Lately I've been listening to many albums which are entirely instrumental, and do not contain any lyrics. However, all of the albums I've listened have strong hip-hop influences, and also borrow elements from jazz, trip-hop, and other related genres. I find it amazing that producers can have such a vast amount of skill with a wide variety of instruments, in which they use to convey a huge range of emotions. Not only that, but these songs often retain the ability for a rapper to easily rap their lines over the music due to their bass hits and melodic structure.

Here are some recent highlights, with some quick thoughts that don't quite constitute a full review:

Blockhead - Music by Cavelight. During my recent travels to the trip-hop and instrumental scenes, I stumbled onto Blockhead's offerings. His debut album Music by Cavelight is a medley of haunting and unique instruments with a distinctive hip-hop flavor.

Nomak - Muziq and Foto. Nomak is a little known, Japanese hip-hop producer who has been garnering praise worldwide (especially in Eastern European countries). He makes strong use of instrumentation such as piano chords and violins to produce spiritual and calming beats which seem to shimmer in your head as your listen to them. Muziq and Foto often takes advantage of lacing three or four separate melodies on top of each other to create a strong harmonious effect, such as Wind Beat and Ample Energy (two of my favorite songs in the album).

Uyama Hiroto - A Son of the Sun. Uyama Hiroto is another Japanese hip-hop producer, on Nujabes' label no less. Artistically, it is a bit similar to Nomak and Nujabes' hip-hop beats, but Hiroto refines some elements in this album that clearly showcases his own unique talents. Strong jazz influences are seen throughout the album, as well as hip-hop influences. For example, the lead track "81summer" contains strong swing and cool jazz influences when you listen to the piano fill in the notes between bass hits. The voice that can be subtlety heard in the background is a skillful use of sampling, which makes the voice more of an instrument than for any vocal purpose. Lastly, the violin can be heard riding the beat, much as a rapper would flow along with the melodies presented in the song.