Tokimonsta
Midnight Menu

THE REVIEW

A nocturnal, tasty album, suitable as background music as well as for focused listening, to play from start to finish. Sophisticated electronics: downtempo, chill-out, call it what you will. Muffled vocals, when present, cushioned production but not overblown, occasional nods to dubstep which is now so popular, too much so. Jazzy suggestions, in short elegance, without too many pretensions. An album that is perfect for graphic arts students with a penchant for vintage sunglasses like Wayfarers, as well as for those who just want something not too complex to make peace with themselves, something modern and of good quality. Or even just something as a backdrop for a relaxing or romantic evening.

You can also listen to it in the kitchen with headphones, reading Naruto and drinking a canned beer after a day cooped up in the office and a return home on a packed train twenty minutes late. It will feel like you're watching the lights of a metropolis from the large windows of your apartment, sipping vermouth after an evening at some photography exhibition you attended only for the girls present. In reality, instead, you dragged yourself through a morning and an afternoon amidst scraps of paper and vending machines at the office or classroom, got drenched in rain, stressed over where to find the money to buy a pair of shoes that don't have worn-out soles, and smoked six cigarettes with the dusty and sticky bottom of the tobacco pouch you forgot the day before in your pants pocket and then sat on. That dumb girl from the neighboring course even bummed a smoke off you and said it was disgusting. But now it doesn't matter.

Jennifer Lee, a Los Angeles native with Asian roots, knows her craft. Besides being, in my very personal opinion, a really attractive young lady. Under the Brainfeeder label, we find her with the funny moniker of TOKiMONSTA and with this charming LP "Midnight Menu", from 2010. Four stars, also for the charm, I think are well-deserved.
Recommended.