Artist: Puff Dragon
Title: "Sazanami"
Label: Dakini Records (www.dakinirecords.com)
Released: 11/02/2005

Tracklist:

1. Sazanami
2. Qi Gong
3. Chinese Radio (Bejing Taxi version)
4. Marine Drive
5. Spacefunk
6. Skin As Soft (Soft As Silk remix)
7. Lava
8. Shimmer (Liquid Lounge version)

Samples:
www.saikosounds.com/english/...lease.asp

Review:

After savoring Puff Dragon’s “Sazanami” CD several dozen times, I’m relieved that I don’t produce downtempo beats myself. I feel compassion for lesser artists who must compare their own work to this masterpiece, and know that they will never be able to measure up. The highly anticipated debut album from Tokyo-based Welsh sound engineer, Steve Good, is more than just classy electronic music - it’s high art. “Sazanami”, which means ‘ripple’ in Japanese, is a gorgeous reference set of psychedelic lounge grooves. Harmonies shimmer like quicksilver and then sublimate. Soft puffy synth lines swirl and billow, like incense smoke in bright sunlight. The musical embroidery is like a fine silk kimono, and the production is as sharp and polished as the blade of antique katana sword. It’s obvious that the album has been painstakingly re-forged and pounded into perfection several thousand times or more. There’s not a mediocre track, voice or even moment on the whole thing. The digipack design is top-notch, and I'm sure this will eventually be a collectors item so I keep my copy safe in a plastic sleeve. “Sazanami” is accessible, easy to soak in, and a strong contender for the best Dakini release to date. 10/10, A+++.