Metaphorical Music

Product Information

I own the original CD copies of these tracks and I think I like the sound of the records more, other than "World Without Words" but its bass is still awesome. Co-founder Gus Navarro remarked that, "The music of the late producer Nujabes is something to hold onto and never let go. I played all three records on a brand new Uturn Orbit "Special" turntable, their higher-end offering.

In 2020, Logic cited Nujabes as a key inspiration behind his production style alongside MF DOOM, RZA and Kanye West in the track "Perfect" from his album No Pressure. Jun Seba ( Japanese: 瀬葉 淳, Hepburn: Seba Jun, February 7, 1974 – February 26, 2010), better known by his stage name Nujabes ( ヌジャベス, Nujabesu), was a Japanese record producer, audio engineer, DJ, composer and arranger best known for his atmospheric instrumental mixes sampling from hip hop, soul, and jazz, as well as incorporating elements of trip hop, breakbeat, downtempo, and ambient music.It seems the artwork has been taken from original the CD-release, and not been properly brought to 12" size having maintained the details and punchy colours. Although relatively niche during his lifetime, Seba has since achieved posthumous acclaim and been referred as the "godfather" of lo-fi hip hop. Sometimes you just know that a master was mixed/pressed for vinyl and this one is one of those pressings.

His music is known for a strong cool jazz influence, frequently using samples from artists like Miles Davis and Yusef Lateef. Only thing I noticed, side C, "World Without Words", on the Jin LP, had quite noticeable inner groove sounding distortion on the higher end claps. this track got another vinyl treatment on the nujabes - first collection 2xlp release that just came out on november 3rd, 2019. Though to be fair, if you set your needle and anti-skate properly, you can omit those skips -speaking from personal experience. Just like last year's press of Metaphorical Music, this reissue on wax is a huge success in terms of quality.

Frequent collaborator Shing02 remarked, "Through his soulful music, Nujabes has touched so many people around the world, even beyond his dreams", and "[I] deeply regret the loss of a unique talent and a close friend. LP doesn't bring any unique qualities and the filtering in the master feels extra artificial in this release. Seba's label Hydeout Productions released a tribute album titled Modal Soul Classics II featuring a number of former collaborators and with lyrics and song titles that reference Seba's work. Too bad the track list is slightly different from the original CD release, I'm sure there's a licensing thing going on, happens all the time over there.