822 DJ Shadow - Endtroducing..... (1996)

Studio Album - Electronica

About the Act:

DJ Shadow is an American DJ and record producer. He has released 6 studio albums and done lots of remix work too. He has a personal collection of more than 60,000 records.

About the Album:

This was DJ Shadow's first full album release, and was released through a UK label, who were more open to his music at that time than American labels he approached. It is reputedly the first album ever released that was entirely made from samples. His equipment were a sampler, a turntable, and a ADAT tape recorder.

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

I gritted my teeth and girded my loins. Following on from the previous two reviews of things I didn't like, I wasn't sure I was ready for a hip-hop album. I was, however, ready for this.

I have listed this as Electronica rather than "instrumental hip-hop" or even "trip-hop", because in my opinion it has more in common with Fatboy Slim and The Chemical Brothers and Bentley Rhythm Ace than with any of the Rap albums I have heard. I guess Massive Attack are also a reasonable comparison, who there is some connection with, I think through the label. Possibly more than anything it reminds me of the French band Air.

It's samples, with beats (not always) and multi-layered samples on top, including a few bits of singing and speech, but mostly instrumental, including some very mellow bits. There are some elements that remind me of The Chemical Brothers, like fast sample playing, but also there is some scratching at points - used sparingly and well, and lots of very tight editing. There are two very strong features, one is using several samples together that work musically, and the other is messing with the beats. For example, on one track, much of it is in 7/4 time, but even that breaks down later in the track, when it becomes the musical equivalent of "no fixed abode". Oh, and I think another feature is the re-use of the same samples in different settings in different tracks, including one organ-like sequence that appears in two tracks, but with the beat loop starting in a different place in the second to re-interpret the sequence. Despite having no instrument playing input himself, he is obviously very musically competent, his understanding of what works together shows a depth of skill with music and harmony that seems often absent in some hip-hop. He builds textures, brings ideas back in several tracks, and builds an album of different textures and shades, that becomes a journey as a whole.

Yes, I liked it. I enjoyed it loads. I listened to it three times. It is intelligent but also affective, (that's not a typo) - it has moods and textures and is... surprising. It keeps veering off in unexpected directions, but not like a shopping trolley with a wonky wheel, more like a good narrative. I guess it almost is like a narrative.

7.8/10

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4wvqGLk1HThPA0b5lzRK2l

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiN-7mukU_RGrVi0VjGy77GC-gdPn7dZT

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endtroducing.....