So suppose a friend comes up to you and goes, "Dude, watch this". He then flips onto his head, pulls out some ingredients and starts making a sandwich. Once he's done, he flips back onto his feet, bows, and hands you the sandwich. You think, "Wow, that was amazing, wonder how good the sandwich will be?" So you go to take a bite and you discover that this is the best sandwich ever created. You start shouting, "HOLY SHIT! THAT WAS AMAZING JESUS FUCK HOT DAMN! HOW ARE YOU SO GOOD?", and he only smiles and says, "That's because I'm *puts on glasses* DJ Shadow".And so through that tortured analogy is the best way I'd explain his 1996 debut trip-hop album "Endtroducing...". It is an album entirely made of sampling other music/movies, along with a few spoken words of his own. Now that's impressive, as good sampling is really hard to do. The fact that all the songs are cohesive and have good flow is what really elevates this album.
Shadow likes to begin some of his songs with a single element, and then progressively add and subtract away instruments and vocals to produce the hypnotic and atmospheric sound typical of trip-hop. On "Changeling", a slow organ loop becomes overpowered by a strong drum beat, bass, distant vocals, ethereal horns, chopped up vocals and more organ. On "Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt", a piano riff becomes intertwined with guitar, drums and vocals before being eventually reduced to that one piano riff closing out the song.
He is able to expertly combine together hip-hop and electronica together on tracks like "The Number Song" and " Mutual Slump", using a pulsing beat with electric noises to create a mesmerising effect on the listeners. On others a drum beat and warped vocals are all he needs to make the song. Altogether he shows a great deal of craftsmanship and attention to detail when creating every one of these songs.
No doubt the best example of his synthesis of samples comes from the psychedelic "Midnight In A Perfect World". Beginning with a vocal sample, it falls into slow repeated organ chords, with soft female vocals behind it. Pounding drums and gentle piano are added, along with a delayed guitar and scratching. And when each of these elements appear, they appear at precisely the right moment to create the song's feeling of propulsion. The steady repeating of the word "Midnight" only reaffirms this. The song ends with the words "Now approaching midnight" being chopped up and repeated with incredible speed before finishing on a triumphant "Midnight!" and ending with the ticking of a clock. All brought together form different sources to produce a mastery of deep, hypnotic atmosphere.
The only significant problem on this album is that the songs get too similar by the end and become forgotten. But apart from that I have to recommend this album to fans of electronic music, even fans of the wub. Maybe then dubstep creators can learn how to fucking create buildups effectively so that bassdrops actually mean anything. Just sayin...
Rating: 4.5/5
Best songs: Midnight In A Perfect World/Changeling
No comments:
Post a Comment