Key Of Grey

May 18th, 2010 – A while back, I posted about an online music discovery tool. One of the artists I got as a recommendation when I typed in Nujabes, was Nomak. At the time, I enjoyed the music that I was able to get my hands on, but I felt that he was too similar to Nujabes.

Downtempo, jazzy, hip hop is not a new thing, and I think that there were probably many artists in Japan who were producing it, but it seems that the early to mid part of this decade brought a wave of them to the attention of music lovers in North America and elsewhere in the world. Nujabes is probably the most well-known and with his tragic death this year, he’s left a big void.

So what does this have to do with Nomak? Well, he’s recently released a new album entitled “Dynamic Meditation Instrumental Limited” (the Japanese apparently aren’t bothered by weird album names) and I sat down and listened to it today. The album is fantastic; Nomak has really grown as a producer.

While I liked Nomak’s previous work, there were times when I felt like songs were a little longer than they could have been. In instrumental hip hop, this is always a concern, and the reason that many listeners don’t really get into the genre. The songs on this album grow organically and you’re never really left wondering when the song will end.

This was a strength of Nujabes and Nomak has learned this lesson on “Dynamic Meditation Instrumental Limited”. Lest you think that Nomak is aping Nujabes, I believe that he has come fully into his own and stands on level ground. While both artists favour down-tempo timing, the emotion behind each is very different. I am of the opinion that conveying emotion in music without lyrics is a very difficult thing to do, and when artists are able to succeed, I’m delighted.

If you’re into instrumental hip hop, give Nomak a listen.

Nomak.net
Nomak’s MySpace page