DJ Krush — 迷走 (Meiso)

The third effort by Japanese producer DJ Krush is trip hop with a bit of rap: it works brilliantly. On the one hand, Krush serves a seemingly simple set of instrumentals, with its usual formula of minimal and poor drum + samples, which this time, perhaps more than before, are ambient, dark and melodic. The soundscape of the record is amazing and in addition, a few MCs arrive to contribute, all from the East Coast: CL Smooth from New Rochelle, The Roots' members Black Thought & Malik B from Philadelphia, Deflon Sallahr and Big Shug from New York, and Guru, from Boston.

The first track is opened by an interesting ethereal loop, boom bap, harsh, dry and tight drum, oriental samples: the rhythm is let to breathe, then comes the velvet, confident, slow delivery of CL Smooth, and there's a sample of squeaky flute to the annoyance on the hook. The second song follows, the first of many instrumentals that presents the first of a numerous series of thin, dry and midtempo drums, here linked to oriental light samples. "What's Behind Darkness?" it's one of the finest moments of the tape: boom bap, low and dry drum, dark samples. There's a distant dark sax sample in the background, so, suddenly, DJ Krush takes the drum off and replaces it with light, melodic synths, which he distorts so that they sound like a wolf's howl; scratches to accompany drum and sax, then back to the dark. The producer builds a beautiful mood in one of his best cuts.

Black Thought & Malik B are committed to the title track, delivering with a young, fresh and confident style on a solid somber jazzy boom bap, it's one of the best rap tracks on the record, if not the best. An interlude precedes "Blank", a simple instrumental with very distant melodic loops in the background, almost imperceptible. Deflon Sallahr has the second solo track on "Ground", performing good rap on a gloomy jazzy boom bap rhythm, this time it seems that Krush wants to recreate the owl verse with synths.

I don't know if he's actually good at it or I'm going crazy looking for all these animal sounds, anyway, he did an excellent job on the whole project. "Most Wanted Man" is in a sandwich of short interludes, DJ Krush isn't getting those wrong either, it all comes out effortlessly and phenomenally. The song boasts Big Shug delivering bars with a slow, clean, good style, plus Guru performing the chorus. The last three songs are instrumentals. "3rd Eye" and "OCE 9504" have a similar body, boom bap with hard drum and melodic jazz sample, before "Duality". This is the final choice (before the last interlude), a sort of nine-minute suite in which DJ Krush and the latest guest on the CD, DJ Shadow, deliver the latest highlight of the album, truly beautiful.

Released by Sony, the album is appreciated by critics and crowds, especially in the UK, entering several British charts. Probably, it's DJ Krush's best album: in 49 minutes and 14 tracks, he doesn't really miss anything, not even the interludes, at times, they sound even better than some instrumentals. 8/10.