Being that Watanabe himself is an avid music fan, as you already might have noticed yourself, he puts a lot of importance & emphasis on how music is worked into his feature animations and directorial works. Here he (Again) had a wonderful collection of Hip hop artists such as the late DJ Nujabes, Hip hop Dj duo Force of Nature, Hip Hop & Reggae Japanese singer/artist Minmi, American rapper Fat Jon & of course Hip Hop Artist Tsutchie - All of which collaborated to create 4 separate records for the Samurai Champloo soundtrack that add just as much character too the show as the character themselves do which include the following:
“The Music is as Much of a Character on the Show” - Shinichiro Watanabe
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| Departure | Nujabes & Fat Jon |
Departure is a pretty good start if you want both the opening and ending themes (Battle Cry & Song Of The Seasons) in one package - Though there's also quite a handful of other groovy tracks on the record as well. Mainly, I find songs like "The Space Between To Worlds" [Track #2] to be pretty chill and melancholic, with it's continuously smooth electric guitar motifs and retro electronic drums for a bit of percussion - A really simple, but an easy and smooth listen. The 3rd track right next to it is similar of course though a bit different in that there's also string accompaniment and a more broken chord arrangement for guitar, that puts more emphasis on tighter rhythms as the use of fast arpeggio triplets is a staple of the track, as well as having more bass heavy 808 kicks. In addition to that, in one section about 2 minutes in there's this beautiful, almost woodwind like synth that leads on for a short period, which I found nicely spiced up the track with a kind of short, though neat moment within the track. Overall it's a really beautiful and almost tropical sounding track, thanks to it's use of 7th chords/intervals and whatnot. I know in may by now seem like im going to go over every single track in the album, but I'm not!! It's just that the first few tracks are really just that great and worth talking about. Now the next track #4 "Kujaku" has alot of interesting percussive elements going on, high snare's, skippin' cymbals to gel it all together and of course a more Jazz influenced piano accompaniment that's playful, and rhythmically well phrased - Just beautiful playing by pianist Keiji Matsumoto.
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| Nujabes |
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| Fat Jon |
The OP theme "Battle Cry" itself features Shing02 as lyricist/rapper and Nujabes performing. On the music side you have 808's kicks, skipping cymbals, and continuous synth reverb to give the track an interesting and ominous feel. You also have dissonant and out of time piano and low register synth to also give the track that trippy effect. Probabaly the first and last time an anime track will ever feature rapping, but hey! I think it was pretty cool. Lastly, you have the beautiful track "Song of The Seasons" sung and lyrics by Minmi, who's has a beautiful voice for Japanese Rnb and hip hop, as she has a beautiful body and low end register to back up her upper mid range as well. Musically you have a beautiful opening guitar lead, that's smooth and lax, and playful though solid rhythm electric bass accompaniment, and on some part you hear beautiful piano leads in the background along with occasional tenor sax solo's as well, all continuous accompanied by the mesmerizing synth reverb that opens the track from start to finish.
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| Playlist | Tsutchie |
Playlist is Tsutchie's solo record, and it's beautiful in a sense that it's more inclusive with it's use of instruments, as Tsutchie is actually a musician himself despite somewhat being a musician himself, being that he providing his musicianship for thing such as the piano, guitar & bass. The first track"Thank you" is one such example of his playing, and in that the track is timid, though beautiful, as it's cool and reminiscent of a slow night. The Next track "Yet? Why Not?" is a more upbeat and repetitive track with percussion and short leads. As I find it gels really well with how it sequenced within the actual anime to open up a scene or positive mood, thanks to "Samurai Champloo's" episodic nature that focusses on Fuu's daily life. Track #5 "Mists" is a track that really reminds me of Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori's "Under Cover Of Night" on the Original Halo soundtrack, being that there similar in their use of washed air synths and percussion accompaniment - However they are different in other ways, being that "Under Cover Of Night" has a pretty progressive and rhythmic bass section, and this of course changes how things were sequenced and arranged. Later on the album you'll find a lax and bittersweet track called "2 Messages" [Track 15], with a broken chord accompaniment on guitar, that adds a sense of wonder and confusion with the use of well sequenced synth leads and extended reverb. The last track last track is pretty jovial and fun, as it's accompanied right from the start, in addition to Azuma Rika's rhythmic bars, and traditional 808 kicks, skipping cymbals and a bit of flare on the snares.
Not the most exciting record over here, as there are a lot of run of the mill "Vibing" track if you will, that'd I'd sort of classify as filler at this point, though there's still some interesting material like the track mentioned above, if you want some music to work to (Like I do).
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| Impression | Force of Nature, Nujabes, Fat Jon & Minmi |
Departure I find is a little more consistent all round in terms of the progression between songs - As it also is the most collaborative effort between the given artists involved, with the only exception of Tsutchie. It starts off with a pretty lax and ruminative track called "Just Forget", with a reverberating synth accompaniment that sounds almost something of a woodwind instrument throughout the track, in addition to a bass section, and of course an electronic Lo Fi drum kit section with everything capped off around 8khz. In addition to this the track is nicely touched up with a harp and repetitively light piano stabs. The next to tracks "Nightshift" & "High Izuru Style" are pretty up beat, as the later is a pretty grand song, with it's light piano drops, dandy bass section & percussion section along with a zazzy with it's use of brass section, and bars rapped by Suiken & S-word. Further in though it gets a little slow, and bit boring as the next few are more of tracks used specifically for a particularly scene or as mood "Textures" for the show. It's not until the 9th track "Sanctuary Ship" where things start to roll again, as I find the middle of the record is definitely the best part. It start out with traditional 808, cymbal kicks and a bass section to follow, but this time a somewhat synthesized lead that sounds like a tenor sax is lead throughout the track, and it's beautiful in how it weaves through it's melancholic rhythms, and while simplistic and repetitive it really is a fantastic track to vibe to. The next track "Haiku" is a trippy and nostalgically simple and Lo Fi sounding track that's used during one of Fuu's dream sequences, when she reminisces about the Sunflower Samurai, when she passes out from drowning. Just somewhat of an interesting track with different textures and a surreal feel to it.
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| Force of Nature |
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| Minmi |
The rest of the album is somewhat peppered with ok tracks here and there, but it's not until the last track (Who's Theme) that you truly get another interesting listen. It's a nice song with blues elements. On vocals we have Minmi, in addition to vibraphone leads and piano stab's, with your traditional 808's and snares accompaniment. It's a beautifully lax song to conclude the record, as it feels a bit moody, though still conclusive, with enough of a musical component to actual voice that message. A pretty decent listen, and while not having as interesting tracks as the record departure, Impression is better in the sense of quantity and consistency of the song to song progression - Though both record have their fair share of uninteresting filler tracks.
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| Masta | Force of Nature & Tsutchie |
Lastly I want to talk about "Tsutchie" & the "Force of Nature's" collaboration on the record Masta, as it's the most consistently through to through regarding track to track progression record here . It starts off with a pretty funky track, that's pretty up beat and dissonant, along with an interesting and groovy rhythm bass accompaniment, along with your traditional percussive elements here. The next track mist also has bass accompaniment right for the beginning but is noticeably more low key, and here were back to an electronic drum kit, with not as heavy bass. It's a pretty cool and low-key track, that's also touched up subtly with some synth - But overall it's a pretty simple, though nice night time track to groove to if you will. The next track "Judgement On" is similar to the rest with use of a bass section accompaniment, a use of a drum kit. Though it differs since the track opens up some brush action on the cymbals to have this constant resonance, and later in the track you get this progressive and dissonant guitar lead that kicks in, that's muffled and gritty. Definitely a favourite of mine as I really like that cymbal rich, yet dry and gritty aesthetic from the guitars and the constant cymbal action. The next track is a perfect track to set up adversarial themes or just to have a Baddass intro and what not. It starts off with pretty mean piano stabs, run counterpoint to high snare action and skippin' cymbal action that's damped as well, to give it this really dry aesthetic. Along with that you have these short continuous sweeps on violin and some upper register synth to touch up the track and add a little extra "Swag" if you will - Again another favourite track of mine, as it's groovy and confrontational, though classy as well.
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| Tsutchie |
Further into the album is filled with pretty interesting non filler tracks, as this record is really quite consistent. Along with more grooving tracks like "Pretending To", I feel the last few minutes of the record logs on as some of the music the record has , also due to the sequence of the last few songs. The track with the most different in mood the track "I sighed" would be on of these tracks, being that it's used for one of Samurai Champloo's particular scenes when Mugen and someone who betrays them (...) go at it as Mugen finds himself severely outmatched. It's a dead simple track with just 2-3 notes on the piano and some synthesized reverb in the background. Contrasting that is one of the episodes closing sequences that's retro and jovial sounding, as I find the modulated synth sounds somewhat a bowed stringed instrument, with routine clicks accompanying the track from the electronic drum kit, along side some actual occasional touching up from the piano - It's just a really short and sweet song perfect to close out an episode.
The second last track is another similar to the first in that it's a really playful and percussive track, that has an unnerving use of piano triads that has the weaving of different rhythms on the drum kit - Just another perfect track for the casual "On the go" action that Watanabe works usually have. Finally, the last track is another song with Minmi's vocals to close out the record, along with a broken chord composition with an acoustic guitar, with beautifully layered overdubbing of vocals, along with a careful sequencing of isolating the instrument (The guitar) between bridges, and snappy, though light electronic drum kit accompaniment. It's a beautiful track that's also once again that's touched up by continuous reverb and synth.
The second last track is another similar to the first in that it's a really playful and percussive track, that has an unnerving use of piano triads that has the weaving of different rhythms on the drum kit - Just another perfect track for the casual "On the go" action that Watanabe works usually have. Finally, the last track is another song with Minmi's vocals to close out the record, along with a broken chord composition with an acoustic guitar, with beautifully layered overdubbing of vocals, along with a careful sequencing of isolating the instrument (The guitar) between bridges, and snappy, though light electronic drum kit accompaniment. It's a beautiful track that's also once again that's touched up by continuous reverb and synth.
I half suspect that when producing Minmi's songs that they were somewhat ripping off a lot of Mariah Carey's work on Daydream [1995] being that while great sounding of course, sounds entirely derivative production wise of how they aesthetically layered the sound with use of overdubbed vocals (A staple for RnB music) and specific higher frequency touch up with synthesizers and the use of electronic drum kits. Ripping each other in the music industry or creatively in general is nothing new, but I just want to point it out there that this certainly isn't "new". Being that the Japanese were Crazy about Mariah Carey's concerts in Tokyo and such, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if Watanabe and other's took some influence.
Segement Conclusion -
None the less, definitely one of my favourite listens regarding the Samurai Champloo music, as I found it again to be the most consistent progression wise to any of the other records - Though I also luv some songs on Departure particularly as well, as I find myself most interested individually to tracks such as "Aruarian Dance" & man that ED theme song of seasons with Minmi's vocal's was just amazing. So if your interested in only starting off with one or two records these are the two you should start off with Departure (is a must) & Masta (IMO). As a side note I'm the type of person that has a severe Hatred, for compilation albums, or in other words "The Greatest Hits" album, being that it entirely disrespects the intended structure of the album where it originated from and disrespects the given period's "Style of production" and just screws with the chronological continuity of it - Rewarding poor and lazy behaviour the ADD attention span of "not wanting" to explore and experiment with different bodies of music as a dedicated collection of songs that's supposed to tell a story or have some type of progressive experience. In all it's just a cheap business model that exploits people's sentimentality towards nostalgia and incessant need for "Convenience" (It's called giving a dog a bone for a reason). Essentially, it's like taking a sentence out of a paragraph and removing any context it might have had in it's original form. So No, I do not recommend getting the record Katana, because that is exactly what it is, and you'll find it's an entire waste of money if you so happen to check out the other albums mentioned above, as you'll find that a lot of great tracks aren't included at all in this compilation album. It's essentially the Recap of music, no one watches a Recap, so don't buy it!! (Don't take the bait Jimmy!!)
