Nikakoi is Nika Machaidze of the Republic of Georgia. His CD is somewhat of a departure for the WMF label. Up till now the label has only released compilations, and they have been much more club oriented than this disc is.

Nikakoi's music is tech-house, similar to Closer Musik, or Borneo & Sporenburg. Closer Musik are a duo from Cologne that have out a very fine CD called 'After Love' on Kompakt. Borneo & Sporenburg are a duo from Cologne that have out a wonderful disc named 'Remember Today' on Italic. All three artists write about life in the city as a lonely experience ripe for observance, but difficult to participate directly in.

Most of the 15 songs on 'Sestrichka' are instrumentals, but there are 5 vocal tracks that I love. Tusia Beridze sings the vocal tracks with Nika. The CD starts off with an upbeat instrumental called 'Climb.' 'PP' starts off crackling like an old radio from the recent Radio Zumbido CD (released on Quatermass). Quickly the song clicks into a tech-house groove with Tusia's sharp voice in control. She dictates a thought stream as she walks a night time street. Chill out with a night time chill.

'City Lights [tutta 2]' is a really fine track. It reminds me of what Zero 7 might sound like if they were an electronic band instead of a downtempo one. Tusia Beridze and Nika Machaidze sing the song with a shuffling groove that is attractive and sexy. The song features a sound like a busy tone on a pay phone, and breathing like someone walking is creating the whole song in their head. 'To penetrate your glands with mine, I walk with you through the endless tribe.' The busy signal seems to indicate that the connection the singer wants never seems to quite occur.

'Mtvare' is my favorite track. It is the song that has run through my head the most since I first heard this CD. It took my time to figure what the song was, as the melody my mind played sounded more like something that might have been on the recent Brazilian Beats 3 comp that the Mr. Bongo label put out. The vocal on 'Mtvare' is indeed smooth and easy like the airiest Brazilian song, but the music in this song is purely electronic, like something the French artist Encre might have done. The track is magnificent. It should appear on chill out compilations this summer, if compilers do their homework.

The title song 'Sestrichka' uses a tape delay loop to make the simple vocal swirl like a thought that dances on the edge of your mind. The music borders on electronica, though the bounce is a little higher than pastoral 'bedroom electronica' usually flew.

The CD ends with 'Orudila.' This track takes what sounds like an accordion song and converts it into an electronic roller rink track with a bouncing beat and ethnic vocals.

I really like this disc. It is warm and full, even as it reminds me of the loneliness of urban life.