This Ain't No Party.

To be fair, that title's a bit of a lie. Not to say, of course, that this blog is anything like a party, because, hey, this is the internet; it's hard to have internet parties unless you're still in the fourth grade and AOL "lesbian" "chat rooms" are back in style.

But I suppose that's neither here nor there.

What is here is this fancy new blorg. This is heretofore your new stop for musical jibber-jabber and various other exclamations of "I Pity the Fool," because, if I may remind you, this ain't no foolin' around. I'm like Mr. T if Mr. T was more like Ice-T. Just saying. I took the name for this page from one of my favorite Talking Heads tunes ("Life During Wartime" from the good but not great album, Fear of Music) and made an adorable little current pop culture reference to Panic! at the Disco, all the while making the statement that you will not find Panic! at the Disco on this site, except of course for in the title.

This will more than likely begin as a weekly blog, probably updating on Fridays or Saturdays, or perhaps even on Sundays. It'll contain album reviews, show reviews, film/DVD reviews, a handful of interesting music and film news bits, top 10's, and a plethora of other interesting and terrifying stories and other odds and ends and such.

As an introduction though, I struggled for a while over which album I'd want to review to make for a good, well, introduction. I wanted it to be something good, somewhat recent, a little unknown, but a good indication of my tastes and what I plan to tackle within this blorg. My decision ended on one of my all-time favorite albums; DJ Shadow's 1996 hip-hop masterpiece, Endtroducing... (the cover of which, you can find at the tippity top of this post). Enjoy.

DJ Shadow - Endtroducing...
Mo'Wax Records 1996

When people think of the label, "hip-hop", they don't normally picture a white kid from Southern California. In 1996, DJ/Producer Josh Davis (a.k.a. DJ Shadow) changed all that. In one fell swoop, Shadow released his first solo record, gained credit for creating the halfway-popular "Trip-Hop" trend that followed through to the late 90's, and made the Guinness Book of World Records for creating the first album based entirely on sampled sources. Shadow sampled everything from old radio and T.V. commercials, archived speeches, drum loops, and artists as diverse as The Beastie Boys, Stanley Clarke, and Masters of Ceremony. And that's just on the forty-eight second intro track.

Davis is less a musician and more a conductor on this album, piecing together rhythms and movements, queueing up every single instrument and putting them into perfect poisiton. And the beauty of Davis' work on this record is that, despite only using pre-existing sounds, he manages to make the entire thing sound like one living, breathing organism. The album sounds alive in a way that every other electronic album before (not to mention the ones that tried to copy it after) had never been able to accomplish. Tracks like the opener, "Building Steam With a Grain of Salt," and the single, "Midnight in a Perfect World" both sway and swell with bold, shimmering keys, while the drums in the background crash away almost sloppily, but the closer you listen, the more you can see where it's all going. These songs are, dare I say, like The Bealtes at their finest moments; you can imagine every note, even if you can't hear it, and you know exactly what note is coming next. That's not to say that the album is predictable, it's saying that it's got such an understandable flow to it at points that you can feel Shadow's vision and you know exactly what he's trying to do.

However, not every song is designed in such a way. The more epic tracks like "Changeling/Transmission 1" & "Napalm Brain/Scatter Brain" switch channels without warning, careening from metal blastbeats to funk rhythms to old fashioned hip-hop and soul breaks. But even with this seemingly sporadic and A.D.D.-style form of songwriting, it all makes sense. Unlike with most albums or songs where we see frequent changes in tune or time, Endtroducing... doesn't need or provide the time to readjust. Shadow keeps on like a steam locomotive with the brakes cut, stopping for nothing, flying through landscapes, all the while with it's eye on the light at the end of the tunnel.

Even forgetting the sheer scope and mythology surrounding this album, it's undeniable that this is not only DJ Shadow's strongest work, not only one of the best albums of the 90's, but one of the greatest hip-hop albums ever concieved. (5/5 Stars)
Key Tracks: "Building Steam With a Grain of Salt", "Changeling/Transmission 1", "Midnight in a Perfect World", "Mutual Slump"
More Along These Lines: UNKLE - Psyence Fiction, Radiohead - Kid A, Handsome Boy Modeling School - So...How's Your Girl
Download The Album In This Free Link I've Provided For Your Broke Ass: DJ Shadow - Endtroducing...