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