Top 5 favorite m-flo albums
By Shay on Sep 16th, 2007m-flo has been holding it down on the Japanese popular hip-hop scene since the turn of the century. Since 1999, the iconic group has released 5 full-length albums, remix albums, 2 best-of collections, over 20 singles, and more.
Here at SparkPlugged, I compiled a list of my favorite m-flo LPs countdown-style. My thoughts on each release and favorite tracks are included.
5. EXPO EXPO
2001’s EXPO EXPO was m-flo’s sophomore release. While this album has the most singles released from it (7 total), I feel that the overall CD is a bit weak. It’s pretty laid back and sounds really chill. Of all the releases, EXPO EXPO is the most relaxing listen. While there is no m-flo album I don’t like, this is just the one I enjoy the least (which is still quite a bit overall).
Favorite Tracks: “Your’s Only,”, “magenta rain”, “come again”, “prism”, “orbit-3″
4. COSMICOLOR
COSMICOLOR is m-flo’s latest drop. Released in 2007, it has some pretty big hits inside. Most of it is pretty good but some weak spots lower the overall quality of the album. This is the only m-flo release that I actually skip some tracks on (”Picture Perfect Love” and “Summer Time Love” rarely get played).
Favorite Tracks: “Love Song” feat. Bonnie Pink, “Love to Live By” feat. Chara, “Love Don’t Cry” feat. Crystal Kay, “Love Me After 12AM” feat. Alex (CLAZZIQUAI), “Luvotomy” feat. Amuro Namie
3. Astromantic
Released in 2004, Astromantic is m-flo’s first album as a duo contains their most popular singles by far. It was their first fully collaborative effort and gave birth to the “m-flo loves” series. The music is packed full of catchiness. From loops, choruses, hooks, and more, Astromantic surely has a lot to offer. It’s a great pick-me-up listen.
Favorite Tracks: “miss you” feat. melody & Yamamoto Ryohei, “Astrosexy” feat. Chemistry, “The Love Bug” feat. BoA, “Uchuu No Woah Woah feat. Boy Ken & Black Bottom Brass Band”, “Life is Beautiful” feat. Double & Toku
2. Planet Shining
This is m-flo’s wonderous debut album. Dropped in 2000, Planet Shining is very strong and sounds the most true to the group’s rap roots. It’s a great album shows off the ‘m-flo as a trio’ the best. It’s in stark contrast to it successor EXPO EXPO with its energetic vocals/rap and staccatoic rhythms. As if that wasn’t enough, Planet Shining is 2 discs and the only m-flo album to actually include some remixes on the original release.
Favorite Tracks: “Chronopsycology”, “Hands”, “Ten Below Blazing”, “Quantum Leap”, “Come Back To Me”
1. Beat Space Nine
Beat Space Nine is drastically different from my Number 2 favorite, but it is great in a different way. This is the release that has me coming back for more the most. As a whole, Beat Space Nine is the strongest. No one track stands out as ‘weak’ but some do jump above others. It’s full of wall-to-wall smooth vibes that find a perfect medium between the high energy and laid-backedness of their previous efforts.
Favorite Tracks: “I’m Da 1″ feat. Wheesung, “Taste Your Stuff” feat. Bennie K, “So Exculsive” feat. Sowelu, “Loop in My Heart” feat. Emyli & Yoshika, “Dopamine” feat. Emyli & Diggy Mo’
Well that’s my opinion, what’s your’s. What are your top 5 favorite albums or songs?
The remix album for COSMICOLOR, electriCOLOR comes out on Sep. 26. Stay tuned for my thoughts on that and maybe I’ll do a Top 5 favorite m-flo remix albums countdown too.
Shay is done writing this article.
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ahh, m-flo. i used to have a couple of their albums back in the day. actually i think i copied them to minidisc back when tsutaya sold minidisc right next to the CDs for rent :P
btw, isn’t there a phonetic IME (input method editor) for korean like with Japanese or chinese? Admittedly i know nothing about korean, but i always assumed inputting korean was the same as japanese, i.e. just type the phonetic equivelants and it converts it on screen to the appropriate characters using software. am i sadly mistaken? (wouldn’t be the first time!)
Hey Michael. haha that’s cool! Tsutaya used to sell & rent minidiscs? How long ago was that (’back in the day’ can’t be too far off :P)?
As for the Korean question. I don’t know of a phonetic IME for Korean. The Korean letters are in fact layed out differently and have their own order. If there is a phonetic IME, I’d love to know about it but I’m memorizing the basic one rather well :P
[...] Top 5 favorite m-flo albums [...]
My list would probably go something like:
5. COSMICOLOR
4. BEAT SPACE NINE
3. EXPO EXPO
2. ASTROMANTIC
1. Planet Shining
Planet Shining is my #1 pick because the whole album has a coherence to it that they’ve never matched since (and certainly not after Lisa left). ASTROMANTIC is #2 because out of all the “loves” albums they’ve done, this one was the overall strongest and most exuberant effort. It was so cool hearing it for the first time. #3 and #4 are really pretty interchangable, but EXPO wins out by a hair just because I like Lisa so much. COSMICOLOR is last because it doesn’t really feel like an album to me, but much more like a random collection of songs, and I’m not sure why. I agree that it’s got some weaker spots, although my picks are different: “Love Long and Prosper” and “she loves the CREAM” (have to be in the right mood for that one) are ones I skip more often than not.
Great list! I’m glad someone else is showing Planet Shining some love. I agree with your reasoning. (While I don’t fully enjoy EXPO) m-flo’s Lisa days seem to be the high. Rumor has it that m-flo may be done with the “loves” series and may have a female vocalist in the line up so maybe we’ll see a return to that, or something close, again maybe.
haha I agree with what u said about COSMICOLOR. The only common theme between the songs is the word “love” in each’s title :P