January/February 2001

Kozo Ikeno
Planned Penetration
Waveform

By Tony Green

Most folks see chill-out music as a stress moderator, a stiff-ass brandy after an I-gotta-be-everything-to-everybody workday. Japanese trumpeter Kozo Ikeno's take on chill-out music is more like a Demerol cocktail. On Planned Penetration he floats wistful lines (think Miles without the melody or wit), over heavy-lidded beats (yawn) that sometimes sound downright amateurish. Worse, the tracks all tread the same sleepy ground. Here, you can't even find relief through the advance button; the best thing to do is hit eject.