The fact that Minty Fresh has released Japanese singer Kahimi Karie's self-titled album has arguably more to do with featured collaborations with Momus and Cornelius than with her own popularity, but the results are the same: the Shibuya-Kei music scene that has dominated much of Tokyo is finally seeping over into America.
Kahimi Karie's work displays the same genre-hopping tendencies most imported Shibuya-Kei (Pizzicato Five and Cornelius in particular) shares: a heavy Jobim/bossa nova influence, an equally heavy Serge Gainsbourg influence (Karie, who lives in Paris, sings in both French and English, and the album features a cover of Gainsbourg's "Sereiux Comme Plaisir"), and equal parts American and British pop (the Cornelius-produced "Candyman" has a Jackson 5 bounciness to it, while "Le Roi Soliel" is borderline dream-pop).
Some of the album's highlights are the aforementioned collabortations, including a version of "Lolitapop Dollhouse," which Momus wrote for Karie (and which appears on Momus' Ping Pong), but the whole of the album is very solid, thanks to the clever genre-mixing we've come to expect from Japanese pop, and the wispy little-girl vocals of Karie.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Candy ManCornelius, Kahimi Karie | Kahimi Karie | Play | 04:27 | 10 MB | 33 MB |
| 2 | Zoom Up!Kahimi Karie, Keigo Oyamada | Kahimi Karie | Play | 02:03 | 4 MB | 13 MB |
| 3 | Lolitapop DollhouseMomus | Kahimi Karie | Play | 04:08 | 9 MB | 28 MB |
| 4 | Dis-Moi Quelque Chose Avant de Dormir | Kahimi Karie | Play | 02:07 | 4 MB | 13 MB |
| 5 | The Way You Close Your EyesKahimi Karie | Kahimi Karie | Play | 02:44 | 6 MB | 16 MB |
| 6 | Take It Easy My Brother Charlie | Kahimi Karie | Play | 03:40 | 8 MB | 25 MB |
| 7 | Serieux Comme Le Plaisia | Kahimi Karie | Play | 02:19 | 5 MB | 15 MB |
| 21 mins | 49 MB | |||||
| 21 mins | 145 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beck | Guest Artist |
| 2 | Jorge Ben | Composer |
| 3 | Bryan Burton-Lewis | Composer |
| 4 | Cornelius | Composer, Guest Artist |
| 5 | Serge Gainsbourg | Composer |
| 6 | Kahimi Karie | Composer, Primary Artist |
| 7 | Momus | Composer, Guest Artist |
| 8 | Keigo Oyamada | Composer |
| 9 | Roger Seibel | Mastering |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |