[05.02] Perhaps most prominently featured alongside I am Kloot, Ladytron, Alfie, Tahiti 80 and Beta Band sideproject King Biscuit Time on London cult-label We Love You's compilation CD of last year, Safariari is part of the Casio-pop scene, which seems comprised of the unlikely axis of Italy/Japan/Norway. In fact, Jon Kristian Furuheim aka Safariari, is also a member of seminal Casio-popstars Remington Super 60. For some reason, this scene has caught on in Italy and Japan. The latter country is where Mr. Furuheim has spent quite some time and has drawn plenty of inspiration from. In Norway, where he is from, the album is often compared to fellow countrymen Röyksopp. While in part, this is true, R¶yksopp has a far chillier sound. Where Röyksopp is frostily laid-back, Safariari leaps around like a joyful character in some bizarre Japanese cult video game.

Parts of this CD actually sounds like a video game. If you told me track two was from an '80s Atari game, I would have believed you. Yet, there is plenty of lush laid-back sounds, not to mention straight out lounge-core. This is the sound of the '80s colliding in a head-on accident with the '60s and the 21st century. Uh, except it's all very relaxed. There's sugar-sweet pop tones a-la Beach Boys crashing with swirls of electronic sound. It's music that would melt a Japanese schoolgirl's naive heart, yet au courant enough to satisfy those who worship at the altar of electronic nowness. Not that you'd ever hear this in a club...it's more likely to be played as you walk along the corridors of some lost-in-time retrofuturistic airport between here and Tokyo.

This CD was originally titled Save New York. It was in fact released under that title in Japan (on Automatic Kiss Record) on September 10th. Needless to say, they changed the name of the release after Sept 11th. It was just released in the UK (April 14th)—we'll see if it catches on with the outside world.⊄—Nils