http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRlmM88zzbY
I recently posted about Nujabes' Thank You, which also samples John Dankworth: here, it's much more obvious. I'm more taken aback by the different contexts and how they change the sample. The former makes it sound very jazzy, smooth and laid-back; the processing on the latter makes it sound more funky and up-beat.
I have lots to say about Gorillaz — the popularization of sample-based music, brilliant lyrics and a subtle multimedia experience which never quite came to fruition; a race-blind hip-hop; the combination of what seems like kids' animation with adult content; and, in particular, the role of the band Blur. I think I just said most of it, though, so... yeah. Enjoy this weird, weird video.
Showing posts with label john dankworth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label john dankworth. Show all posts
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Thank You (feat. Apani B.) — Nujabes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnba1fKRNZo
I've written about Nujabes in other articles, but never about him directly — he has a distinctive sound, but he doesn't write his lyrics and he doesn't write the instrumentals — he samples. As such, he is a curator; it's easy to attribute the music to him, but it's much easier to look at the individual artist (incidentally, Apani B., who I've never heard of before, absolutely kills it here), and his samples of Gypsy Queen — Part Two and Modesty Blaise (which I guarantee you know), while brilliant for their selection, are nearly unedited; how much credit can I really give him? I love his output, I love the music he puts out, but it's... is it creation? Apani B. wrote the lyrics, which are what I listen to with intention; the instrumentals are large bands full of people, written and arranged and produced by someone else uncredited; what did Nujabes do? Not to say I could do it, but... what work of his can I talk about?
But I do love his choices — his choice of vocalist, his choice of sample — and that's enough, I think. Everything about the creative process is choices. If I praise another artist, it's for their choices — in lyric, instrumentation, all the same. He's just a content aggregator, a modern musician. Perhaps undeserving of the same claims to talent, but certainly not to fame.
I've written about Nujabes in other articles, but never about him directly — he has a distinctive sound, but he doesn't write his lyrics and he doesn't write the instrumentals — he samples. As such, he is a curator; it's easy to attribute the music to him, but it's much easier to look at the individual artist (incidentally, Apani B., who I've never heard of before, absolutely kills it here), and his samples of Gypsy Queen — Part Two and Modesty Blaise (which I guarantee you know), while brilliant for their selection, are nearly unedited; how much credit can I really give him? I love his output, I love the music he puts out, but it's... is it creation? Apani B. wrote the lyrics, which are what I listen to with intention; the instrumentals are large bands full of people, written and arranged and produced by someone else uncredited; what did Nujabes do? Not to say I could do it, but... what work of his can I talk about?
But I do love his choices — his choice of vocalist, his choice of sample — and that's enough, I think. Everything about the creative process is choices. If I praise another artist, it's for their choices — in lyric, instrumentation, all the same. He's just a content aggregator, a modern musician. Perhaps undeserving of the same claims to talent, but certainly not to fame.
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