Entroducing… (FFFR/Mo Wax ’96) Rating: A
This hard to describe, one of a kind masterpiece was the brainchild of Josh Davis, a.k.a. DJ Shadow. Amazingly, this audacious “producer’s album” features not one original piece of music on it, and the true star of the album is arguably none other than Shadow’s own bottomless record collection. Though not a hip-hop record, Shadow uses hip-hop’s mix n’ match aesthetic to reconfigure mostly obscure pieces of music into brand new shapes. Really, no other album I can think of so convincingly validates sampling as an art form, and unlike Paul’s Boutique (considered the previous sampling standard bearer by many) Entroducing… thankfully keeps the bratty vocals to a minimum. In fact, the album is largely instrumental (or at least the vocal samples are secondary to the mysterious soundscapes), and it’s completely unclassifiable. For example, “Building Steam With a Grain of Salt” delivers haunting late night mood music, the beat heavy “The Number Song” excels on its excellent groove, “What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4)” has an airy jazz vibe, “Stem/Long Stem” is several songs in one held together by its recurring piano motif, “Mutual Slump” mixes trip-hop and free jazz, “Midnight In A Perfect World” has another slowly swaying, head bobbin’ trip-hop groove, “Napalm Brain/Brain Scatter” delivers spacey headphone music, and “What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 1 – Blue Sky Revisit)” ends the album with a loungey sax-led number. Yet for all the album’s varying styles and source material it’s surprisingly cohesive, though like most electronic albums it’s overly reliant on repetition. Still, the overall end result is an incredible accomplishment that’s best experienced in its entirety with the aid of headphones. The album may be tough pin down, but I guess we can simply file it all under “good music” and consider this the best chill out album since The Wall or at the very least Maxinquaye.
The Private Press (MCA ’02) Rating: A-
Fair or not, some artists are doomed to have all of their subsequent work unfavorably compared to their previous work. Such is the case with DJ Shadow, whose previous work, Entroducing..., was an astonishingly influential and creative masterpiece that just about created its own self-contained genre. Now, several collaborations, soundtracks, and remix/compilations later comes the official follow up, The Private Press. And though this album isn’t as innovative or as focused as Entroducing... (hey, you can only blow up all pre-conceived notions about record making once), Shadow has used his 6 years between releases well, as this ambitious and largely successful album bodes well for a bright career as a record maker. In fact, this album’s multi-faceted collage of sounds is actually more varied than its fascinating predecessor, though like that album the best songs here are largely (longish) instrumentals that I’d describe as “memorably atmospheric late night mood music.” Actually, aside from the hilarious rap “Mashin' on the Motorway” (which is spectacularly followed up by the stunningly funereal - and also vocal inclusive - appropriately epic “Blood on the Motorway”), I’d say that most of the vocal tracks here don’t work nearly as well. I’m no huge rap fan, so it stands to reason that I could live without the 3 snippets/segues (tracks 1, 3, and 14, all of which are harmless enough) and the flat-out rap of “Walkie Talkie,” though I appreciate the Black Sabbath-y guitar on the latter. And surely he could’ve gotten a better singer than the Air Supply-sound alike who sings “Six Days,” the album’s weakest song along with “Monosylabik,” which doesn’t do enough to be consistently compelling. Fortunately, the rest of the album - the bulk of the album, really - is first rate, especially “Fixed Income,” which is powered by its deep bass throb and some well-placed surf guitar, and “You Can't Go Home Again,” which ends the album on an explosive high (although the second “Letter From Home” snippet then anticlimactically follows). Other typical tracks that play to Shadow’s strengths are “Giving Up the Ghost,” which provides an eerie, unsettling soundscape with lots going on in the background to maintain the listener’s attention, and “Mongrel...,” a groovy guitar/piano-led mood piece. “..Meets His Maker” is more of the same, and I also appreciate the high energy level of the beat heavy “Right Thing/Gdmfsob” (not a typo), as by and large these excellent songs overwhelm the fewer lesser efforts. Here’s hoping that the multi-layered sounds currently roaming around DJ Shadow’s head - each already existing on some long forgotten record somewhere - see the light of day before another 6 long years elapse.