Tracks:

Regular Edition Tracklist

1. GALAXY BOY

2. China Discotica

3. Colorful Tokyo Sounds NO.9

4. Darling Wondering Staring

5. HEART LINE ALIVE

6. China Discotica (Substance Remix)

7. Fantasy Candy

8. High Bash (Original Ver.)

9. Swallowtail D.A.N.C.E (Cherryboy function ver.)

10. Beep Count Fantastic (feat. Terukado)

11. Yellow Supercar

12. Happiness land

13. STAR FRUITS SURF RIDER

14. Rock’n Roll is Dead

15. ROMANTIC ROPE

16. Darling Wondering Staring (PLASTIC FANTASTIC remix)

17. L0ne1yBoy L0ne1yGirl

Limited Edition Tracklist

6. High Bash (YAKENOHARA ver.)

13. YAKENOHARA MEGAMIX

Aira Mitsuki’s COPY was released on September 3rd, 2008. It’s her 1st album.

Beginning this EXTREMELY confusing album and the main promotional track for the album is GALAXY BOY. When I saw the PV for this song, I was immediately taken in by the synth and space sounds, as well as the beat. This song is by far one of my favourite, just because of how spacey it sounds. Also, Aira’s voice is under some vocoder and it’s clear that she REALLY does have a lisp, but it’s cute. <3 Anyway, I like the use of the synth beeps and loops to make it sound ethereal. Perfect track for promoting this great album.

HEART LINE ALIVE opens quietly with a quiet dance beat, then builds up fast. I dunno why but, I really liked this song. Aira voice and the background sound good because I like the harmonization. This song is a lot like GALAXY BOY, but has a less aggressive beat, but it has the synth beeps and loops.

The first upbeat song to appear is Fantasy Candy. Obviously the name should give it away. This song is cute, charming, and catchy, perfect mix right? As soon as it opens Aira pulls me in with her voice and then the song turns into a nice dance number. Definately one of the best tracks on the album.

High Bash opens with a charming mix of piano and synth, and Aira’s voice at a somewhat higher tone. I REALLY like this song for some reason, it just stands out. Anyway, I like the beepy, echoey synth that is played throughout, as well as the piano chords. They add an extremely nice touch.

The yakenohara version of High Bash was okay, although the original is a lot better. This one takes away a lot of the synth and adds a heavier beat and more monotone synth. It still keeps the piano during the chorus and leaves a lot from the original, but the original is better, IMO.

Wait a second… shouldn’t we get an original before we get a different version? We enter the albums random fullblown dance song phase with the cherry function version of Swallowtail D.A.N.C.E. This track features some actual instruments, but still keeps the trademark synth, but a darker, more mature sound. The music is quite aggressive and lets up only at two parts, and those parts are vocal parts, featuring Aira sporting a lower tone. Throughout the song, you can hear a sound that resembles a tambourine. Synth or real?

Beep Count Fantastic storms in with aggressive techno. This song is BY FAR the most aggressive song on the album, it’s also the last dance track. This song has minimal singing, only some parts where you can hear Aira’s extremely vocodered and layered voice. Probably my least favourite track, but it’s still good nontheless.

Yellow Supercar opens with thumping beats and loud synth, then speeds up a lot, shortly after that it adds some sparkly synth noises. I really like how upbeat and fast the song is, it definately pumps you up!

Ending the normal edition of the album is Happiness land. I really like how cute this song sounds. It’s considerably slower and is just really nice. I like how transparent it sounds and the way Aira elongates happiness land. Perfect way to end the album.

I would have never expected Aira Mitsuki to cover a Lenny Kravitz song… but she did. Rock’n Roll is Dead opens with muffled guitar rifts, then quickly turns into this rock/techno hybrid. I thought this song was really neat and I’m glad she covered it.

L0ne1yBoy L0ne1yGirl (lol1337much?) opens with Aira singing the the title. This song doesn’t really offer anything new, it sounds a lot like STAR FRUITS SURF RIDER, but without the acoustic guitar, but it’s still a really good song.

The YAKENOHARA MEGAMIX is a medley of a lot of her songs, Colorful Tokyo Sounds NO.9, China Discotica, ROMANTIC ROPE, and the China Discotica (Substance Remix) to name a few. I thought this was a neat idea, but it’s really way too long, clocking in at 11:20. For those of you with a lot of patience, this is for you. Thus, concluding this very long album.

FINALLY, THIS REVIEW TOOK SO LONG. Aira Mitsuki made a solid debut album, IMO. It offers cute synth, aggressive songs, and a few dance tracks. Aira is definately one of the best technopop artists out there and if you’re looking for something new, this is the perfect place to start. Before I conclude this review, I’d just like to say that her lisp is sometimes more noticeable in some of the tracks, and I can’t help but smile at it. Anyway, this is Ethan, singing off, and I hope you enjoy this review from this great artist!

Overall Grade: