If you have ever had the privilege to live, or travel to London, you will know it as a very international city. I don?t mean in the way so much that New York City is an international city. The difference is that New York City still maintains some of the strong individualism and segregation that makes it part of the dis-United States. London is quick to mix. The architecture of the city is a strange combination of gray (pre-War-war, pre-War, mid-War, post-War, new-War). The dance and dj culture of London has the advantage of close proximity to Europe, a heavy Jamaican influence and Indian food to stink the whole place up delicious. When England refused to have the sun set on it, its starched white clad tea-pushers set out to observe and taste the spices of the world, as opposed to scrubbing it down with AJAX. It did teach their accent to the masses, but it didn?t squash the natives like some other people I know.

So I imagine this music in a London yet discovered or built. It is just another step in the logical progression of buildings and cultures getting integrated into the industrial landscape. Here is a music that borrows heavily from world cultures, post-globalization, making it lounge and milk bar friendly. The beat skitters about jumpy and uppity tipping its hat to the generations of dancers and clubbers before it. But this is family time music, bright music, post-religion-all-religion music, C&C Music Factory music!

While Nicolette has created a strange juxtaposition between her smooth-70?s-pop-jazzzz-Saturday-late-morning-chill-out vocalizations and the $100-laptop-on-every-corner-tomorrow, the vocals still scat-slam cumbersomely up against the beats like outtakes from a really great concept record. The result is a neatly wrapped giant brilliant orange plastic ornamental knob for Ikea house-peds. The plastic crinkles around it, smells fresh and new, but you fear opening it because you know that instantly it will start showing finger prints. There will be dirt to wipe off of it.

Think Orange. Think London electro-Pop. Think Adverts. Think Niocolette. 6/10 -- Michael Kaufmann (28 June, 2006)