Tim & Puma Mimi

Tim & Puma Mimi are back! The Swiss-Japanese electro duo, known for their techno cucumber, toothpaste flute and Skype concerts, recently even made it into the Hollywood film Ghost in the Shell. After seven years of absence aka raising children aka training interns, another baby is now here: an album with twelve tracks: "More or Less Tim & Puma Mimi".

The play with addition and subtraction runs through the entire album. Many new signature sounds appear: a pocket operator synthesizer that looks like a pocket calculator and sounds like a Gameboy. A vocoder that opened up new possibilities for Mimi's unique vocals. Or the KoTaMo, a mix of koto, tambura and monochord - three cultures, three bodies of sound, one instrument.

What is striking about the new songs is the (supposed) lack of beats and the even stronger incorporation of Japanese music elements via flute melodies, crickets or folk songs (Aka Tombo, Ryushi), while the unique Tim & Puma-Mimi quirkiness remains at all levels.