Draco
Enter the Draco
[Slabco]
Rating: 7.3
Even though I've long been down with the Slabco sound, I was starting to
wonder if the label was in a bit of a rut. Slabco's vision of a four-track
nation under a groove was first articulated on amazing cassette-only releases.
But since then, too many lo-tech bedroom beats have made their way into our
stereos. As time passes, we have to work a little harder to hear the charm in
a scratchy 8-bit James Brown sample and an amateurish Moog. But Draco, Slabco's
latest family member, is something altogether different.
I know what you're thinking. Two Japanese kids straining retro cheese through
the cultural appropriation sieve and adding some stereotypical Eastern naivete
to the mix: who needs it? But get Draco's angle: instead of just looping a beat,
layering some synth and playing an answering machine message on top, these two
actually write songs. Good songs! And singer/keyboardist Mima has the best
voice to come out of the Japanese pop underground in a while. There's no sugary
chirping here. Half the time she sounds like Ricky Lee Jones, and on the more
upbeat tracks, she slips into a more rhythmic, Jill Cunniff kind of thing.
Naoki Morimoto handles the instrumental duties with aplomb, wrapping catchy
guitar accents around his pristine homemade beats (this is Slabco after
all, but his programmed drums are clear and fresh) and tasteful sound effects.
Morimoto also produced and mixed the record, capturing a full, crisp sound all
by his lonesome.
The sunny "If You Want to Mek It" is the catchiest track here, with a classic
radio melody that easily mops the charts with any recent Top 40 hit. "Noise and
Light" finds Mima in weepy torch mode, a guise that suits her dramatic vocal
personality perfectly. And "Draco Me Down," which balances choppy beats,
cinematic guitar and a breathy processed voice, is an ideal introduction. On
the down side, there's some filler on this relatively brief album-- the
instrumental "First Buckaroo vs. Summer Alien" goes nowhere, and there are a
couple of extraneous "bonus beats" cuts. Otherwise, it's a pretty safe bet that
Draco could become a player in the indie pop underground. It's not like Cibo
Matto are cutting it these days.
-Mark Richard-San