m-flo loves chemistry - astrosexy

when my otaku phase was the biggest i started listening to other acts rather just hamasaki ayumi and apart from the other singers that were hot on the scene i also started getting into m-flo. they are/were a japanese hip-hop act that originally consisted of dj/producer(/and occactional rapper) taku takahashi, rapper verbal and singer & rapper lisa although the latter left after their second album.

to explain m-flo to anyone that haven't heard them i'd say a japanese take on black eyed peas wouldn't be that far off. even though black eyed peas stayed backpacker for longer and m-flo had already gone into electronic sounds when black eyed peas was still dipping their toes into it.

also m-flo did hoodie rap and r&b as well after they went more electronic and the thing to know is that it didn't go fully house oriented, it was a whole lot of drum & bass and some garage and big beat flirts.

anyhow, after lisa had departed they started taking on various j-pop singers & acts and having them guest on their tracks. this is where i got into the game when it was near impossible to escape a song called "miss you" (that had an amazing video), the b-side to miss you was this track "astrosexy".

this was a track i originally didn't like but damn if it was catchy and eventually it won me over. to be really honest it sounds like they were trying to a daft punk kind of thing but with little party hip-hop action going on. it kicks off with some nice rough drums that make you think it'll be a big beat nod but it then goes into the filterfunk but with a 2-step slant.

it shifts back and forth throughout the track and this was another factor for me to liking the song. taku takehashi's production on this is insane as there is so much sound swelling through and it keeps consistent. even when he just randomly throws in the riff from marshall jefferson's "move your body" in a bridge, it alls just makes sense.

the featured act on this is called chemistry and are/were a number one selling japanese r&b act, i have no idea about them elsewise as i wasn't interested to hear their songs before and neither am i now but i do want hear this more. but i'm more likely to play the instrumental version of this.

listen here (youtube)

i think it's also available buying on itunes but i can only find the japanese link (here), this song was also redone as "now or never" for the japanese astro boy series. that version is a bit smoother around the edges and loses it's charm.