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Taku Ishizaki’s side starts with ‘The Story Of Annabelle’ — a mix of broken beat synth bounce, in a very subdued Bugz tone, matched with mellow lounge piano. It’s a strange combination and strangely works well. ‘Tokyo Nocturne’ takes the idea one step further as the first half of the track is mainly just the repetitive theme on the keyboard to the stutter of the drum. This is where you’re likely to get shouts that the record is stuck (or similar) from the neighbours. The piano takes over in the second half to lighten it up a little but this would have been good on the soundtrack of Lost In Translation that seems to be getting loads of re-runs on the TV lately.

DJ/Producer Koichi Ozaki’s side is a similar strangeness. More of a jazz-house feel to ‘In Daylight’, which picks a flute solo with a great organ sound reminiscent of some of Madlib/Stones Throw tunes with a growling bass. ‘Pale Moonlight’ takes it down a pace with ‘Ahh Ahh’ synth stabs and Japanese water garden twinkles against a rumbling bass this time.

On the cover, very nice Koi illustrations that are ideal Hectic chill. As this is the 5th release on Eurasian Suite, they’ve clearly been very selective with their output since 2001. I’ll be watching out for the next release on the strength of this.

And if you like this, don’t forget the Don of all twisted hip hopity Jap jazziness, Nik Weston and the Onwards International crew are at Ruby Lo’s (behind Selfridges) once a month.

Reviewed: Taku Ishizaki / Koichi Ozaki (Eurasian Suite) Cat. No. esep-005 Release date: April 2006
Credits: Artwork By - Taku Ishizaki
Tracklisting:
A1. The Story Of Annabelle
A2. Tokyo Nocturne
AA1. In Daylight
AA2. Pale Moonlight

Links:
Eurasian Suite Records www.geocities.jp/eurasiansuite
The Record Room
Simon Harrison (www.basic-soul.co.uk)
01. Simbad - soul fever (remix) (White)
02. Sesong - Love Untold / Cold (Wah Wah 45s)
04. PTH Projects - ‘Pretend Paradise / Thin Air’ (Wah Wah 45s)
14. Amp Fiddler - ‘Dope / Hope’ (Genuine)
15. Taku Ishizaki / Koichi Ozaki - The Story Of Annabelle + Tokyo Nocturne / In Daylight + Pale Moonlight (Eurasian Suite Records)
www.nikweston.co.uk
Nik Weston - In Da Mix Worldwide