Endtroducing... - DJ Shadow > Reviews > Scratching And Knicking Other People's Records

Author's product rating:   

Originality
Lyrics
Quality and consistency of tracks
How does it rate alongside the competition
Value for Money

Advantages:	Moody, Stylistically Varied And Rap Free !
Disadvantages:	None

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

**First up, it's END-troducing, not Entroducing (those Chow clerical people!)

***This review contains the words "Country & Western" and "Black Metal." Readers with allergies to such styles of music may wish to avoid this review. However the manufacturers would like to point out that this review contains only minimal references to such genres and no cross-contamination was involved in the production of this review.

Still with me? If so, read on...

ARTIST: DJ SHADOW
ALBUM: ENDTRODUCING (1996)
LABEL: MO WAX

I first heard DJ Shadow's stunning debut release late in 1996. I was aware of the plethora of red hot reviews that this album had generated during the summer but was reluctant to investigate. The reasons for my reluctance were twofold...

Firstly I hate the concept of DJ's as recording artists. For my mind these sometimes skillful, sometimes shameful individuals should stick to earning their (normally pretty decent) wages in clubs. To my mind only one or two DJ's have ever produced a single or album worth investigating.

Secondly, with the exception of DJ Shadow, De La Soul, WuTang Clan, A Tribe Called Quest and some Public Enemy, I hate hip-hop. To qualify this slightly, I love hip-hop beats but hate dull, generic rapping! So few people actually rap with any vigour, incision or skill that the genre has become as laughable as Country & Western or Black Metal. Shudder!!

Anyway, DJ Shadow. The name is crap. The music isn't. Endtroducing contains no rap and is an hour of diverse, beat-heavy musings. The album has the capacity of being both ambient and darkly dense at the same time.

Opening track, "Best Foot Forward", is a scratchy little intro. A cut and paste of various bits of hip-hop it leads into the wonderfully atmospheric
"Building Steam With a Grain of Salt", which is a truly awesome track. A simple piano loop holds things together, whilst some fairly ethereal vocals float rhythmically over the top of a groovy, yet heavy beat. The track contains the occasional vocal sample, but is for the most part instrumental. DJ Shadow showcases his mixing skills mid-way through and some 70s funk guitar allows the mood of the track to change insidiously.

The "Number Song" is a moody, beat driven track. Well placed as the third track on the album, it acts as a fairly good bridge to the rest of the album with its dark heart and fuzzy musical schizophrenia. Shadow uses some good vocal samples and the urgent intensity of the drumming conveys Shadow's frustation at the worldwide state of hip-hop at the time. No safe LL Cool J waters for the listener to swim in here!

After the mesmeric drum outro of "The Number Song" comes the bizarre "Changeling"; part department store ambience, part experimental 70s funk-soul, it is a curious, yet satisfying track. A proper, gritty drum pattern chugs away in the background, whilst Shadow works his magic in the foreground. A bassline of considerable girth (note, not "phat") underpins this excellent instrumental track.

After the progressive "Changeling" we stumble clumsily into "What Does Your Soul Look Like Part 4." Seemingly only DJ Shadow could position Part 4 of a track in front of Part 1. Well, except for George Lucas!! Perhaps that's where he got the idea from...

"Soul...Part 4" is a slower, more chilled piece. Images of a smokey lounge bar and a big comfy leather sofa come to mind. It represents the more late-night jazz side of Shadow's musical personality. The sixth track (for some reason untitled) is a mini-track, with a lyrical sample of a guy saying;

"Maureen's got five sisters
They all got ass..."

After this amusing diversion we move into the majesitc "Stem/Long Stem." This track has been used extensively in advertising and for me, conjures up images of laboratory experiments(!). Musically it is a moody, atmospheric track, with sudden lurching changes in tempo and vibe. Strings, keyboards, and slick post-production give the depth Shadow seeks on much of his work. Some machine-gun drumming is used on the track as a counterpoint for all the ambience. It is maybe a tad too cluttered, but what a gorgeous experiment the track is nonetheless.

"Mutual Slump" is a fairly apt title for track 8. A dark musical voyage, punctuated by some suitably abstract vocal samples, it further showcases DJ Shadow's flair and imagination. Some hypnotic drum sounds and psychotic saxophones colour in the gaps left by a stark keyboard rhythm.

"Organ Donor" is one of the worst/best pun titles (over to lwperkins to adjudicate) ever. The track witnesses the unholy alliance of a church organ and a clattering hip-hop beat. The result is surprisingly successful.

After the candid pastiche "Why Hip Hop Sucks In '96", comes the stately "Midnight In A Perfect World." A track which everyone knows, even if they don't realise they do! It has been used by everyone from pubs (seeking background ambience), the BBC, through to film trailers. One of the album highlights, it is five minutes of sheer bliss.
A simple organ (think Hammond not church this time) is used to give contrast to the rough-house beat that drives the track along. This curious mix of pedestrian and relatively rapid sounds is one of the trademarks of DJ Shadow and seldom works as well as on this seminal track.

"Napalm Brain/Scatter Brain" follows as track twelve. An obscure (well I don't know what it's from) vocal sample from American film/TV leads into a towering drum sound. The first part of the track is fairly skeletal, with only a 70s style bass and 90s hip-hop drum pattern present for the most part. It is not one of the album's highlights in my book but is still listenable nonetheless. The second part of the track ("Scatter Brain") features some cluttered drumming and lots of background atmospherics. It is in many ways a pre-cursor to the sort of sounds Shadow would go on to explore on the first Unkle album.

The closing track on the album is the previously mentioned "What Does Your Soul Look Like Part 1 (Blue Sky Revisit)." Parts 2 & 3 are available on the DJ Shadow compilation album "Pre-Emptive Strike." Part 1 is a languid, comedown after the intensity of "Scatter Brain." With elements of jazz, soul and hip-hop it is very much musical fusion. Shadow brings together many of his favourite sounds on this one track. A plodding, funky bassline; a raw, organic drum sound and Disintegration-era Cure atmospherics.

"Soul...Part 1" is one of the album's "up" tracks and threatens to leave the listener with a positive, laidback vibe as the album shakes hands and bids you goodnight...but just as you think things have finished, a strange little "transmission" (mini-track within a track to you and I) pops up and discolours the laidback groove that Shadow had created. I'm not a fan of the way the album ends, but then again it is a moody, progressive album and I suppose we shouldn't be surprised.

In summary, DJ Shadow has yet to better "Endtroducing." Most of his work is challenging and engaging, but he's never managed to recapture the evocative sounds and genuis cut and pasting of his debut. The biggest compliment I can give this record is that it still sounds excellent seven years on.

There truly is something for everyone on "Endtroducing." It's not really a hip-hop record, although the beats are unmistakeably of hip-hop origin. Elements of dub, psychedelia, funk, soul, big beat and jazz are present. Curiouly though the album is popular with many guitar music fans. The moody atmospherics allied to the fact that Shadow largely ignores the need for vocal, make the album a natural progression for many indie rock fans.

One final thing worthy of mention is the glorious sleeve. Whilst not as practical as the conventional housing given to protect CDs, the simulation-vinyl album cover is both refreshing and symbolic. In the eyes of DJ Shadow, music should be neither commerical, nor pigeon-holed, so he offers us a CD with a vinyl style inner cover and a vinyl stlye cardboard outer cover. A nice touch...

DJ Shadow. A throwback and conversely a revolutionary!

ALBUM RATING: 9/10