Takako Minekawa

On her third release, Fun9 (somehow pronounced "funk"), Minekawa lays down a manifesto of experimental pop and future folk. It's a curious record of breathy, My Bloody Valentine-esque dissonance, beautiful melodies and experimental bedroom samplings. Yet Fun9 is catchy without being pure kitsch. Minekawa makes jet-set pop for the future rock set. The best songs on Fun9 were co-written and performed with last year's Matador poster boy Cornelius, and the record is almost worth buying for their single "Plash" alone; imagine your favorite Lush song mixed with Squarepusher breakbeats and Japanese Kim Deal-esque vocals, and you've got one of the best pop songs of the century so far. Unfortunately, Cornelius's genius hand is evident on only three tracks on this recording, but Minekawa is still compelling on her own. Hopelessly quixotic, dreamy and optimistic, she gets some serious mileage out of reverb-drenched vocals and her sampler. This is intimate music, from the fun and twisted mind of Ms. Minekawa and her keyboard to you. Despite a few missteps, Fun9 is a fantastic voyage through the new global-pop underground.