If you've been waiting for a jazzier, more atmospheric Blankey Jet City, then Ajico is your dream come true.

Combine Kenichi Asai's loaming guitar with UA's beautifully deep voice, and I'm sailing through the clouds on an airship that feels like it's going to both sink and explode at the same time. If you were wondering, that's a wonderful thing in my book.

I first sought out this record because of the BJC connection, but quickly grew to appreciate Ajico's first album, [Fukamidori], entirely on its own merits. In fact, since I bought it almost 3 months ago, it's been constantly in my top 10 CD rotation, thanks to the solid, bass heavy instrumentation and UA's jazzy attack, combined with the usual Kenichi Asai greatness.

In short, if you think of Blankey Jet City as neo-Pixies sans Kim Deal, then Ajico feels like a darker Black Francis heavy neo-Breeders, with a touch of Portishead for good measure.

Which is a roundabout way of saying that loaming, quieter tracks like [Fukamidoi], [Lake] and [Kagerou Song] intermix with rockier fare such as [Utsukushi Koto], [Garage Drive] and [Freedom], to produce one of the best albums of 2001 thus far. You have been warned.

Make sure to check out my Blankey Jet City and Sherbets pages for more, related greatness.