- Artist
- Samon Kawamura
- Label
- Nesola
- Release date
- 16th July 2007
- Genre
- Hip hop/electronica
Elegant, cool urban hip hop instrumentals are back, thanks to jazz-loving German/Japanese turntablist
This half Japanese, half German turntablist was raised in Tokyo but is now based in Germany. So it seems prosaic that Kawamura’s debut echoes the likes of Mo Wax hip hop instrumentalist DJ Krush (from Japan) and the jazzy/trip hop excursions of Jazzanova (from Germany). In fact, Translations would not have sounded out of place if released back in the late-Nineties when soporific, blunted beat workouts were the musical Viagra of the urbane cool set.
That’s not to say that this hour-long collection of smoky, urban hip hop cuts sounds anachronistic or derivative. The mood throughout might be familiarly stoned and achingly cool, but Kawamura is more than a technically sound sample cut and paster. At its heart are live instrumentation – piano, live bass, flute and shimmering whisps of vocals – that provide Translations with a melodic and jazzy earthiness. As is sometimes the case with this genre, a shift in dynamics wouldn’t go amiss at times: the lurching g-funk of Last Call is screaming out for a huge cymbal and fat breakbeat to crash in halfway through. Nevertheless, there’s enough elegance here to elevate Translations far beyond mere background interpretations.
More to try: DJ Cam: Substances NSM: Turn It Up DJ Krush: Strictly Turntablized Jazzanova: In Between
