Perfume - Triangle (2009)

Perfume has always been a band heavily doused in a wash of Autotune, to the verge of sounding mechanical themselves. Of course, this is somewhat their allure -- a ‘live' version of electropop in the vein of {$Daft Punk}'s samples. The magic is performed primarily by producer {$Yakuta Nasutaka}, a master of the mixing board. At the same time, any individuality of the trio of girls nominally Perfume seems lost under the nearly-synthesized-speech that makes up the bulk of the album. The tracks flow into one another fluidly, almost to the point of being indistinguishable. Because the vocals are constantly tweaked, they become simply an instrument rather than a focal point. Instead, the highlights come from the productions themselves. An entirely entertaining deep funk in Edge. A tripped-up disco vibe in Night Flight. A {$Yoko Kanno}-like bit of mood music in Zero Gravity. For basic background music at a pop-heavy dance party, something like Triangle would be hard to beat. For musical exploration and complexity, it's an album that would be hard not to beat.