Nujabes - Spiritual State

I was really surprised when I saw that this album came out. My main reason, was that I knew that Nujabes had been killed in a car accident in February of 2010. Evidently "Spiritual State" was the album that he had been working on ever since he put out the absolutely brilliant Modal Soul back in 2005. So it releases posthumously, and was the last focus of work for the 28 year old Japanese producer.

All of what is great about Nujabes is there. This guy could take an elementary school recorder and mix it with a drum kit and still make it sound like the most amazing relaxing tune. Nujabes makes outrageously good beats that are perfect for hip hop, and some are used throughout the album. The artists that find themselves lucky enough to rap over Njuabes are Pase Rock, who released an album produced by Nujabes in 2003, Cise Star, and Substantial. Pase only gets 1 track to himself, and Substantial gets another, plus one more that they both collaborate on. Cise Star only gets one track. The hip hop is as cerebral and cohesive to the jazz and all of the orchestra conducted by Nujabes going on behind it.

It's difficult for me personally to listen to posthumously released albums, because going into a release where the artist had passed, puts an entirely different spin on how one receives a record. The thing is that these artists obviously aren't aware of the fact that they won't be around around to see their work get released. Knowing someone had passed puts a different spin because we like to imagine that it's perfect, a magnum opus to the creative career of that person, but the truth is, sometimes it just kind of sucks.

This album does not suck. Maybe it's just the intrinsic beautiful nature of Nujabes music, but his life and soul bleed through into this entire album. Every piano key and oboe note reek of Nujabes, and culminate together to really flesh out this album. In addition to hip hop artists helping his cause, Nujabes also has the help of his friend, Uyama Hiroto, from his record label, Hydeout Productions

Whether this album will come to define Nujabes (unlikely) or not, it's still damn good. I'd love for there to be more, but sadly there won't be. Nujabes is such a unique sound, it's hard for there to be anything that truly captures everything Nujabes does. But I have hope in his friends like Uyama Hiroto and Nomak. I don't think many people will often hear of how influential Nujabes really was, but I for one certainly feel a void left by him, which I can honestly say I've never felt before with a musicians passing. If Nujabes had really want to define his career in this album, he did a brilliant job.