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

May 10th, 2010 – Kings of Convenience are an indie folk duo from Norway. I’m not really sure how to explain their sound other than to say that they remind me a bit of Simon and Garfunkel. It’s not necessarily their songwriting (although there are some songs that have that vibe), but their unusual vocal harmonies. These days, I hardly hear any music that has a constant vocal harmony going the entire song, and the intervals and style that Kings of Convenience use harken back to the older folk-pop style of Simon and Garfunkel et al. Kings of Convenience is great music to relax to.

April 14th, 2010 – J Dilla was a legendary hip hop producer, who unfortunately passed away from illness in 2006 at the young age of 32. During his career, he produced tracks for De La Soul, Common, Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest and many more. Because of his long fight with the blood illness TTP, he died leaving a huge debt. Unfortunately his family are not bearers of his estate and there is quite a bit of controversy surrounding it.

Because of this controversy, it has been difficult for his surviving family to release music he had created before he died. In an effort to honour his legacy and bring some money to his mother (who is straddled with the debt of his medical bills), Stones Throw Records in partnership with Serato is releasing the J Dilla Donut Shop vinyl. It contains two records, each of which has one side of songs, and one side of Serato control vinyl.

On top of that, there are three previously un-released instrumental versions of songs included, as well as donut-themed slip mats. It’s a very cool set that I’m sure will be snapped up like mad. You can pre-order the set at the link below. I’ll definitely be picking up a set.

J Dilla Donut Shop

April 13th, 2010 – Just before I left for Japan last year, I was checking out what aquariums were there (I love aquariums). I came across a video (embedded below) showcasing the whale-sharks of an Okinawan aquarium. While I didn’t get to Okinawa to see them, they had a whale-shark in Osaka where I was staying. While I watched the video, I noticed that the music synced to it was getting quite a bit of hype.

It turns out that the band featured is Barcelona, an indie rock band from Seattle. Barcelona self-describes themselves as “piano-rock” which is a fairly accurate description given their heavily piano-based production.

Barcelona has the distinction of being one of the few bands that got signed based on MySpace popularity. I quite enjoy the tracks “The Takers” and “Come Back When You Can”. It’s great chill-out music.

Barcelona

April 6th, 2010 – Mos Dub is the newest mashup release by Max Tannone. You may recall that Tannone is the mastermind behind the Jaydiohead remixes. Mos Dub combines the lyrics of Mos Def with classic dub reggae tracks of yore.

Unlike Jaydiohead which combined completely different sources that drastically changed the feeling behind the tracks, Mos Def’s lyrics in Mos Dub could almost have been written specifically for the dub reggae tracks underneath; it’s a perfect match. As with Tannone’s other mix tapes, Mos Dub is a free download.

Mos Dub

April 3rd, 2010 – Back when I was first getting started with producing music, I worked with a Japanese powerpop band in Toronto. They were already veterans so it made it quite a bit easier for a green producer like me. Unfortunately, that band split when most of the band moved back to Japan.

The drummer from that band has joined the Onepercentres for their 3rd album, Daydreaming Horses. If you like jrock, check it out! I’ve embedded a video of their first single below.

Daydreaming Horses pre-order
Onepercentres MySpace
Onepercentres

March 24th, 2010 – Oliver Nestor, aka DL Incognito, is a Canadian hip hop artist from Ottawa. I first came across him in the early part of this decade. In a time when a lot of Canadian hip hop seemed like a low-budget parody of the US commercial “hip pop” scene, he was a breath of fresh air. The video embedded below is from “Organic Music for a Digital World” released in 2006.

March 2nd, 2010 – I thought I’d start a new segment with recommendations of classic albums that you might not have heard yet, but really should. The albums don’t need to necessarily be old, but they do have to have that “classic” quality that transcends time. They can be any genre, but I thought that today, I’d start off the series keeping the classic feel in mind.

Donny Hathaway is, in my opinion, one of the greatest songwriters of all time. He was also one of the best soul singers and an awesome keyboardist. Unfortunately, as with many great artists, he suffered from mental illness and committed suicide just as his success was ramping up again.

Today’s album that I’m recommending is “These Songs for You, Live!” which was a live intimate concert recorded in LA. It was released on CD in 2004. You get to hear just how great Donny Hathaway was live. His keyboard style is often imitated, and his smooth vocal delivery was what many of today’s artists were weaned on. “These Songs for You, Live!” is my favorite of his released recordings and it includes a previously unreleased cover of the Beatle’s “Yesterday” which is fantastic. I’ve embedded below a pretty cool series on him below if you’d like to find out more.

November 29th, 2009 – Today’s group in the “Artist You May Not Know” series is M83. Do you miss the 80′s? Crazy hair, synths, and lots of reverb? Well then, M83 may just be the throwback you’re looking for.

M83 is the project of French artist Anthony Gonzalez. It was founded by Gonzalez and Nicholas Fromageau in 2001; Fromageau left M83 after the first album. I would characterize the music as very New Wave-ish but with a modern electronic aesthetic.

Not only do the vocals have a lot of reverb, they are somewhat drowned out by the heavy instrumentation, which includes a bass heavy mix and tonnes of FM style synths. I would also say that the reverbed and forward-mixed tom drums add to the 80s-ness of the sound.

Interested? Check out the embedded video which won a contest to be the official video.

M83

August 31, 2009 – In preparation for my sabbatical to Japan next week, this installment of the Artist You May Not Know series will highlight the Japanese rock duo B’z. B’z consists of Tak Matsumoto on guitar and Koshi Inaba on vocals. They were formed in 1988 when Tak, already a well known guitarist and studio musician, saw Koshi in a karaoke contest and approached him to be in his hard rock project.

Their music can be characterized by the era they’re from: the late 80′s and early 90′s. Think Bon Jovi, and White Snake and you get the idea. I, being a fan of hair bands, fell hard for them when I visited Japan almost 15 years ago and have been a fan ever since. Here are some additional facts about them:

• They have released 42 consecutive number 1 singles.
• They have 21 number 1 albums.
• Under the recommendation of Steve Vai, B’z are the first Asian artists to get their hands on the Hollywood RockWalk
• They have sold more than 78 million records in Japan alone.

Tak Matsumoto is also the first Asian artist to have his own signature Gibson. His first run of Les Paul Customs consisted of just 99 guitars and sold out immediately, even at the ridiculous price of 7 thousand dollars. As I wrote about briefly in a previous post, the jewel of my guitar collection is the last of three prototypes made for that 99 series run. I happened upon it by accident and the seller definitely did not know what he had.

Tak Matsumoto has a side project away from the B’z that recalls the early hair bands even more. It’s called the Tak Matsumoto Group (TMG) and includes Eric Martin from Mr. Big on vocals, Jack Blades from Damn Yankees/Night Ranger on bass, and rotating drummers (Brian Tichy, Cindy Blackman, and Chris Frazier).

Really, I like the B’z because of Tak Matsumoto’s insane and unique playing style. No one sounds like him. I’ve embedded a video below so you can get a taste. It’s one of their oldies played at a 2008 concert. Guitar solo at 2:40.

B’z Official Website


B’z “Runaway”


TMG “Oh Japan”

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