Search - Towa Tei :: Flash

Pretty good...

J. Crabtree | Lubbock, Texas United States | 07/31/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Well, this one sounds similar to "SRATM" in many ways, with chirps and beeps accenting many of the tracks. I have to disagree with the other reviewer's description of "Sometime Samurai". It doesn't sound at all like a jalopy driving through an exotic marketplace (not even metaphorically). Rather, it is a straightforward pop song, and not a very colorful one compared to some of Towa Tei's other stuff. It's still a catchy song, though. Luckily there are no house tracks on this album (my personal opinion). I really like this CD, and I've listened to it many times, but I just don't feel like it compares well to most of the other stuff he's done. I almost get the impression that he kind of rushed making this album to meet a deadline or something. The track with Arto Lindsay is a little formulaic, with chopped up bossa nova guitar and beats. It could have been a lot better. Unfortunately, Arto Lindsay doesn't even come into the song until about 3 minutes later, after the track sounds like it's ended, but comes back for an encore. He sings about five words and then calls it a day. Overall, this is a good album, but none of the tracks really blew me away. It just sounds as if he didn't put as much effort into it this time."