1 post tagged “anime ost”

This is a countermeasure to Melle's Friday Night Joint (even though it's technically Friday morning).  

I first heard about Nujabes through his work on the Samurai Champloo soundtrack.  Anyone who's seen this anime can attest to the fact that this it was not a re-take on Cowboy Bebop, i.e. Jazz is to Space, as Hip Hop is to Feudal Japan (or for those who still remember the SATs.. Jazz : Space :: Hip Hop : Feudal Japan).

The soundtrack perfectly syncs with the unfolding story.  And as many a headphone-donned twilight stroll has demonstrated to me, the tempos are superb to stroll to.

I can't really speak with any authority about Nujabes, much less Japanese Hip Hop, but in a lot of what I hear, a lot of fresh breath is being breathed into the genre.  Perhaps it's the outside perspective of another culture's phenomenon that allows many liberties to be taken with what may otherwise be thought of as taboo by strict American beat masters.

The ending theme to Samurai Champloo demonstrates a little of what I'm implying.  The drum beat is cut up, and there's no real flow to its unravelling.  The melodic line that opens and ends the song is a long phrase that flows like a stream in the wind, contrasting to the short staccatoed phrases rinsed and repeated in the choruses of the hip hop on today's top 40 stations.  The line, mostly pentatonic in scale structure, also reflects a bit of japanese music, and though I can't say for sure, when I hear that line above, I imagine a woman sitting at a koto and softly singing this melody in the second floor room of a wood house nestled at the base of a waterfall.

Another example.. well.. It also happens to be an ending theme of an anime.  Total coincidence, I assure you.  (It's not a coincidence.  I don't really have any sources of quality japanese pop music, however I do have one cd by a group that supposedly translates to "Ass Police.")  I can't even be sure that this Home Made Kazouku track can even be strictly thought of as hip hop, but it definitely has hip hop elements, albeit smoothed-over. 

Anyone who's glanced over at popular subcultures in Japan has done so with a The Rock-style raised eyebrow.  I'll not say more than that, because I have my own share of eccentric behaviors and fanboyisms, but if you know what I mean, then you know what I mean.

That said -- uh.. or not said, I dig what I've heard so far of the japanese take on hip hop, particularly Nujabes.  I've had his album Metaphorical Music on almost every day as I take my walks.  The included jazz samples go above and beyond the fractional second clip.  The entire intro to Miles Davis' Seven Steps to Heaven forms the basis of an entire track.  Perhaps this can be gotten away with because it was released in Japan.

I've found that Nujabes' music can best be enjoyed sitting at a sunshine-drenched table by the window of a coffee shop.  A lot of the music I love actually takes on these kinds of "venues," much as classical music is often thought best experience in its own concert hall venue.  For example, drum 'n bass and Ani DiFranco are amazing for train rides, as I learned on my trip to Europe.

But that's whole 'nother boring over-technical entry.