 2012. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  3. "About"南方研究所"" (in Japanese). Minakata Kenkyūjo. Archived from the original on December 28, 2012. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
  4. 人気クリエイター8組が音楽レーベル設立！ [8 popular creators form a music label!] (in Japanese). Oricon. March 4, 2011. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
  5. "V.A.「BALLOOM BEST」発売記念特集 とくインタビュー" [Interview with Toku, various artists Balloom Best release]. Tomonori Shiba (in Japanese). Natalie. September 27, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  6. Diorama (Media notes) (in Japanese). Kenshi Yonezu. Tokyo, Japan: Balloom. 2012.CS1 maint: others (link)
  7. "米津玄師1stアルバム「diorama」インタビュー" [Kenshi Yonezu 1st album Diorama interview]. Ryu Fuku (in Japanese). Natalie. May 16, 2012. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
  8. "『 夢の職業★3DAYS 』ーDAY2ー　米津玄師先生、初来校!!!" [Dream jobs 3 Days - Day 2: Mr. Kenshi Yonezu, first time at school] (in Japanese). School of Lock!. June 13, 2012. Archived from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  9. 降る朝 [Furu Asa]. Kenshi Yonezu (in Japanese). March 16, 2011. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved November 13, 2013.
  10. ゴーゴー幽霊船 (in Japanese). Kenshi Yonezu official blog. February 20, 2012. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  11. 最新動画が話題の『米津玄師』とは？ [Who is new video topic Kenshi Yonezu?]. Nico Nico Info (in Japanese). Excite News. February 22, 2012. Archived from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  12. "ゴーゴー幽霊船 - Single" (in Japanese). iTunes. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  13. ゴーゴー幽霊船 (in Japanese). Space Shower. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  14. "vivi" (in Japanese). Space Shower. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  15. "米津玄師「diorama」無料サンプラー配布開始" [Free sampler distribution for Kenshi Yonezu's Diorama] (in Japanese). Balloom. March 28, 2012. Archived from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  16. "TSUTAYAにて「diorama」収録曲無料レンタル開始" [Free rental disc for Diorama at Tsutaya] (in Japanese). Balloom. April 6, 2012. Archived from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  17. "米津玄師「vivi」着うたフル配信日決定！応募者全員プレゼントも！" [Kenshi Yonezu "Vivi" full-length ringtone download day! Plus a present for all purchasers] (in Japanese). Balloom. April 13, 2012. Archived from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  18. 4/26限定！米津玄師プレゼント企画 [April 26 only! Kenshi Yonezu present project]. Nico Nico Info (in Japanese). Excite News. April 26, 2012. Archived from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  19. "ニコニコ本社で米津玄師『diorama』リリース記念サイン会開催" [Kenshi Yonezu Diorama release party signing at Nico Nico Honsha]. Nico Nico Info (in Japanese). Excite News. May 11, 2012. Archived from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  20. "今夜「SCHOOL OF LOCK!」に米津玄師2時間生出演" [Kenshi Yonezu two-hour feature tonight on School of Lock!] (in Japanese). Natalie. June 13, 2012. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  21. 米津玄師、初ワンマンで感謝「音楽やってきてよかった」 [Kenshi Yonezu gives thanks at his first one man live: "I'm glad I came across music".] (in Japanese). Natalie. June 28, 2014. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
  22. 「ｄｉｏｒａｍａ」 米津玄師 (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  23. "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」" [Oricon Ranking Information Service "You Big Tree"]. Oricon. Retrieved January 6, 2015. (subscription only)
  24. "Top Independent Albums and Singles" (in Japanese). Billboard Japan. May 28, 2012. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  25. "Top Independent Albums and Singles" (in Japanese). Billboard Japan. June 18, 2012. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  26. "Billboard Japan Top Independent Albums and Singles Year End" (in Japanese). Billboard Japan. 2012. Archived from the original on May 2, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  27. "Diorama" (in Japanese). CDJournal. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  28. 天才が飛躍する。祈り、そして翔べ [Genius is leaping. Pray, then fly.]. Kotaro Matsumura (in Japanese). Rockin' On. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  29. "Disc Review 米津玄師『diorama』". Yosuke Ito (in Japanese). Skream!. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  30. "CDショップ大賞入賞7作品決定、過去受賞者登場ライブも" [CD Shop Awards announces seven winners, past winners' live at event] (in Japanese). Natalie. February 4, 2013. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
  31. まらしぃ初のピアノソロアルバムでボカロ名曲を超絶プレイ [Marasy, excellence Vocaloid covers on her first piano solo album] (in Japanese). Natalie. October 9, 2012. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  32. ｄｉｏｒａｍａ／米津玄師 (in Japanese). Tsutaya. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  33. "米津玄師アルバム「diorama」iTSで世界配信スタート" [Kenshi Yonezu's album Diorama received global iTunes release] (in Japanese). Natalie. June 8, 2012. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
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