Colorful Tokyo Sounds NO.9 is the debut single from 2007’s MEGA TRANCE Singer Audition’s winner, Aira Mitsuki. The title track was used as the the official song for the “Transformer Cafe”, based on the popular anime series. It was released on the 8th of August, 2007. Sales information is unavailable.

Tracklisting
1. Colorful Tokyo Sounds NO.9 (Original MIX)
2. Candy Light Mode
3. Colorful Tokyo Sounds NO.9 (LAVA’s Electrip Remix)
4. Colorful Tokyo Sounds NO.9 (Disco-Punk Remix)
5. Colorful Tokyo Sounds NO.9 (MP-3 Senyou Digital Mastering Ver.)
6. Colorful Tokyo Sounds NO.9 (Instrumental)

Colorful Tokyo Sounds NO.9 opens simply with a rushing synth sound, with Aira’s vocals coming in. Already you can detect a flaw in her vocals: When you hear her pronounce the word “sounds” throughout the song, you’ll easily notice her lisp. I have no idea if it’s because of the synth or not, but it can be annoying. You can pick it up at other sections of the song, but apart from this flaw, the song follows the usual synth arrangement, and you can already hear how reminiscent of Perfume this single is. It’s definitely a catchy song, and apart from the lisp, it’s nice to hear a different voice in this kind of music, as hers is easy to differentiate from the techno-pop artists that sometimes seem to all sound the same, synth or not. Her voice is also still easy to differentiate from the synth in the verses, which is another plus.

Now comes the song that REALLY made me fall in love with Aira. I’m not sure why I love Candy Light Mode as much as I do, but it’s undeniably catchy; possibly moreso than anything we’ve heard from Perfume lately. Aira’s voice opens the song instantly, and you can already hear a difference: There’s a guitar. Probably. I mean, it still sounds like a synth guitar noise, and the synth arrangement is still heavy, but the guitar (possibly?) is pretty much the main focus of the beat. Note that the possibly statements are because some note sound too high to be a guitar, so I can’t be certain. Anyway, Aira’s voice seems a bit better here, as you can’t really hear the lisp that was present in the title track. The Marie Antoinette line in the chorus really confuses me, as I don’t have a translation, but overall it’s a fun, upbeat, fast paced song. A-side material, in my eyes.

Now comes a remix-fest. Whoopee. Anyway, the Colorful Tokyo Sounds NO.9 LAVA’s Electrip Remix has a much more house feel to it than the original. It has a much mellower sound, and starts much slower than the original version did. Aira’s digitized vocals don’t seem to fit very well at times, but her voice is a lot more distinguishable this time around. I’m really starting to think the lisp is her fault, not the synth, but it’s not very distinguishable in the rest of the S words, so it’s forgivable. I actually like the accompaniment, and the digitized backing vocals in the chorus don’t fit, but it all works well otherwise. A totally digitized vocal track would’ve killed this song.

Colorful Tokyo Sounds NO.9’s Disco Punk Remix starts off horrible. It constantly repeats the nine sound from Aira’s reciting of the title, before coming into a much more aggressive techno sound. The heavier nature of the song can be a bit annoying, but maybe that’s because I’m not a fan of the more aggressive techno styles. It lacks any real lyrics AT ALL, which is a huge disappointment. I’m not a fan, but heavy techno fans that don’t mind lyricless (Apart from the repetitions of the title) songs will get at least something out of them.

Overall Grade
B+

The two original tracks are a great listen for any fans of electro-pop, and the two distinctive styles between the songs will keep you from getting bored throughout them any time soon. The LAVA Electrip Remix is also one of the few enjoyable remixes from a single that I’ve heard, but only real techno fans will get anything out of the Disco Punk Remix. It’s a great debut from Aira, but hopefully she doesn’t stick to this one style like other techno-pop artists have. If she doesn’t, we should have a great artist on our hands.