A cavalcade of cutesiness careens toward me. I am chafing at it right away. I wince to even type so insipid a phrase as ?pajama pop? or to gaze upon the silly pink packaging. Then ?Good Morning Melody? starts, and Yoshimi Tomida?s faux-naif vocals paralyze my reasoning skills, and not really in a good way. ?Wake up, wake up sleepyhead,? she coos coyly, ?make some coffee?? Ugh. Don?t tell me what to do, OK, Mr. and Ms. People Who Are Compelled to Ape Childlike Innocence and Wonder at Every Turn?

I had to get the bad-attitude crabbery out there before I acknowledged that I rather like the music on here. It was created with a blend of analog and digital technology, and it comes out sounding a bit like what Autechre might have if, after Warm, they actually became warmer and more melodic than algorithmic. ?Sleepytime Samba? and ?Pajama Pop Party? are particularly lively, with glockenspiel and harp floating over a burbling bass. ?Magical?? and ?Building Castles in the Sky? soothe in the way they?re intended to, and while they don?t really go anywhere musically the space they create is pleasantly placid. ?Floating Away? is available on a remix 12? on Run Roc Records, and while I haven?t heard that, the original song clearly lends itself to that kind of reinterpretation. The song is basically a series of twinkling marimba arpeggios, with occasional bass backing and breathy, low-lying vocals; again, it has a calming effect, but you can also picture a DJ running wild in the spaces underneath the fluttering melody.

So ? we are in TweeLand here, but if you can get past those trappings, there?s some good, forward-thinking modern music amid the cute. 6/10 -- Sal Addays (3 April, 2007)