The Singles Jukebox

Garish? Considered? Both? None?

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Patrick St. Michel: Kero Kero Bonito are basically Halcali re-imagined for the 2010’s, which is a proposition I’m on board with. “Lipslap” falls just short of the highs the trio have managed in the last couple of years — they are at their best when striking upon sweetness — but shows off their playful approach to sound and lyrics.
[7]

Iain Mew: Kero Kero Bonito’s first album was a kaleidoscope of ideas. They threw together video game sounds, assorted samples and musical styles in a whirl with bilingual wordplay, in a way that emphasised fun but used it to deeper effect too. “Sick Beat” sampled Super Mario 64 to proclaim the place of women in video games, by some cosmic quirk a month before Gamergate (as well as “Shake it Off”). On “Lipslap”, they sound musically more considered, maintaining one bouncy pop-house groove throughout, but lyrically sillier than ever. They do it well and add enough twists to make it last, but their individuality is mostly reduced down to how Sarah Midori Perry hops and skips over the track. I like it, but Suiyobi no Campanella are already doing a lot more in a similar space and I hope it’s not the only future for KKB.
[6]

Will Adams: All the insouciance and chintz of of Yelle track with a dash of Luciana’s “Yeah Yeah” to boot. Kero Kero Bonito have finally figured out that cheap works far better when given enough polish to make it worth revisiting.
[7]

Alfred Soto: With percussion rattling like cheap jewelry and vocalists making blowing noises over a twitchy-twitchy beat, the London trio is in love with an ungodly racket. “I’m not one to lip read, and you don’t come with subtitles,” they sass to a lover, fortunate to be the recipient of such wit, I might add.
[7]

Anthony Easton: I can’t quite figure out the social politics, and the aesthetics are like trying to work out the compounded, jump-cut, meme-tastic world of Vine celebrities, but it annoyed me enough that I felt old and that this was the future. 
[8]

Cassy Gress: I would say, “I love the bloopy beat but can’t stand this type of bland cute-girl rap.”  However, on multiple listens, the bloopy beat is actively boosting the vocals, like ripples bouncing a rubber duckie around in a bathtub.  The duckie stands still while the water makes it dance.
[8]

Jer Fairall: Buoyant and goofy, led by a rap that mixes sass and nonsense with equal weight and thus comes off as far more playfully inconsequential than cheekily self-impressed, as it would have coming from, say, Lily Allen. I wish the music was on par with the dadaism of the lyrics, though.
[6]

Micha Cavaseno: Princess Superstar begat Peaches begat Uffie begat many and many an unfunky “Ha Ha, I have a rapper voice! (Just kiddiiiiiiing ;D)” act into the world. I sigh heavily, hoping that one day this blight shall leave the Earth. For I have seen a world where these dorks stop with the antics, where they either embrace their outsider/unconventional perspectives with a true understanding of rap and try to meet the genre halfway, or destroy any hint of sanity. These gestures don’t always work for commercial/artistic or any level whatsoever, but I can respect the effort on certain moments of clarity (or confusion, take your pick). But too often self-consciousness rears its ugly head, and the raps become part of music and behavior that suits a person trying to do a high-school project about recycling. No. No — LOL, right? I don’t care how witty or peppy this is to those who get the *wink wink nudge nudge* point: such an amateurish attempt to be endearing is condescending and a waste of my time.
[0]

Cédric Le Merrer: Playful lite-house with “exotic” overtones and Tom Tom Club-ish rapping. The international hipster lingo doesn’t change that much and this will no doubt be played in many a concept store around the world. I’d like to say I’m not falling for these trappings.
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