Well, you sure can't find all the gems. After stumbling across Japan's Nomak yesterday, I realize that I may very well have left something off my top ten list for 2007. Calm is an almost entirely instrumental effort comprised of choppy piano samples and atmospheric drums with liquid smooth vocals here and there. It's got a sort of Zion I feel, and with track names like "Anger of the Earth," "Spiritual Home" and "Geishas in the Days," you know what Nomak is about.

His site, mostly in Japanese, is dripping with nature, and though you may not be able to read it, there's enough fun with Java and images to make it worth a look. From the sound of Calm, Nomak feels much like the incipient resurrection of DJ Krush, though I wonder if I'm not making that connection because they are both from Japan.

Nomak - Anger of the Earth (zShare)
Nomak - Geishas in the Days f. Prismo (zShare)