Customer Reviews

Expo Expo

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
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M-Flo's 2nd album (well, 3rd if you count the also excellent remix album "The Replacement Percussionists") is another superb piece of work from the trio. All in all, the album seems to be more balanced than their previous work, and there were only 1 or 2 songs that didn't really grab my interest. The only downsides are that the transitional pieces (which cover an international "EXPO EXPO Experience" that can be jacked into using a special visor) didn't seem as interesting as "The Replacemnt Percussionists" and that the rap-centered songs on "EXPO EXPO" (Dispatch and EXPO EXPO) did not seem as clever and infectious as the ones on their 1st album, "Planet Shining" (saywhatchagotta and Quantum Leap).

More info about a few specific songs...

EXPO EXPO - Includes 2 guest rappers and is completely in English except for an odd computer voice in the background. I liked it.

Come Again - My personal favorite. Well done in both the rapping and non-rapping parts. A fun, lighthearted song.

Dispatch - Another song with 2 guest rappers. This time singing in Japanese as well as English. Japanese with a New York accent is an odd sounding creation. Strange lyrics including seperate bits about words and ultrasonic sounds emanating from the buttocks. This one didn't really appeal to me.

Orbit-3 - A song about a 3-way love triangle. Very much in sync with M-Flo's style. Excellent.

Expo Expo is the follow-up album to m-flo's first album Planet Shining. They share a similar underground sound consisting of a careful meld of hip-hop style ("Dispatch", "Expo Expo", "How You Like Me Now?") and Japanese pop sensibilities ("orbit-3", "come again", "Yours only.") The interludes that separate the tracks out paint out the futuristic image of the Intergalactic Expo Experience, with a radio spot by Japanese presenter Mako Hattori explaining what's going on and what she is looking forward to seeing in the Expo.

Verbal's raps are witty and fast, though he does exhibit some idiosyncrasies clearly copped from American rappers such as Will Smith ("ha-ha!") and Jay-Z. Like Deltron 3030 the lyrics are often very futuristic. Vocalist Lisa, who has since left the group as of 2008, has a strange but compelling voice. The album is a whole is professionally tied together by DJ and producer Taku Takahashi. Expo Expo is a great listen that I keep coming back to.

I have only a few things to add to Adam Paul Bronson's excellent review.

There are several reasons why "Expo Expo" is such a compelling album. First of all, the music is fantastic. The backing tracks are a mix of hip-hop, jazz, soul, and electronica. When you stack Taku and Verbal's excellent rhyming and Lisa's pitch-perfect, soulful singing on top of that, you get a composition that is far greater than the sum of its parts. And finally, the subject of the lyrics: geek-core hip-hop. It is thus no surprise to find that Taku lists Macintosh computers among his favourite things in this, the only English-language info I have been able to dredge up on m-Flo: http://www.avexnet.or.jp/english/mflo/

I can also translate the song titles listed above as simply "Japanese Title":

1. Seimon (Main Gate)
3. Higashimon (East Gate)
7. Minamimon (South Gate)
10. Chuo Tower (Central Tower)
12. Nishimon (West Gate)
15. Arigatou (Thanks)