Tracklist:

01 New In Town
02 Earthquake
03 Stuck on Repeat
04 Click
05 Remedy
06 Meddle
07 Ghost
08 Mathematics
09 Symmetry (feat. Philip Oakey)
10 Tune Into My Heart
11 Hearts Collide
12 No Brakes
12.5 Hands (Hidden Track)
13 Catch22 (Japanese Bonus Track)
14. New in Town (No One Is Safe – Al Kapranos Remix) (Japanese Bonus Track)
15. Stuck On Repeat (Acoustic) (Japanese Bonus Track)

Hands is Little Boot’s debut album, released in June 8th, 2009. I got my hands on it this past summer, and I have to say it was one of the new best album’s I’ve heard from this year. Probably it’ll end up being one of my favorites albums of 2009. The album starts with New In Town, also the album’s first single. I actually discovered Little Boots with New In Town, as I saw the music video playing on television. It was instant love, and I immediately had to find out who she was. New In Town is a fun upbeat track, whose lyrics just make you want to get up and have fun. It’s a pretty strong track, and makes a great debut single.

Earthquake follows up, probably my favorite song on the album. With very heavy synths, and a club feel the song just makes a perfect party track. Earthquake is also the album’s upcoming single, making it the third single from the album. Stuck On Repeat has more of a club-disco feel, very strong lyrics and heavy synths. I really like this song as well, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was made the album’s fourth single. Now, I’m not so psyched about Click, it’s a good song, and on here I feel she experiments more with her synths. But I feel this song isn’t that memorable. I think the only up side on this song is the chours, which is great.

Now comes the great Remedy, which is also the second single from the album. I absolutely adore this song, my top favorite song from the album actually. Very very strong lyrics, and the beats and synths are just perfect. We don’t usually hear strong electro-pop songs like this in the pop scene, and as her second single this album will get more and more sales.  Remedy is one of those songs that you will never get tired with, and will constantly have it on repeat. Meddle is nice, but I find it a bit repetitive, and it gets boring after a while, which makes me wants to skip it to the next track. It isn’t a bad song, but not a memorable one either. Ghost, starts with a creepy-like intro, and while the songs keeps going in you see that it’s main theme is very “mystery” like. Hence the title. Like Meddle I find it a bit repetitive, and after a while I get bored with it too. But hey, I think it makes a great Halloween Party track!

Mathematics is kind of similar to Stuck On Repeat. I adore the chorus and I love how she applies basic rules of mathematics in the lyrics. But in the end, not a very memorable song either. Symmetry (feat. Philip Oakey) is amazing, and it would make a great single from the album as well. The chorus is very strong, as so are the lyrics. Philip Oakey also has amazing vocals, and when singing with Little Boots they both sound outstanding together. The synths used in the songs are out of this world as well. It’s hard to describe them but they really have a futuristic sound to them. I hope that after Earthquake, this will be the next single. The song also adapts 80’s synthpop elements. The song is just plain epic, and one of my top favorite tracks in the album.

Tune Into My Heart also adapts 80’s synthpop elements, it’s a very nice song, nothing too special, but it doesn’t really stick with you. Hearts Collide is a more down-beat track, it has a club feel. Her vocals are gorgeous and this songs, and brings out more her mysterious side. No Brakes is one of those songs you like to keep playing in the background, but don’t notice it that much. No Brakes is not a bad song, but I find it the weakest track of the album for some reason. Yet Little Boot’s vocals on this song are outstanding. After No Brakes we have Hands as a hidden track. Honestly I’m not a fan of the song, and don’t really consider it part of the album as it doesn’t fit. Hands is Little Boot’s take on an acoustic song. It has some folkish elements as well. The only thing I really like about this song is the lyrics, which I find very interesting. But well, at the end it’s a song that could’ve have been left out of the album. But it’s okay, since it’s just a hidden track. Not a bad end to the album though, since we hear something very different from the rest of the album.

Catch22, bonus track found on the Japanese edition of the album, is another upbeat song. I actually really like this song, they should have kept it as an original album track than a Japanese bonus. The synths are great, and the chorus is even greater. Very catchy song, and would make a great single as well. New in Town (No One Is Safe – Al Kapranos Remix), another Japanese bonus track, is a experimental mess. I don’t like this remix at all, though it has some tolerable parts. But hey it’s just a bonus. I think they could have worked better with the remix, but at the end, I don’t really care for it. Stuck On Repeat (Acoustic) finishes off the Japanese edition of the album very nice piano acoustic take on the original.

In conclusion, even though I consider this album was great, it still has some flaws. Next time, hopefully she’ll make correct the mistakes she did on the album. But other than that the album was pretty great! And it easily makes it to my Top 10 albums of 2009. Unlike other electro-pop acts out there, I really feel that Little Boots is more unique than the rest. The rest really try hard to stick out and try to be different. But for Little Boots it just comes out naturally. You should definitely check her out.

Favorite Tracks:
01 New In Town
02 Earthquake
03 Stuck On Repeat
05 Remedy
09 Symmetry (feat. Philip Oakey)
13 Catch22

Album Score:
A-

Tracklist:

01 Alice
02 parallel lines
03 FELL IN LOVE WITH A GIRL
04 Crazy Cat (The Shoes Remix)
05 Alice (RimmiX)

immi releases her second major EP, titled Alice EP. Lke her previous release WONDER EP, Alice EP follows the same foot steps. Title track, another new song, cover song, old song remix, and title song remix. This now has me wondering who she’ll cover next, and who’ll remix her next. I find it pretty cool.

Alice begins immedeatly with immi’s vocals. The song keeps going in and we hear some 80’s influence in the song. The song is totally upbeat electro goodness, still similar to her old material, but like WONDER there’s more quality to it. Honestly I believe Alice is her strongest single to date, while I think she could’ve worked a little bit more with the vocals in some points it still is a very strong and amazing song. parallel lines is immi’s take on a ballad. I believe it’s her most downtempo song to date, and I find it amazing. Very beautiful song, I believe this is how an electro ballad should sound like.

Since FELL IN LOVE WITH A GIRL is a White Stripes cover, I think immi saw this as an opportunity to go more electro-rock, and she totally rocked it indeed! While her English is not very understandable, it’s still a very strong track. Though on this song, her voice is vocoded to the extreme, it still makes a pretty awesome song. Crazy Cat (The Shoes Remix) is a major improvement than THE LOWBROWS remix of Cosmic Pink shown on WONDER EP, not an amazing or outstanding remix but still it’s very enjoyable. The Shoes did a pretty good job with it. But at the end, it isn’t a very memorable remix either. Now what I am really surprised about is with Alice (RimmiX), last “RimmiX” on her previous EP was a complete mess and on this one it shows to be more organized. Alice (RimmiX) is a more downbeat version of the original Alice, or at least at first it seems so. After three minutes into it the remix turns a different direction, a more upbeat direction. What I think of these “RimmiXes” is that Jetbikini and N.A.i.D are experimenting with their sounds. On Alice (RimmiX) they did a hell of a job, I like it almost as much as the original. I just hope they don’t commit the same mistake they did with WONDER (RimmiX).

I think this EP is pretty much perfect, it improved what WONDER EP lacked and turned to be a pretty amazing EP. It has shown that immi will just keep getting better and better with in the future! I’m expecting an album after this release, but let’s see what the future holds for immi!

Favorite Tracks:
01 Alice
02 parallel lines
03 FELL IN LOVE WITH A GIRL
05 Alice (RimmiX)

EP Score:
A+

Tracklist:

01 Fire
02 I Don’t Care
03 In The Club
04 Let’s Go PARTY
05 Pretty Boy
06 Stay Together
07 Lollipop (feat. Big Bang)

2NE1 releases their first mini-album after huge sucess with their digital singles Lollipop (feat. Big Bang) and Fire. Korea keeps flooding the music industry with girl groups, one new girl group per month debuts on a regular basis. Well, at least it feels like that. 2NE1 are quite new, but with all the training girl groups go through before they’re actual debuts it feels as if they’ve been in the music industry forever. The mini-album starts of with Fire, which the intro experimentates with reggeaton a bit. I hate reggeaton, but I actually think this intro was a very good start to the album. Fire is pretty much they’re first real actual single. Since Lollipop (feat. Big Bang) was a promotional single for cellphone company Cyon. It makes a perfect debut and shows us what this girls are really capable of. Even though the song shows what any typical K-pop song now a days shows. The song is still very catchy and stands out from the rest of ordinary K-pop songs, it’s pretty impossible for any K-pop fan to fully hate it.

I Don’t Care promotional track from the album, also being their second official single, and third single overall. Shows that the girls can take a softer side. At first I wasn’t so psyched over the song but it grew on me quickly. Like Fire the song sticks with you. The song leaves electro-pop/hip hop experimentation a bit and shows us 2NE1’s r&b side. The girls rock it, as always. The powerful chorus is what I mostly love about this song, and this song usually gets stuck in my head. In The Club, like the title says, has a club feel to it. Makes a great song to just leave in the background and relax. Let’s Go PARTY is yet another song with a club feel, but unlike In The Club it has a more upbeat feel to it. But at the end, it’s still very similar to In The Club, and at the end up feeling the same way I feel when listening to In The Club. But still demonstrates to be a powerful song. Even if these two songs are very similar, at the end I think I prefer In The Club than Let’s Go PARTY.

Pretty Boy is very similar to Fire but unlike In The Club and Let’s Go PARTY which feel more like the same, Pretty Boy stands on it’s own. Now Pretty Boy would’ve made a great promotional track for the album. The girl’s vocals on this song are great, and it’s just a very catchy song. Stay Together is another take on a club song, but unlike In The Club and Let’s Go PARTY this one is more different. Has a more of an r&b feel from it, the girl’s vocals on this song goes to the fullest. Proving to us that these girls actually can sing. Lollipop (feat. Big Bang) is a very electronic hip hop song, and it’s one of those songs that you rather love it, or hate it. There’s no in between feelings for it. I on the other hand, absolutely adore this song. Super catchy, and very fun to listen to. For being 2NE1’s unofficial debut, it wasn’t bad at all.

In conclusion, I think this mini-album deserves five stars. It’s 100% perfect, the only flaws I could tell is making songs stand out from one another a bit more. But other than that this mini-album is just plain perfect especially for a debut. Packed with everything from great dance-pop tracks, club songs to r&b, it just makes the best party music. If only this was a full-length album rather than a mini! And it’s pretty amazing, because I haven’t felt this way for a K-pop girlgroup mini-album before. Most of them out there have great songs but still are missing something. 2NE1 truly stands out in the K-pop scene, and their future will just keep getting bigger and bigger.

Favorite Tracks:
01 Fire
02 I Don’t Care
03 In The Club
05 Pretty Boy
07 Lollipop (feat. Big Bang)

Mini-album Score:
A+

Tracklist:

01 WONDER
02 Joe le taxi
03 Cosmic Pink (THE LOWBROWS Remix)
04 AruとLito
05 WONDER (RimmiX)

WONDER EP is immi’s first major label release, and very impressive it is. immi is still very underground in the Japanese music scene, and hasn’t shown much popularity. But I’m sure that soon it’ll change. WONDER isn’t much different from her old material, but yet I can hear more quality. Her sound is very euro-electronica, and the reason of this is beacuser her producers are European if I’m not mistaken (which are N.A.i.D and Jetbikini). I absolutely adore this song, and makes a outstanding major debut. Unlike other electro-pop Japanese artists in the scene such as Aira Mitsuki, Perfume, Saori@destiny, and MEG, immi actually has a quality that makes her stand out from them. That is the vocoder. What I’m surprised about immi’s voice is that it fits so perfectly with electronic music that, if you’re a fan of Japanese electro-pop music, your mind automatically assume she’s vocoded.

Joe le taxi, also thrown in as a single from this EP, is another great song. I might say this is my favorite from the EP, I prefer it a bit more than WONDER. Joe le taxi is a cover, originally by French singer Vanessa Paradis. immi’s take on the French language isn’t that bad at all, but then again I’m not fluent in French so I shouldn’t know much. The song makes great use of electro synths, and makes a great song to listen with headphones only. Cosmic Pink (THE LOWBROWS Remix) isn’t a bad remix. At first I disliked it a lot, but then it grew on me. Still, I skip it when listening to the EP. I usually adore THE LOWBROWS remixes, and their original work too. But this remix of theirs seemed a little bit rushed. AruとLito starts with a very upbeat and pumped up intro. I absolutely adore the intro, but when the songs keeps going on and on, it gets a little repetitive. The 8bit sounds seem a little out of place, I don’t mind them, but I think the sound would’ve done better without them. But at the end, it’s still a very enjoyable song. But I don’t think it tops WONDER or Joe le taxi. WONDER (RimmiX), remix of WONDER, it seems that it must be a self-remix of N.A.i.D & Jetbikini, since they were the original producers of the song. Honestly this remix isn’t that great, I don’t think the vocals at first blend in with the remixed synths. The remix is kind of a mess if you ask me, it’s enjoyable in some points but at the end I still skip it. Either they should’ve worked better with this remix, or scrap it out all together. Not a very memorable remix.

In conclusion, very impressive major debut. immi’s career is now taking a huge turn. Becoming major is no easy work so I wish the best to immi! Her next EP, titled Alice EP, title track already released in single, demonstrated me that immi keeps getting better and better. But I’ll leave that to the review of Alice EP.

Favorite Tracks:
01 WONDER
02 Joe le taxi

EP Score:
A-

PS: For those of you who enjoy immi’s music, and would love to be part of a community that is all about her, why not join Cosmic Pink: immi Fan Community over at LiveJournal? You’ll be updated with news, media, videos, etc on her!

Tracklist:

01 MadNesS vol. 1
02 PROMiSE
03 ChaNge the WoRLd
04 Why oh Why
05 HEy GirL
06 KiSS KiSS xxx
07 RaiN
08 Oh Oh…
09 Something Missing
10 One of a Kind
11 WoNDeRLaND?
12 Shibuya de Punch
13 YOU
14 UP TO YOU

UP TO YOU is MiChi’s major debut album, and second album overall. MiChi is pretty much new to the Japanese music industry, who I think that achieved popularity among Japanese pop fans pretty quick. Her indies album showed that she had potential, but honestly I thought it was a very unorganized album. UP TO YOU on the other hand, was a very excellent major debut album. It filled all the empty spaces that her first indies album, MiChi MadNesS, left behind but at the same time it kept the very special indie touch that MiChi MadNesS had. Most people say that her genre is pop-rock, but if you listen carefully I’d say it’s not just pop-rock, but a mixture of electro and other genres as well. I see her more of an experimental artist.

MadNesS vol. 1 is simply an intro, that from the title you can tell she’s doing a reference to her first album MiChi MadNesS. Also sampling songs from the first album. There’s nothing much to say about this intro, but it’s a very nice opening for the album, very fun to listen to. But let’s keep moving on. PROMiSE, being also the first single of the album, starts off with a very nice guitar melody, and her pretty voice kicks in! PROMiSE is a very feel-good upbeat song. Makes you happy and even if you don’t understand Japanese, you can tell what the song is trying to say. What I love about MiChi is that all her lyrics are so Japanglish that you feel that you understand the song. The song it self is a mixture of pop-rock and electro-pop and makes a nice mixture indeed. Every time I’m in the mood for this song, is when I want to feel better about myself. Or am depressed about a situation, this song just makes me forget about it.

ChaNge the WoRLd, her second single from this album. ChaNge the WoRLd is yet another feel-good song. Pretty much I’d say it’s PROMiSE part 2, but it still has the quality that makes it stand out. It leaves out the electronica experimentation a bit, and sounds more pop-rock. I’d say her vocals on this song are more stand out than PROMiSE, and makes you see what a great singer MiChi is. Why oh Why, a different version of YOY, b-side of her YOU single. While the original YOY found on her YOU single is more pop and experimental I might say, which the genre of it is pretty undescribable. Why oh Why deals more with electronica, and I actually prefer this version than the original YOY. This version is more of a catchy song. The lyrics are great, and makes you want to sing along. HEy GirL b-side of her PROMiSE single, which also was thrown in as a single, is yet another catchy song. It takes experimentation as it’s main genre, and makes it pretty decent. Even though honestly I don’t think it stands out from the album, but I still consider it one of my favorites.

KiSS KiSS xxx, third single of the album, again a very similar song to her previous singles PROMiSE and ChaNge the WoRLd. Even though the song is super nice and catchy, I wanted MiChi to try something else with the song. But I guess I’m just saying this cause I already heard this song before the album, and was expecting it to be different than the previous singles. But in the end is not a bad song, and her vocals are great. RaiN is MiChi’s take on an acoustic pop song. And I might say she did a hell of a job. The song is nothing different from any other regular acoustic song, but yet MiChi’s take on it makes it special. Oh Oh… is probably the only song I don’t like so much from the album. I don’t hate it, but it annoys me. Mostly because of the lyrics which sound very childish and teen agnstish and in the way MiChi does the vocals. I don’t know if she tried to show her “bad girl” side on this song by swearing, but this song could have been scrapped out of the album. It sounds like a rejected Avril Lavigne song, in my opinion anyways.

Something Missing has to be my second favorite original album track (first one being Shibuya de Punch). There isn’t anything “wow” factor as I like to say about this song. But her vocals are very powerful in this song, and the song for some reason makes me think of my early teenage years. I think this song would made a great album promotional track! One of a Kind, b-side from her ChaNge the WoRLd single, could have been left behind. It’s not a bad song, but not a memorable one either. I have no feelings towards this song, but then again, I don’t mind listening to it.

WoNDeRLaND?, b-side of her KiSS KiSS xxx single, starts off with a harmonica, which makes it sound like a bluegrass song, and I hate bluegrass. But then the guitar kicks in and saves the day! Like One of a Kind, this song could’ve also been left behind. Nothing special about the song, but still enjoyable. Shibuya de Punch has to be the most outstanding original album track, at least in my opinion. The song takes experimentation to a whole new level. Experimentating mostly with electronica & 80’s  synth-pop which is why it makes it stand out from the rest of the tracks. Even though her vocals aren’t the most powerful in this song, it’s still great. YOU, her fourth and last single of this era, a very heartwarming ballad. Every artist needs a ballad now and then right? Though I just wish it wasn’t made a single. The ballad is very great and soothing. But it doesn’t make it stand out from any other regular ballad. Many of us were dissapointed with this single, mostly because MiChi’s sound had a big change. This song would make a good original album track. Making it a single was a bit of a mistake if you ask me. UP TO YOU, finally the last song of the album. For those of you long-time MiChi fans, probably at first judging from the intro, you would think this is just another original album track. But then heard Fxxk You And Your Money kick in. UP TO YOU is a new version of old song Fxxk You And Your Money found on her debut indies album MiChi MadNesS. The original song was completely in English, and had a more dance/electro-pop feel. While on this version, it’s completely in Japanese and it goes mostly to pop rock. Some changes has been made from the original, but most of it is just reclying the original song. I was a bit dissapointed, I honestly prefer the original, and for UP TO YOU being the title track of the album they should’ve done a great new song. But I have to say, I do love what they did in the end how they vocoded her voice in 8bit style, which is what I mostly love about the song.

In conclusion, this is a VERY impressive major debut album. It shows us what MiChi is really all about, and she really expressed herself perfectly in it. Though I must admit, for her next album she should work harder and not make the mistakes she did on this one. But for being her first major debut album, it was great! I deffinetly recommend it.

Favorite tracks:
01 MadNesS vol. 1
02 PROMiSE
03 ChaNge the WoRLd
04 Why oh Why
05 HEy GirL
06 KiSS KiSS xxx
09 Something Missing
12 Shibuya de Punch

Album Score:
A

Tracklist:
01 Don’t let you down
02 material girl
03 Don’t let you down (Instrumental)
04 material girl (Instrumental)

AYUSE KOZUE releases her latest single “Don’t let you down”. A very nice, happy, upbeat synth-pop song. Now it seems that her collaboration with electro-pop artist Aira Mitsuki has left an effect on her on wanting to use the vocoder. Even if it’s just the intro. When the intro started, I was very surprised. Expecting a very electro-pop inspired song, but I was wrong. Even though she keeps experimenting with her synths. I’m glad I was wrong though, she has a gorgeous voice and the vocoder would just hide that away.

Don’t let you down starts with AYUSE’s heavily vocoded voice, which makes a very nice intro. Then her normal voice kicks in. The song is pure “feel good” feeling if you know that I mean. It just makes you want to smile, even if you don’t understand the lyrics. The song has a kind of 80’s synth-pop vibe, which in my book is great. But there isn’t much to the song. The song itself is good, and makes you feel all good and happy. But it isn’t something I would listen to all the time.

On the other hand material girl goes back to her R&B roots, but still isn’t afraid to use her synths. I was expecting a Madonna cover honestly, but I’m glad it wasn’t. The song is down-tempo, and I find it relaxing. As I am not a huge fan of R&B, AYSUE KOZUE is one of the few artists that make me love the genre.

Favorite tracks:
01 Don’t let you down
02 material girl

Single score:
B

Colorful Sounds is proud to present Sweet Luxury! Sweet Luxury is a blog dedicated on mainly reviewing music. All reviews by Colorful Sounds webmaster Pedro!

To celebrate the opening of Sweet Luxury, I will be posting several reviews this week. Just to fill up the blog a bit! Then reviews will be posted on a basis of at least two per week. One for a new release, and one for an old release, unless there is no new release of my interest, then it will be two old releases.

Thanks for visiting!

PS: Sorry the blog is looking unthemey at the moment. There’s some problems with the WordPress themes option. I’ll change the theme/header as soon as WordPress fixes this!