TUJIKO NORIKO

Mixing capriciousness with prettiness and outright experimentalism in a manner gently reminiscent of avant-pop genius Haco, Tujiko Noriko's introduction to the world at large was one of the most astonishing of the last years. Maybe second-best behind Björk (the Icelandic elfin pop-princess is probably a better comparative form-guide than the Mego reference) and alongside the mysterious turns and deturns of Cologne based Niobe (tom14).

For her solo albums on Mego Tujiko Noriko has worked at fusing digital sounds into pop-song forms, but not as some quaint modernist exercise, rather as some raw, enveloping, loving artistic craft. Now much more confident vocally, she assumes a profoundly expressive position as a singer and is much closer to pop music than ever befo...

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