Loosely Japanese: Nicolay’s City Lights Vol. 2: Shibuya

The story goes that Dutch produced Nicolay (one-half of the excellent Foreign Exchange) traveled out to Tokyo back in 2006 to deejay a show. He spent five days in Japan, staying in the Shibuya section of Tokyo, and ended up loving it. After the trip, Nicolay went to work on an instrumental-heavy album inspired by Tokyo. Three years later and that effort, City Lights Vol. 2: Shibuya, finally sees release.

Shibuya finds Nicolay both creating the chilled out beats he’s built his name on and venturing into new territory. The album avoids the usual “instrumental hip-hop” pitfall of bad pacing by knowing when to slow down (“Rain In Ueno Park”) or when to bust out a song featuring vocals (lead single “Lose Your Way,” the big “Saturday Night”). Shibuya never sags and ends up as Nicolay’s best non-Foreign Exchange product to date. Check out “Lose Your Way” below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjXa_Mp86lI&hl=en&fs=1&]