パイレーツ ラジオ - Episode.3
Nujabes. Modal Soul
The intro track, Feather, is one of Nujabes’ most iconic songs. It’s an upbeat track built around the sample of a six second piano riff from another Yussef Latif song, Love Theme, from the Robe. But the writing is the center of this song.
Nujabes - Feather
Cise Star and Akin rapping on how to continue in a dark world surrounded by people who have lost their humanity. Like the instrumental, the lyrics have an uplifting feel with Cise Star rapping in the chorus.
I’m drifting away like a feather in the air. Letting my words take me away from the hurt and despair. So I’m keeping it vertical forever elevator. Riding the escalator to the something that is greater.
It’s not hard to see why this is one of Nujabes’ most popular songs. There’s a beautiful instrumental with a twinkling piano, soft percussion and steady bass that doesn’t distract from excellent writing. The message of the lyrics is symbiotic with the beat. It’s a story about staying calm through life’s challenges on top of an instrumental that inspires peace in the heart of the listener. Ordinary Joe is a gorgeous soul track with fairly simple production, jazzy piano, soul singer Terry Callier sings beautifully written uplifting lyrics over a sampled kits drum track even features a flute solo played by Nujabes himself. It’s one of my favorite he’s ever done, a truly beautiful piece of music.
Nujabes - ordinary joe
Reflection Eternal is an ethereal song, a relaxing break after the high energy of the first two songs. It has a short melancholy piano melody looping over sharp drums and a vocal sample.
Nujabes - reflection eternal
Flower is calming jazzy, it has a bright and complex piano loop.
Nujabes - flowers
Sea of Cloud is a house song with a steady beat accompanied by light piano, a melancholy saxophone part and twinkling percussion.
Nujabes - sea of cloud
The light on The Land is another house song. It almost sounds like you’re wandering in the woods in the middle of night far away jay piece plays as he samples crickets and high pitched owl hoots.
Nujabes - Light on the land
Horizon is the closing song it’s almost feel like it came from a PS1 game has that compressed MIDI flute playing the upbeat melody over jazzy piano chords and compressed drums.
Nujabes - Horizon
Nujabes. Luv Sic 1 ~ 6
Modal Soul is an atmospheric masterpiece. It deserves all the praise it gets. Nujabes was a master of emotion and expression the songs feel so deep and textured. It’s like each one is in its own little world that you can fall deep into. His composition, his instrumentation, his abilities all improved greatly on this record. But this was the last studio record released during his lifetime. And it only shows how far he could have gone if he were still alive today. But it’s impossible to talk about Nujabes without talking about Luv(Sic). It’s a series of six songs that he and his frequent collaborator and friend, Shing 02, wrote over the span of 15 years. The first three were released before his death and it’s probably favorite project that Nujabes ever took part in. Each song was essentially a variation of the first track. They share the same drum loop and similar variations of the same sample but they all have a unique character and they are all beautiful. While the first three were a series of upbeat love songs about their shared passion for music, the last three were, in Shing’s word, encounter parting and uniting. These songs are some of the saddest songs Jun ever made mostly down to Shing’s writing. He raps about the beauty that Jun created with his music, how much love he had for his friend and how he has to left him go to find happiness again. Luv(Sic) Part.5 is a truly heartbreaking song the story goes that this on was written shortly after Nujabes’ death and Shing on the song raps raw emotional verses about losing someone so close to him.
Nujabes - Luv Sic 5
It’s almost difficult to listen to. The beat is dark and melancholy and on the song Shing process his friend’s death in the whirlwind of emotions he feels now that he’s gone. He ends the song with the lyrics.
Whether a tree lives to see the end of centuries, or a random hand picks it instantly, life is art, a miracle for all to see. I must tell you that you lived beautifully.
Luv(Sic) Part.6, though is a beautiful ending to the long tradition of making music between Nujabes and Shing02. It has a heavenly beat with a melody provided by a looping chorus sample, twinkling harps filling the track in between the steady drums that we’ve come to know so well. Shing has let go of the pain and anger present in the previous track and now feels only love. He raps reflections on his long career and his friendship with Nujabes, how much he in the world misses him and coming to terms with his absence.
Nujabes - Luv Sic 6
The track’s beat is so deeply layered it feels like you’re wandering through a dream as Shing raps.
I saw the angles draw the drapes over the earthscape where the wine is the spirit of grapes, gotta finish what we started so I cut this tape.
The Grand Finale of Nujabes’ Music
Nujabes’ final project while he was alive was hideout Production’s second collections, compilation album that was mostly produced and mixed by Nujabes himself and released in 2007. As a compilation album it’s not exactly one of the essential Nujabes pieces but it has some Nujabes classics like Imaginary Folklore, one of my favorite Nujabes songs. Counting Stars, is also one of the most iconic Nujabes’ songs as a jazzy guitar playing a meditative melody over wistful strings, maraca and a sparsely-placed Franks Natra sample.
Nujabes - Counting Stars
After releasing this project, Nujabes went on a long break from music but three years later, he would forever be robbed of the chance to return. On February 26, 2010, Jun Seba was in a serious car accident on a Tokyo highway. After having barely gotten started but already touched countless hearts with his music, after becoming one of the most immensely large and influential underground music figures in Japan, he was pronounced dead at the hospital later that day at the age of 36.
His music is timeless and it feels just as fresh and interesting as ever.