If ya liked them records....

[kflint@annihilist.com (Kim Flint)]

At 5:49 PM 1/15/97, Paolo Valladolid wrote:
>> everyone here already knows how spiff david is, but anyone who hasn't
>> checked out dj spooky, go buy "songs of a dead dreamer" right now.  
>groovy
>> urban-ambient type stuff ("illbient"), very inspirational for us 
>loopers.
>> how does he get those sounds???
>>
>> james
>
>Thanks to this list, I heard about dj spooky and Meat Beat Manifesto and
>bought their CDs.  I too found their works to be inspirational.  I don't
>see myself spinning records but I feel I can learn a lot from listening
>to them.
>
>
>Paolo Valladolid

I too recently picked up Mr. Spooky's "dead dreamer" cd, and can attest
that it is really quite cool. It is the only cd I own where the booklet
verbiage quotes Francis Bacon and KRS-One right next to each other!

On the same binge I picked up a few other gems, so for those of you trying
to get beyond, beside, askance, beneath, or otherwise repositioned in
relation to fripp, may I humbly suggest:


DJ Shadow "Endtroducing"

While Mr. Shadow and Mr. Spooky share the same first initials, their music
arrives from totally other places. The spook-man (or, "that air-headed guy"
as a jaded industry friend of mine refered to him) is definitely from the
psychedelic trip-hop scene, with strong techno roots. DJ Shadow is Hip-hop
all the way. I'd heard a lot of buzz on him, basically in the vein of "the
great hope for hip-hop" and "revolutionary."  The CD package even has a
sticker proclaiming DJ Shadow the "Jimi Hendrix or Jimmy Page of the
Sampler." Assuming that's a compliment, we've got some pretty good hype
building here.

DJ Shadow, oddly (or not), is not from the urban inner city, but from the
small argricultural city of Davis, CA. He had some sort of screwed up
childhood and consoled himself by totally immersing in hiphop culture,
eventually spinning discs at local college parties. In interviews he
expresses a very deep knowledge and love of the music, yet is quick to
attack his more successful brethren for the uninspired dreck that has
littered the urban music landscape in recent years. He efficiently makes
the point in one short groovy track entitled "Why Hip Hop sucks in 96." The
to-the-point sample says everything you need to know about Dr. Snoop Coolio
Dre, et al: "It's the money."

Shadow insists hiphop is not dead, and he has apparently set out to revive
it all by himself. "Endtroducing" is his first album, and I love it. It
lives up to all the hype, in my opinion. It's all instrumental, so there
are no cliched gansta poseur raps to get in the way. All the grooves are
fresh (oops, phresh) and interesting, apparently culled through extensive
record store hunting. His virtuosic dj skills create an assortment of
fascinating, brilliant loops and booty wigglin' beats, all coupled with an
excellent sense of composition rarely found in the genre. Even though I
cringe at using the word, it's oftentimes epic, and the tunes are presently
pemanently spinning in my head. DJ Shadow is beating DJ Spooky in my cd
player about 2 to 1 lately....

So, thumbs up, worth 12 bucks, I think I'm gonna buy a turntable.


The other good album I got is The Future Sound of London's new one, "Dead
Cities." The only other album of their's I have is "Lifeforms" (which has
fripp on it!!!!!!!!!!!!!  heh, sorry) I like Dead Cities better. It's less
"ambient" than Lifeforms, more gritty and urban feeling. A lot more
rhythmic and sparse. It's a little inconsistent, as there were some parts
that sounded unfinished somehow, but when it's good, it's really good. FSOL
is from the Ambient-techno side of the loop planet, for those who don't
know. Generally very innovative, using lots of analog synth and electronic
sounds with various sorts of loops coming and going and different
percussion beats moving in and out. Definitely check them out if you are
keen on what all this stuff is about.

(also, check out the Orb, who totally blew me away a year or so ago)


kim


______________________________________________________________________
Kim Flint                   | Looper's Delight
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