m-flo - KYO

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KYO is m-flo’s 9th studio album and features their usual mix of musical styles, trends and future/sci-fi imagery, but most importantly welcomes the return of singer LISA to achieve the ideal balance between the cutting edge and personal tradition.

Over a career spanning 20 years, m-flo has gathered a lot of different fans as they’ve never adhered to a single genre, touching everything from pop, dance, rap, R&B, garage and breaks, and in their most recent guise they were heavy on the EDM accompanying its dominance over the last decade. So with the return of LISA the question was always going to be would they return to their roots or continue to pursue a harder club sound?

As it turns out, the answer is kind of neither. While LISA left in 2002, it’s not like they went into a stasis chamber and made something exactly the same (even though long time fans would have been pretty happy with that). With Taku and VERBAL’s continued work in production for other artists, DJing and remixing, they’ve stayed on top of all the prevailing trends and delivered a progressive up-to-date m-flo album that still features their unique signatures like tempo changes, strings and harps, bilingual wordplay, digitized samples, vocal back and forth and sci-fi pop culture references (“Blade Runnin’ from 2001 ’n back”).

The result is a little something for everyone, like the reggaeton influenced “Toxic Sweet”, the urban R&B vibes on “PULSE”, the current chart-friendly “HUMAN LOST” and even drum and bass on “MAKE IT BREAK IT”. But you’ll also hear Spanish courtesy of J Balvin, VERBAL using different flows to match his contemporary peers, and LISA’s voice is subject to more digital manipulation. In typical m-flo style no song can be pigeon holed into a specific genre as they usually employ an electronic/digital angle for a futuristic version of current trends. It feels both new and familiar at once, fluidly shifting between past, future and present. And for further proof of their influence and timely connections, the second CD is a non stop mix by in the blue shirt featuring remixes from some of the best and brightest DJs and producers around today like starRo, Sweet William, tofubeats, Kan Sano and WONK.

This diversity suits the modern age where people can pick up single tracks and slot them into playlists, skipping anything they don’t dig. In fact the bulk of KYO comes from two EPs released since 2018. But that would do this album a disservice because it’s designed as a listening experience with intros and interludes, building from a reintroduction to the group to a recap and emotional conclusion at the end.

More importantly the heart of the album lies in its central concept of KYO. The album’s logo is a highly stylised version of the character “響” (echo) but they use the more versatile reading of KYO which has the same sound in words like 音響 (acoustics), 共鳴 (sympathy/resonance), 狂気 (madness), 今日 (today), 東京 (Tokyo), 鏡面 (mirror surface), 境界 (border), 協力 (co-operation). It hints at being something that they’ve been searching for over the last 20 years of partying and contact with different races and ideas through time and space, as a group or individually. In the end it’s a little bit like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz or Chihiro in Spirited Away, “KYO is always in my heart” sings LISA. But that realisation is always only ever earned after a long journey, and listening to this album in the context of their large body of work makes it so much more satisfying.

For better or worse, the last three albums had Taku and VERBAL partying on the edges of the galaxy, jumping onto whatever was hot and making as much noise as possible with any form of life available, but with LISA back on board it feels like they’ve come home to humanity, settling back in orbit around this planet. It only took 15 years to figure out (or maybe they knew the whole time) that although two’s company, three is KYO*. No question.

*as in 最強, the strongest

新たな章【 m-flo 3.0 】の幕開けとも言える曲でフィーチャリングに迎えたのが、飛ぶ鳥を落とす勢いの世界No.1 アーティストJ. Balvin。世界各国で劇場公開される、グローバルSF劇場アニメ「HUMAN LOST人間失格」の主題歌として、m-floとJ. Balvinが共作し新曲を書き下ろした。日本語、英語、スペイン語の3ヶ国語が見事に絡み合い、未来を予見させるサウンドに乗り、異次元的な調和を生み出している。これまで "loves"というフィーチャリングの新定義で音楽シーンに革命を起こしてきたm-floが20周年をむかえ、メンバーとして再加入したLISAと共に新たな一歩として撃ち出す【m-flo 3.0】の新曲は、ジャンルも言葉も国境も超えるグローバルネオポップス。LISAがJ. Balvinと同じコロンビアというルーツを持ち、今回の作品で共演を果たすというのも運命的な出来事といえる。 m-flo announces collaboration with J Balvin will be the theme song for global animated film "HUMAN LOST"! During this year's Anime Expo in Los Angeles, America's largest Anime Convention, m-flo announced that their upcoming song "HUMAN LOST feat.

m-floの胸にグッとくる、ラブバラード。切ないエモーショナルソング EKTOが6/24よりストリーミング&ダウンロードスタート! https://m-flo.lnk.to/0624_ekto ↑↑ Please enjoy brand new song EKTO on streaming and download! ピアノではじまる繊細なトラックに、LISAの女心の切ない歌が印象的に聞こえてくる。一緒にいるのにどこか心が満たされない。そんな孤独な心境が綴られている。対照的にVERBALの力強いラップがこの曲を一層ひきたたせる。 この曲は「ハワイ州観光局」の協力のもと、ミュージックビデオをハワイ島で撮影。まるで別の惑星にいるような神秘的で宇宙的な仕上がりとなっている。 mortal portal e.p. 7月3日 ON SALE 2019年7月7日にメジャーデビュー20周年を迎えるm-floが、進化したサウンドを詰め込んだ「mortal portal e.p.」をリリース! 神秘的なハワイ島を舞台にミュージックビデオを撮影した、スピリチュアル せつな系恋愛ソング「EKTO」。J-POPとしては初のジャンル"チルトラップ "に挑戦した、ぶっ飛びスペーシーソング「STRSTRK」。ノリノリなグルービーサウンドの「MARS DRIVE」に、話題の16歳SASUKEのリミックスも収録のてんこ盛りシングル。J-POPシーンの革命児として新ジャンル、未来、宇宙を感じさせるm-floサウンドをお届け。 CD 1. EKTO 2. STRSTRK 3. MARS DRIVE 4. EKTO -SASUKE Remix- 5. EKTO -Instrumental- 6. STRSTRK -Instrumental- 7. MARS DRIVE -Instrumental- 8.

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Royce Leong