RZA & HOWARD DROSSIN The Man With The Iron Fists (Original Score) (Soul Temple) 2lp 24.00

RZA AS BOBBY DIGITAL Digital Bullet (Koch) cd 16.98
A few years ago, RZA and the rest of Wu-Tang made a guest appearance on the Upright Citizen's Brigade (the sadly missed show of comic absurdity recently cancelled by Comedy Central in favor of BattleBots... bad move, Comedy Central), lambasting Trotter - the cyborg who always denied being a cyborg - for being too analogue. While RZA's amusing wordplay certainly fit into a strange UCB running joke about the plausibility of Trotter's claim of not being a cyborg, it is just another instance of his personal vernacular of 'digital' trumping 'analogue' and 'old skool' as the arena of superiority in the megalomaniacal world of hip hop. Digital technology - and not the jazz / soul / funk 70s revivalism - is of course the method of production for RZA. But his sound has never been terribly progressive, especially in light of Timbaland or electronica's digital fuckers Kid 606 and Lesser. Instead, RZA's production sounds a lot more like the stripped down skeletal funk of Sensational (just a mechanical breakbeat, a supple bassline, and the barest of melody). RZA's vocal delivery is a constant ramble that doesn't really break into rhyme or verse or harmony, it just rambles on and on... yet somehow there is a strange sadness to the whole conconction. The verdict is still out on this one.
RealAudio clip: "Show u Love"

RZA AS BOBBY DIGITAL Digital Bullet (Koch) 2lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A few years ago, RZA and the rest of Wu-Tang made a guest appearance on the Upright Citizen's Brigade (the sadly missed show of comic absurdity recently cancelled by Comedy Central in favor of BattleBots... bad move, Comedy Central), lambasting Trotter - the cyborg who always denied being a cyborg - for being too analogue. While RZA's amusing wordplay certainly fit into a strange UCB running joke about the plausibility of Trotter's claim of not being a cyborg, it is just another instance of his personal vernacular of 'digital' trumping 'analogue' and 'old skool' as the arena of superiority in the megalomaniacal world of hip hop. Digital technology - and not the jazz / soul / funk 70s revivalism - is of course the method of production for RZA. But his sound has never been terribly progressive, especially in light of Timbaland or electronica's digital fuckers Kid 606 and Lesser. Instead, RZA's production sounds a lot more like the stripped down skeletal funk of Sensational (just a mechanical breakbeat, a supple bassline, and the barest of melody). RZA's vocal delivery is a constant ramble that doesn't really break into rhyme or verse or harmony, it just rambles on and on... yet somehow there is a strange sadness to the whole conconction. The verdict is still out on this one.

RZA AS BOBBY DIGITAL Rhumba (Koch) 12" 6.98

RZA, THE Music From The Motion Picture Ghost Dog (Victor Japan) cd 31.00
So we know a bunch of you bought the Ghost Dog soundtrack, threw it on, and realised you were listening to a completely mediocre rap compilation that had very little to do with the movie, and thought 'What the fuck?' Well, there is an explantion. If you were like us, you were expecting the -score-, all that moody, creepy instrumental RZA incidental music that did so much to set the mood of the movie. But Andee discovered a copy in a soundtrack specialty store in New York (for $40!) and we tried desperately to track down copies. For some reason the score was only released in Japan and has been incredibly difficult to get. But this is it. Dark and meandering beats, swelling strings, and moody atmospheres. Mixed up with clips from the movie. So good. If they had released this instead of the crappy 'soundtrack' they would have sold so many more. But again Hollywood underestimates our tastes and panders to the lowest common denominator taste wise. We've had copies on and off for the last couple of months but never enough to list it. Now, we finally managed to get a few more copies, but VERY few, so this is on a strictly first come, first served basis. If you don't manage to snag one, we can put you down for one, but there is no guarantee we'll ever be able to get more. You have been warned.

S.A. SMASH Smashy Trashy (Definitive Jux) cd 13.98
Latest blast of damaged hip-hop-ic mayhem from the Def Jux camp and it's maybe one of the best so far. And of all the Def Jux releases, for some reason it's gotten the least attention. Not sure why, but it's a shame. Def Jux has done nothing but impress from day one, Cannibal Ox, El-P, RJD2, Company Flow, Aesop Rock, Mr. Lif and on and on. A perfectly, off-kilter, damaged and demented take on hip hop. Super innovative production, funky and bouncing beats, wild, weird flows, and most importantly a sense of humor. S.A. Smash fit in perfectly, playing the goofy country cousins to the big city Def Jux nuclear family. The record starts off with a skit, I know, I hate 'em too, but this one's pretty fucking funny. And there are a few more scattered throughout the record, but they sort of fit in the whole scheme of things. Skits aside though, this record kills. Banging, booming beats, weird but totally catchy production. The sound is a wild mix of Nelly bounce, Clipse grind and Cannibal Ox outerspaceness, which perfectly complements Camutao and Metro's free form flow, equal parts Onyx intensity, Redman goofiness and Method Man scratchy drawl. The El-P produced "Lilly" is quite possible the jam of the year, with an incredibly catchy, looped bassline, and a hook that just won't stop. Why this isn't all over the radio we will never understand. And the rest of the record is just as slamming. Fans of all things Definitive Jux, Mush, Anticon need this, and folks who get all their hip hop from MTV and Power 106 gotta get schooled.
MPEG Stream: "Smash TV"
MPEG Stream: "Robot"
MPEG Stream: "Clout"

SA-RA CREATIVE PARTNERS Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love (Ubiquity) 2cd 16.98
After the amazing job they did with production on last year's Erykah Badu record New Amerykah Pt.1, we were really anxious to hear what the Sa-Ra Creative Partners would brew up on this new album of their own. Taking the best of psychedelic soul's past and placing it into a kaleidoscopic vision of hip-hop's future this ambitious double disc proves that Sa-Ra really are at the forefront of modern day leftfield soul/hip-hop/funk. You can for sure hear the aesthetic they laid down on Erykah Badu's latest as well as healthy hints of De La Soul, J Dilla, and lots of nods to funk luminaries like Prince, Zapp, Cameo and Parliament. This is the kind of record you can blast out loud for late night hang sessions or through headphones for an ultra stylish, personal and intimate, interstellar psychedelic soul experience.
MPEG Stream: "He Say She Say"
MPEG Stream: "Spacefruit"
MPEG Stream: "Hangin By A String"

SAGE FRANCIS A Healthy Distrust (Epitaph) cd 13.98
Sage Francis has always been the best lyricist of the bunch, the bunch in question being the Anticon collective (Dose One, Sole, Alias, etc...), but until now it was ALL about the lyrics, the music being just background for Francis's nimble flow. A Healthy Distrust finds Francis on fire, spitting some of the most biting, brutal and brutally funny lyrics EVER, sometimes in a purposefully unfunky drawl, sometimes sung in a goofy sing song, and sometimes sprayed in an impossible series of tongue twisting turns of phrase. And unlike Atmosphere and some other hyped white rappers, Francis manages to flow effortlessly, incorporating his white boy idosycracies into his lyrics and delivery instead of letting them define him as an artist.
And finally, for once, the music is just as impressive, dense and emotional, hard and heavy, but not heavy in that incongruous-metal-riff / metal-meets-hip-hop nu-metal way that most rap groups try at least once (and regret it), but in the way only perfectly crafted beats and thick evocative atmospheres can be. Intense and aggressive, melodic and strangely haunting and melancholy with minor key melodies and creepy sad loops. Thanks to a seriously impressive line up of beatmakers and producers: Danger Mouse, Alias, Sixtoo, Controller 7, Daddy Kev and more, A healthy Distrust would be just as good a record even if it was instrumental, with its dark deep Shadow-scapes, weird lumbering funk, skittering electronica, organic instrumentation and lots of wicked beats. So when you mix in Francis's Eminem-meets-MC Serch flow, you've got a contender for hip hop record of the year.
A lot of the attention has focused on the track "Sea Lion", a collaboration between Francis and Will Oldham. And rightfully so. A subtle shuffling drum and bass rhythm, over plaintive mournful guitar and Oldham's cracked moan of a vocal line. Definitely an unlikely match up that works perfectly. Another standout is the anti gangsta diatribe "Gunz Yo!" that had us laughing out loud:
"Straight to the grill like a homophobic rapper unaware of the graphic nature of phallic symbols, tragically ironic, sucking off each other's gats and pistols, I've got more back issues than Guns n' Ammo, cuz my uzi weighs a ton and i never let go of the handle. Hanging onto mommy's pant leg...double fisted. Knee deep in shells, kicking ballistics. This dick is a detatchable penis. An extension of my manhood, positioned like a fetus. An introvenous hook up feeds bullets to my magazine. Nevermind the Bullocks, my pistol is a sex machine!"
and:
"I've got another gun, I keep it in my briefcase. It keeps me safe at my workplace. Cubicle gangster who's in need of his personal space. Angster of love who's unable to look girls in their face."
In fact, this is one of the few hip hop records that actually had us dropping everything we were doing to actually listen closely to the rhymes, even reading along in the cd booklet. And again, the lyrics had us cracking up, and occasionally even getting all choked up. They're that right on. Here's a few favorites:
"Now it's whistle blower versus the pistol holder. Case Dismissed. They'll lock you up and throw away the key witness. Justice is the whim of a judge. Check his chest density. It leaves much room for error, and the rest is left to density. The West Memphis 3 lost paradise. Now it's death penalty vs. Suicidal Tendencies. All I wanted was a fucking Pepsi. 'Making you think you're ugly is a million dollar industry.' Corrina Bain. If they could sell sanity in a bottle, they'd be charging for compressed air. They're marketing health care. They demonized welfare. Middle class eliminated. The rich get richer til the poor get educated."
"Let em freestyle, Winner takes all. When the music's dead I'll have Ted Nugent's head hanging on my wall. Kill one of ours...and we'll kill one of yours with some 'friendly fire.' That's a funny term...like 'civil war'."
"In a world where girl's got retro tattoos, and all I've got is a gut and velcro black shoes."
It's all in the the delivery though, and the above lines are so deftly woven in to the music, that it's hard to imagine them on their own as they are above, but just listen to the sound samples! For hip hop, 2004 may have been the year of MF Doom and Madvillain, but this year (so far) it's all about Sage Francis!
MPEG Stream: "The Buzz Kill"
MPEG Stream: "Sea Lion"
MPEG Stream: "Gunz Yo!"

SAGE FRANCIS Personal Journal (Anticon) cd 13.98
Another solo disc from the Anticon posse, Personal Journal is MC Sage Francis' long-in-the-works earnestly-autobiographical album. With producers odd nosdam, Sixtoo, mayonnaise, Controller 7, and more, all of whom keep his voice right out front.
RealAudio clip: "Specialist"
RealAudio clip: "Inherited Scars"

SAGE FRANCIS W/ WILL OLDHAM Sea Lion (Epitaph) 12" 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Sounds like an odd pairing, but it works surprsingly well. Sage Francis, assembles a dark and dreamy Anticon-ish hiphop-scape, with Oldham supplying the main vocals in his trademark laconic drawl. You can almost imagine what a great palace song this would make if you sucked out all the groove. But that's precisely what makes it such a great hip hop track. It's just a great song. On the extended version Oldham And Francis are joined by Saul Williams which is super cool. The B side, is the track "Stuck" and features fellow whiney rapper, Atmosphere.

SALEM King Night (IAMSOUND) cd 13.98
Before we get into our usual wordy meandering, hyperbolic gushing and tangential ruminating, we oughta come right out and say it first thing, this record is fucking incredible. One of the coolest weirdest records we've heard in ages. Twisted and blown out, weirdly melodic and groovy, dense and washed out and otherworldly and fucking bizarre, equal parts blissed out hypnogogic shoegazey drift, lurching, chopped and screwed style Southern crunk, majestic choral dreaminess, blurred beat heavy collaged electronica, and sample heavy blown out synthbuzz epicness. In some alternate universe alien world, THIS is the music that comes blasting out of booming systems in tricked out lowriders, some sort of glorious, blindingly blissy club music that fuses stuttery stumbly beats, to crumbling distorted low end, and thick swaths of synths so blown out the whole record sounds like it might collapse, mix in soaring operatic vocal samples, low slung bass buzz, jittery drum skitter, and mush mouthed slowed down 'rapping', smear and blur it all into one glorious, warped and warbly cough syrup fever dream epic, and that's basically Salem's King Night.
By now, most folks have at lest heard of 'witch house' a new 'genre' that Salem seem to represent, willingly or not, it's hard to say, but alongside other groups like oOoOO, witch house has received the sort of blog hype (and mainstream press) that immediately turns us off, and made us want to hate it, but so far, everything we've heard, we've dug, big time, but nothing has kicked out ass as much as this Salem record. It's so weird, and twisted and bizarre, it's sort of hard to believe that THIS is the record people are talking about, it makes sense that we'd love it, and that it would be an aQuarius Record Of The Week, but the New York Times? John Q. Public? Fuck it, like we always say, we'd way rather here stuff like this on the radio anyway. But regardless of the hype, or the backlash, or any of the nonmusical stuff, it all boils down to how ingenious and utterly OUT THERE this is. Just check out the title track, some weird garbled voices, some skittery drum machine, some ravey synths, choral voices, and then BAM, the song explodes, the bass a throbbing slab of rumbling crunch, the drum machine weirdly awkward, but the perfect compliment to the tangled melodies, and those soaring distorted operatic voices, the track a total epic, building and building, like the score for some insane alien sci-fi slow motion dancefloor martial arts battle, you can almost visualize fishtanks exploding into galaxies of exploding glass shards, while bodies fly threw the clouds of glistening sparkle, everything seemingly floating weightless. So good. We could listen to this track FOREVER (and pretty much have since we got it). But then comes "Asia" with its fat stuttery beat, and girlish vocals buried beneath a miasma of crumbling distorted crunch, and woozy synth melodies and confusional drum programming, sounding a bit like some over the top M83 jam gone haywire, or maybe some lost Cocteau Twins B-side remixed by Alec Empire and Black Moth Super Rainbow, everything fuzzy and washed out and gauzy, murky and dark, but still suffused with a weird sort of sunshininess. "Frost" is more of the same, even prettier and blissier, taking Sigur Ros and dipping it in a vat of gristly distortion and Carpenter sci-fi synths, and then stretching it out into a billowing sheet of diaphanous dream pop.
It's not until "Sick" that we get a glimpse of Salem's other side, their chopped and screwed, sippin' sizurp, alien slow motion shoegaze hip hop side, the music remains essentially the same, maybe not quite as dense, still swirls of female vocals, a strange otherworldly chorale, but over the top of this sonic cotton candy , a 'rapper' delivers his mutated pitch shifted flow, mouthful of marbles, finger on the record slowing it do a crawl, creating a weirdly dreamy draggy druggy hip hop / dream pop hybrid. And the rest of the record seems to drift lazily between those two sounds, "Release Da Boar" finds Salem offering up another cloud of dopesmoke dreaminess, fuzz drenched dirge pop bliss, which gives way to "Trapdoor", another slow motion, DJ Screw style cough syrup remix, laid over a warm warped and warbly bit of lysergic ambience and buzzing rave synth swirl. "Hound" is like the title track redux, so thick and crumblingly distorted, but so blown out and beautiful, "Tair" is a gloriously weird spaced out, handclapped chunk of shoegaze rap, and "Killer" sounds like Joy Division or Interpol run through a million distortion pedals, and set to a Casio keyboard drum machine beat, only to shrug off some of the crunch and warble, leaving a gorgeous stretch of plaintive low slung doom pop, that hints at the poppiness that lurks beneath the surface on King Night, only to finish the record in a squall of synth buzz, mumbled vox and drum machine chaos.
Wow. What else can we say. This sounded so good in the store, and even better in headphones, but it wasn't until we got in the car, and cranked this as loud as it would go, that it finally sunk in, and suddenly, we were bouncing up and down in a tricked out lowrider on some alien planet in some alternate universe, our booming system BOOMING, getting totally lost in these twisted and gorgeously damaged sounds. WAY WAY recommended.
MPEG Stream: "King Night"
MPEG Stream: "Asia"
MPEG Stream: "Trapdoor"
MPEG Stream: "Redlights"
MPEG Stream: "Killer"

SANTOGOLD Creator / L.E.S. Artistes (Downtown) 12" 10.98
Wow, "Creator" is quickly becoming our favorite single of the year. Santogold has been getting lots of attention and winning high profile fans like Bjork, Spank Rock and Lily Allen. "Creator" for sure makes us think of her friend M.I.A. in both the vocal delivery and the splatter-of-color production by Switch (who worked on most of M.I.A.'s latest). The 'b' side finds Santogold in more of a new wave territory sounding kind of like Karen O singing lead on the first Cars album. While both the aQ faithful as well as her famous fans wait for her debut full length, we'll be laying the needle on "Creator" again and again and again.

SANTOGOLD s/t (Downtown) cd 14.98
Santogold's eponymous debut came with a tall stack of expectations that nearly any artist would have a hard time fulfilling. The number of industry glossies that tagged her the next MIA, or even went so far as to whisper the hallowed name of one Lady Sovereign, had everyone abuzz, ready to witness the next vital permutation of global hip hop whatever pitchfork is calling it these days. So, that said, the record didn't quite pack the punch some of us were hoping for. Or perhaps rather, it just wasn't what we expected, taking many more forays into what can only call a kind of mid-'90s slick indie-rock, that's probably best left for the occasional late-night YouTube session. Even so, Santogold should be credited for her efforts to break genre-constraints, and ultimately the record is stronger for it, if not a bit schizophrenic.
Over the last month most of us have uncovered a few new favorites, and certainly agree this record is no dog. Those in need of a handful of great summer jams from a fresh and promising voice working in the vein of the aforementioned trendsetters will certainly find what they are looking for. Of note, of course, is the fabulous lead single, "Creator," which features Santogold's more fierce vocal delivery, and a killer combination of hooks and rhythms. Also, another standout "Lights Out," shows Santogold making good in her efforts to reach toward new wave and even her punk past for a subtly inventive take on pop music. It's certainly a far cry from the global hip-hop/dancehall designation that "Creator" had her billed as, but even so its seriously infectious, and a few of the songs even sort of kick ass. If you've got a few holes to fill on a mix-tape or just feel like some P-O-P, do it.
MPEG Stream: "Creator"
MPEG Stream: "Lights Out"

SAVATH & SAVALAS La Llama (Stones Throw) cd 14.98
Mr. Scott Herren sure likes to keep busy. We just listed his newest project Diamond Watch Wrists, an indie rock minded collaboration with Zach Hill from Hella, he also has a brand new Prefuse 73 album in the works, but somehow even with all that going on, he's also managed to crank out another Savath & Savalas album. S+S is the project that allows Herren to explore a more delicate, breezy and tropical sound. Teamed up with a great ensemble of musicians, which includes dreamy vocalist Eva Puyuelo Muna, La Llama might be the most fully realized and satisfying Savath & Savalas recording yet, channeling the sounds and sentiments of '70s Brazilian/South American soft-psych greats like Joyce, Milton Nascimento, and Congregacion, yet infusing that sound with a modern element that keeps the music from sounding purely nostalgic. Understated and richly flowing with an ease and breeze that is totally hitting the spot!
MPEG Stream: "La Llama"
MPEG Stream: "Pavo Real"
MPEG Stream: "Barceloneta"

SCARFACE The Last Of A Dying Breed (Rap A Lot) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD Meet My Maker (DB Productions) cd 10.98
Hard to believe, but this is indeed a RAP record from one of the drummers of BURMESE! But Burmese fans aren't necessarily Schaffer's demographic, as there are no hellish howls, or gut ripping low end, of head crushing percussive onslaught, just some bumping bass, casio-ish drum beats, and a whine-y white boy flow. But it's the lyrics that keep the Burmese flame burning. Metal, Satan, mayhem, rock and roll and assorted other punk rock debauchery spit in a sing songy, un-funky flow. Fans of Steven Schultz's I Forgot To Get A Rap Name record should definitely check this out!
MPEG Stream: "Your Band"
MPEG Stream: "Attack Of The CLonefucker"

SCHULTZ, STEVEN I Forgot To Get A Rap Name (Spam Records) cd 8.98
This Schultz classic has been redone, rerecorded (!) and repackaged for those of you that missed out the first time. Here's what we had to say about it:
You may have seen Steven Schultz reading and eating donuts in the front row of the Mayhem show. Or you may remember him in pigtails and pajamas eating prunes in the pit at the Hammers Of Misfortune show. Or you may remember his hilarious and amazing lo-fi Naked City-ish 'History Of Vats' cd from a few years back. Or you may not know him at all. This cd marks SS's first recorded foray into the world of rap music, and boy, it's something. Musically notable for the fact that the instruments are all real (all played by the multitalented Steve), and dramatically notable for the fact that the skits are all acted out by Steven's friends. And then there's the rapping. White and whiney as you may have expected, but lyrically, well, no one could have expected anyone to take on the persona of a rapping pirate ('Call Me Pinkbeard'), a rapping whale ('Fuck A Harpoon'), a rapping goth ('I Got Bigger Hair Than Robert Smith'), or a rapping eskimo ('Maniac With An Igloo'). Then there's Steve's attack on rap-metal ('Rap-Metal Is Funny')... Yes, it's incredibly dumb, but undeniably fucked and funny. Self-produced cd-r with color cover (art by Steve) and oh-so-essential lyric sheet. Maybe not the next Eminem, but perhaps the next MC Paul Barman?
RealAudio clip: "Fuck A Harpoon"
RealAudio clip: "Call Me Pinkbeard, Mistress Of The High Seas"

SCORCHER Thunder Power (T.H.E. M.O.V.E.M.E.N.T.) cd 15.98

SCRATCH (Palm) dvd 25.00
Finally on DVD, the movie Scratch, a documentary about hiphop DJs by Doug Pray (who also made Hype!, that grunge doc). Not only is the subject matter super interesting, but the film is very well made (unlike most music docs!), and so it is a treat to watch! Features interviews with Grand Wizard Theodore, inventor of the scratch, with the legendary Afrika Baambaataa, and with todays' expert practitioners including Mixmaster Mike, QBert, Cut Chemist, DJ Shadow, Rob Swift, Z-trip, Babu, Faust & Shorteee etc. Lots of local folks make appearances, including Billy Jam (of HipHopSlam), Dave Paul (of Bomb Recordings, who released the groundbreaking all-DJ comp Return of the DJ), DJ Quest (of Live Human, along with his crew the Bulletproof Scratch Hamsters), even (weirdly) Naut Humon of Asphodel. The film is well made, clear, funny, and super enlightening. One plum scene has QBert getting all cosmic as he talks about about inspiration, which for him consists of trying to imagine what music from outer space sounds like, and then reproducing that sound on his turntables. Oh those Skratch Piklz. Another nice sequence features DJ Shadow at that record store that appears on the cover of Endtroducing, which is basically his nirvana, his treasure chest, where they let him into the basement to dig.
Also included is a director's commentary, extra scenes, etc. There is also a *second* disc loaded with material -- DJ Z-trip with useful tips on how to DJ a party, a segment of QBert's Wave Twisters movie, a DIY scratch lesson with QBert, a notation demonstration (so cool to see scratching represented on paper), etc. Whew! If the packaging is to be believed, there is in total over 5 hours of material here! Worth the money, methinks.

SCREW, DJ All Work No Play Volume 2 (Reliant Entertainment) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Man, I should have been a rapper. What other career allows you the freedom to release record after record, even after you're already dead!!! In much the same fashion as Tupac and Biggie, Screw's posthumous output will soon outnumber the records released while he was alive (not counting the zillions of mix tapes). For those of you who don't know about Screw, he's from the 'Dirty South', and he struck gold with his peculiar brand of remixing (or 'screwing') which entailed, basically just slowing down the record to a crawl, making the record sound like it was dipped in a vat of cough syrup. Sounds weird, but goddamn if the results aren't mighty pleasing to the ear. Most of the stuff that gets 'screwed' here on volume two comes courtesy of Screw's buddies from down south: Fat Pat, Lil' Flip, UGK, 8-Ball, Juvenile, Lil' Keke and loads more. We LOVE DJ Screw.
RealAudio clip: "5.5 (Featuring Lil' Keke and 8-Ball)"
RealAudio clip: "Swang Down (Featuring Fat Pat and Southside Playas)"

SCREW, DJ Screwed Up Vol. 1 (Smokin') cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Imagine your favorite hip hop jam slowed down to 3/4 the speed, or even 1/2 the speed. Well, you don't have to, cause here comes DJ Screw with his peculiar brand of remix, which as fas as we can tell just means slowing the records down, but damn it sounds good. All those radio hits dipped in molasses and dragging themselves through a tarpit beats and 'ugh's. The sexy songs sound sexier, the slamming songs sound, well, slower but somehow more powerful, and some of em just sound really really funny.
We can occasionally get volumes one through three of the Screwed Up remix series, but you can/should also check out Napster for some of the biggest hits (remixed we think without permission) and up until a few months ago, all the latest jams slooooowed waaay dooown. But Screw is dead now (R.I.P.) and the world just seems a little too fast.
RealAudio clip: "Pushin Rhymes Like Weight (Ice Cube)"

SCREW, DJ Screwed Up Vol. 2 (Smokin') cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Imagine your favorite hip hop jam slowed down to 3/4 the speed, or even 1/2 the speed. Well, you don't have to, cause here comes DJ Screw with his peculiar brand of remix, which as fas as we can tell just means slowing the records down, but damn it sounds good. All those radio hits dipped in molasses and dragging themselves through a tarpit beats and 'ugh's. The sexy songs sound sexier, the slamming songs sound, well, slower but somehow more powerful, and some of em just sound really really funny.
We can occasionally get volumes one through three of the Screwed Up remix series, but you can/should also check out Napster for some of the biggest hits (remixed we think without permission) and up until a few months ago, all the latest jams slooooowed waaay dooown. But Screw is dead now (R.I.P.) and the world just seems a little too fast.
RealAudio clip: "Pushin Rhymes Like Weight (Ice Cube)"

SCREW, DJ Screwed Up Vol. 3 (Smokin') cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Imagine your favorite hip hop jam slowed down to 3/4 the speed, or even 1/2 the speed. Well, you don't have to, cause here comes DJ Screw with his peculiar brand of remix, which as fas as we can tell just means slowing the records down, but damn it sounds good. All those radio hits dipped in molasses and dragging themselves through a tarpit beats and 'ugh's. The sexy songs sound sexier, the slamming songs sound, well, slower but somehow more powerful, and some of em just sound really really funny.
We can occasionally get volumes one through three of the Screwed Up remix series, but you can/should also check out Napster for some of the biggest hits (remixed we think without permission) and up until a few months ago, all the latest jams slooooowed waaay dooown. But Screw is dead now (R.I.P.) and the world just seems a little too fast.
RealAudio clip: "Pushin Rhymes Like Weight (Ice Cube)"

SEMIAUTOMATIC s/t (5 Rue Christine) cd 11.98
Rop, ex-Peechees member, has moved to New York where he hones his DJ and turntablist skills as DJ Ropstyle. Semiautomatic features the additional talents of Akiko. Fans of Kid Koala's funny style and ICU/IQU's lo-fi d'n'b will enjoy this.

SENSATIONAL Corner The Market (WordSound) cd 15.98
The return of one of the most fucked up rappers we know, whose last record was a highlight of the always-excellent WordSound label! Between songs like "Chunky Buds" and "Dope Man", Sensational's second album is much more of a proclamation of getting really stoned and staying really stoned for as long as possible. Somewhere in between all of this pot smoking, Sensational manages to somehow record a really great record of brittle, super slow hip hop and utterly mental words of wisdom mumbled-with-a-mouthful-of-marbles as opposed to rapped with any coherence. Needless to say, Sensational may very well be Aquarius' favourite rapper (yes, more so than Kool Keith). Recommended!

SENSATIONAL Get On My Page (Ipecac) cd 17.98
Though we at AQ love the mumbling, narcoticized lo-fi rapping of Sensational, three albums of the same production -- sloppy beats with Sensational mixed way too high in the mix -- was a bit much. The ongoing argument here has always been which of his first two albums (Loaded With Power or Corner The Market) was the better, and that if you needed more than one, either of these would make a fine companion to the other. His third disc, Heavyweighter was more of the same. This new release on Mike Patton's (Mr Bungle) Ipecac label finally steps out of the production ghetto that Sensational was stuck in -- providing a wider variety of musical and sonic elements, varied beats, and a more reasonable vocal balance in the mix -- but it's almost too little too late. So, once again, we can tell you that if you haven't had enough of Sensational after three releases, by all means pick this up. But if you have yet to make a plunge into the strange world of Sensational definitely start with either Loaded With Power (if you believe Allan or Andee) or Corner The Market (if you believe Jim, Jeff or Byram).
RealAudio clip: "Let Me Be"

SENSATIONAL Heavyweighter (WordSound) cd 14.98
AQ's favorite rapper (next to Ice Cube) returns (following one 12" single on Matador and anticipating another) with his third full-length album for equally AQ-appreciated label WordSound. His lazy, stoned style is still causing maximum confusion, as his words wander amongst the deliberately lo-fi and disjointed beats found here. He's the master of hazy, blunted, repetitive raps, liberally sprinkled with strange non-sequiturs. If you're new to Sensational you should perhaps start with his "Loaded With Power" debut, but this'll give you the flavor too.
RealAudio clip: "Paper Chase"

SENSATIONAL Loaded With Power (WordSound) cd 14.98
Former member of the Jungle Brothers goes solo, sounds like Wu-Tang with a head injury!

SENSATIONAL Natural Shine (WordSound) cd 14.98
AQ's favorite mumble-mouthed rapper, the oft-surreal Sensational, is back, and back on his original label Wordsound after releases on Matador and Mike Patton's Ipecac.
Wordsound is also the home of another AQ-fave, Spectre, and Sensational shares Spectre's style of rumbling, murky, deep, gritty home-brewed production (the Ill Saint twists the knobs on track 11, "Super Styling"). Sensational's lazy drawl is nicely matched by the dubby echo effects of the music and his doubled-up vocal track. It's the aural equivalent of the clouds of pot smoke swirling around the studio. Sensational's stoned stream of unconciousness lyrics are sometimes retardedly brilliant, and he never lets a nonsensically silly non sequitur get in the way of his flow -- it's all about the flow, the repetition, the layering. He doesn't have to be rhyming -- he often isn't really -- a Sensational track still makes you nod your head and go, huh. As Evil Nice says on track two, Sensational is "hotter than a fucking...missile". Huh.
RealAudio clip: "Style Notice"
RealAudio clip: "Juicy Lips"

SENSATIONAL Party Jumpin' (Matador) 12" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
AQ's favorite rapper (well, up there with Cube and Dr. Octagon) drops a 12" on the super-dope Matador label, after several brilliant full-lengths for WordSound. Two new songs, with obligatory vocal/instrumental/acapella versions each, of Sensational's super stoned and weirded-out hiphop.

SENSATIONAL Speaks For Itself (Quatermass) cd 14.98
Chunka Bliss is back!!! When Sensational's Loaded With Power came out several years back it was a huge hit here at Aquarius. It made our heads hurt it was so bafflingly fucked up. But man, that was a loooong time ago -- long before the AQ list machine began grinding full force. When you look at the website, the description of Loaded With Power -- entered ex post facto -- is cursory at best. Truth is, we hadn't, nor still have, heard another hip hop artist torture the mic so well. He's the outsider artist of hip hop, dumbfounding all comers with his stoned non-sequiturs and stilted, arythmmic rhyming. God bless Kool Keith, we still love the Octagonecologyst record, but he's in a different league. We can see what street he's coming down and when he's going to make a left turn. Kool Keith is the sort of "crazy" in the same way that your friend who gets really drunk and puts a lamp shade on their head is crazy. Sensational however would be the guy that would come to a party, sit in the corner and make a lamp shade out of cigarrette butts and bottle caps. And somehow it would function in place of the one that Kool Keith was still wearing on his head. Sensational throws so much nonsense at you, that you're still trying to digest the first line before he's gone off on three other random tangents. We've figured that the only way you can keep up with Sensational is to get really, really stoned. Weed is the equivalent of the Babel Fish from Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy with which one is able to follow along with Sensational. Problem is, once you've come down from it you lose the ability to explain. We'd get baked at work so that we could write more about it, but we don't want to freak out straight edge Andee!
MPEG Stream: "The Seven"
MPEG Stream: "Money Maker"
MPEG Stream: "Groovie Groove"

SENSATIONAL & SPECTRE Acid & Bass (WordSound) cd 11.98
We first got a teaser for this long promised full length matchup way back in 2002 on the Spectre record Parts Unknown, which featured super stoned rapper Sensational on 4 tracks, and it was solid gold, Spectre's creepy ominous dubscapes, and Sensational's mushmouthed mumble, twisted, druggy, off kilter and so good.
So who should come by Aquarius just now, but Spectre himself, dropping off this latest disc, a full length showdown / match up / tag team, and it's just as good as those 4 tracks from way back when. Seems like Spectre has dialed back the sinister, instead crafting some very Sensational appropriate tracks, loopy and loping, twisted and stuttery, muted and abstract, clipped and cracking, the perfect bed for Sensational to lay down his drugged out stream of consciousness fffffflow, woozy, warped and warbly, strings sing, horns bleat, a skeletal beat skitters, weaving an almost Hitchcock sounding backdrop for some drawled genius. Slowed down vocals, demonic and growly (remember those from Spectre records?) ooze over some crunchy stabs and some hiccupping beats, lazer fire from some sci-fi movie wraps around a hazy Wu-worthy should sample, looped Led Zep gives way to pizzicatto strings and looped birdsong, Spectre has always been a beat master, and this disc proves he's only gotten better, how come he's not doing beats for the big guys, if we were Kanye or Jay-Z or 50 Cent and heard this shit, we'd get Spectre up to the compound and get him crafting beats PRONTO. And along those same lines, why does everyone want T-Pain and Lil' Wayne to guest on their records? Hell, can you imagine some MTV hip hop jam breaking down into a cough syrup trudge and Sensational strolling out rapping some unintelligable weirdness into a pair of headphones? If only...
MPEG Stream: "The Way I Like"
MPEG Stream: "The Boom"
MPEG Stream: "Rip Like This"
MPEG Stream: "Boom Bash Shit"

SHABAZZ PALACES Black Up (Sub Pop) cd 14.98
We had been hearing about these guys for a while, super hyped underground hip hop from Seattle, the first hip hop release on Sub Pop, word was Shabazz palaces' sound was seriously fractured and fucked up, hip hop deconstructed into all new shapes, and when we finally got a listen, that proved to be actually pretty true, warped loops, shuffling abstract beats, bizarre production, thick and polished one second. murky and muddy the next, swirling effects, horns, soulful vox, sci-fi synths, all blurred into tangled smears of avant hip hop abstraction.
And the main rapper's flow was definitely recognizable, a voice we had heard before for sure, but it took someone else telling us to make the connection - it's the guy from Digable Planets! Never would have guessed, on first listen, SP couldn't be further removed from the jazz-hop of Digable Planets, but the more you get into Black Up, he more subtle jazziness reveals itself, but that jazziness is set amidst all manner of lurching lumbering, jagged stutter and abstract skitter, the sound futuristic and psychedelic, but rooted in classic hip hop, we hear hints of Sensational, Company Flow, Antipop Consortium, Cannibal Ox, this record would definitely sound right at home on Def Jux or WordSound, but for as weird as this is, there are definitely some serious hooks, and might even have the potential (however slim) to actually crossover, but for now, kick back, and let these woozy warped sounds wash over you, and luxuriate in what is probably the best hip hop record of the year...
The cd version comes in a super swank gold flecked black velvet sleeve, while the lp is in a cool black on black jacket and includes digital downloads of all the tracks.
MPEG Stream: "Free Press And Curl"
MPEG Stream: "An Echo From The Hosts That Profess Infinitum"
MPEG Stream: "Are You... Can You... Were You... (Felt)"
MPEG Stream: "A Treatease Dedicated To The Avian Airess From North East Nubis (1000 Questions, 1 Answer)"

SHABAZZ PALACES Black Up (Sub Pop) lp 16.98
We had been hearing about these guys for a while, super hyped underground hip hop from Seattle, the first hip hop release on Sub Pop, word was Shabazz palaces' sound was seriously fractured and fucked up, hip hop deconstructed into all new shapes, and when we finally got a listen, that proved to be actually pretty true, warped loops, shuffling abstract beats, bizarre production, thick and polished one second. murky and muddy the next, swirling effects, horns, soulful vox, sci-fi synths, all blurred into tangled smears of avant hip hop abstraction.
And the main rapper's flow was definitely recognizable, a voice we had heard before for sure, but it took someone else telling us to make the connection - it's the guy from Digable Planets! Never would have guessed, on first listen, SP couldn't be further removed from the jazz-hop of Digable Planets, but the more you get into Black Up, he more subtle jazziness reveals itself, but that jazziness is set amidst all manner of lurching lumbering, jagged stutter and abstract skitter, the sound futuristic and psychedelic, but rooted in classic hip hop, we hear hints of Sensational, Company Flow, Antipop Consortium, Cannibal Ox, this record would definitely sound right at home on Def Jux or WordSound, but for as weird as this is, there are definitely some serious hooks, and might even have the potential (however slim) to actually crossover, but for now, kick back, and let these woozy warped sounds wash over you, and luxuriate in what is probably the best hip hop record of the year...
The cd version comes in a super swank gold flecked black velvet sleeve, while the lp is in a cool black on black jacket and includes digital downloads of all the tracks.
MPEG Stream: "Free Press And Curl"
MPEG Stream: "An Echo From The Hosts That Profess Infinitum"
MPEG Stream: "Are You... Can You... Were You... (Felt)"
MPEG Stream: "A Treatease Dedicated To The Avian Airess From North East Nubis (1000 Questions, 1 Answer)"

SHADOW HUNTAZ Valley Of The Shadows / Corrupt Data - Instrumentals (Skam) 2cd 19.98
One of our favorite modern electronic hip hop outfits offer up a super limited double disc instrumental version of both their previous albums.
Shadow Huntaz are the ultimate crazy crew of brain melting tongue twisting outer space hip hop visionaries. Disconnected rhymes, sputtering, glitched out beats, total mind melting confusional free funk freakouts. For a while there, Antipop Consortium were pushing the envelope, Anticon definitely had their own avant angle. But we had been hankering for someone like Kool Keith. Paging Dr. Octagon. We wanted some damaged stuttery beats, warped warbly synths and fuzzy glitched out grzzzzt. Most importantly, some maddening slurred, drug drenched, space age, conspiracy theory WHATTHEFUCK flows. Maybe that's why we've been leaning toward Grime so much lately. It just feels so much more dangerous and fucked up and unconcerned with hip hop convention. But now we've got the Shadowhuntaz. A rogue band of futuristic hip hop explorers, who mix the perplexing sci fi / high as fuck mush mouthed ramblings of Dr. Octagon with the glitched out hip hopped electronic squelch and thud, skitter and skid, slowed down IDM beatscapes of Antipop (they are on Skam after all) into a fucking killer trip hop skittery groove. On this double disc instrumental collection, the vocal tracks are stripped away allowing us to focus on the truly visionary sounds and HOLY FUCK, we didn't think we could dig this stuff any more but we do!!! The beats, hiccup and slither, bounce and bump, the music is a claustrophobic swirl of haunting loops, weird industrial clatter, moaning drones, and all sorts of production fuckery, effects swirl and shift, little vocal snippets are chopped and looped, skipping samples, warm washes of ambient whir. Phew! Plus there's some totally fucked up scratching, little snatches of DJ freakout, but those scratchfests are run through the Shadowhuntaz supercomputer and spit out the other side a careening chaotic crush of chopped up, impossibly complex textural collages of scratch detritus, like they dropped 3 or 4 DJ's, wildly scratching and tearing shit up, into a huge blender, and then sprayed the resulting funk flecked gore funk all over these tracks.
Funky, fucked up, freaked out, cool and creepy and quite possibly contender for INSTRUMENTAL hip hop record of the year!
Packaged Skam style in a clear jewel case with no artwork and a Braille sticker along the spine!
MPEG Stream: "2020 (Instrumental)"
MPEG Stream: "Massive (Instrumental)"

SHADOW HUNTAZ Corrupt Data (Skam) cd 15.98
Not sure what it is about the Shadow Huntaz that made them a likely addition to the Skam roster, who have been known pretty much exclusively for techno and IDM, but here we have their first proper hip hop record, and it's actually pretty fucking great. It's maybe not the IDM/hip hop hybrid you might expect, no drum and bass or ambient glitch or any of that business, just fierce dark classic hip hop. They do have a super high teck sheen, a paranoid vibe that definitely references their Skam labelmates, but overall this is just crunchy, gritty wicked hip hop, with occasional electronic flourishes and a whiny flow somewhere between Anticon whine and Cannibal Ox growl.
MPEG Stream: "CDC"
MPEG Stream: "Figure Of Speech"

SHADOW, DJ Best Of Mo' Wax 12's: The DJ Shadow Collection (Mo Wax) cd 17.98
A nice reminder of why we love DJ Shadow comes in the form of this best of Mo' Wax Singles compilation that culls together all of his groundbreaking early sides and remixes that put the London-based label on the map. Spanning the years 1993-2000, some of the tracks are alternative versions of material from Endtroducing, and Pre-emptive Strike but also included are the Dark Days Soundtrack single and a handful of remixes, among them Depeche Mode, Folk Implosion, Massive Attack, and Blackalicious. It's cool to have all these tracks compiled together, sort of like a beloved old friend we haven't seen in ages.
MPEG Stream: "High Noon"
MPEG Stream: "Dark Days"
MPEG Stream: "Natural One (Folk Implosion Remix)"

SHADOW, DJ Dark Days (MCA) 7" 2.99
THIS 7" FORMAT IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Short (and cheap) single with two versions of a piece composed for the documentary Dark Days (about subway dwellers in NYC). Shadow wisely keeps turntablist showboating out of it, as this is, after all, soundtrack music. Downbeat and mellow with lazy blues guitar. Quietly impressive scratching, and on the second track is some vocal snippets presumably from one of the homeless subjects of the film. Nice, if brief!

SHADOW, DJ Dark Days (MCA) cdsingle 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Short (and cheap) single with two versions of a piece composed for the documentary Dark Days (about subway dwellers in NYC). Shadow wisely keeps turntablist showboating out of it, as this is, after all, soundtrack music. Downbeat and mellow with lazy blues guitar. Quietly impressive scratching, and on the second track are some vocal snippets presumably from one of the homeless subjects of the film. Nice, if brief!
RealAudio clip: "Dark Days"

SHADOW, DJ Diminishing Returns 2cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
ATTENTION SHADOW FANS! You know you need this! Two massive mixes (2+ hours) and a brand new track! Not sure how long we'll have these so act fast. Disc one is a massive 80 minute mix that was originally aired on BBC Radio-1 on March 29th 2003 and is a seamless, fun and funky mix of obscure old school (and old school sounding) hip hop. So good. Summer-time-top-down-booming-system mix of the year! Disc two has a 40 minute mix that is more sort of soul and R+B and croon-y weirdness, and features the brand new Shadow track 'War Is Hell', that sounds like an Endtroducing outtake, but with chugging metal riffs!!! Like we said, not sure how long these will be available so first come first serve.
MPEG Stream: "Mix Two (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Mix Two (excerpt 2)"
MPEG Stream: "War Is Hell"

SHADOW, DJ Endtroducing - Deluxe Edition (Universal) 2cd 30.00
Believe it or not, one of our fave albums and all-time best sellers, Josh "DJ Shadow" Davis' seminal Endtroducing debut, currently only has a one-word review on our website. Certainly it deserves more than that. Although, at least the word we chose is "amazing". The album's original release on MoWax in 1996 (almost ten years ago!!) more or less predated our obsessive reviewing schedule, so like quite a few other classics it never got its multi-paragraph due on our new arrivals list. And chances are, we figured that listing it our our site with the simple "amazing" recommendation was enough, 'cause it's hard to imagine that everyone hadn't heard of/heard/bought a copy by now. But since, after all, we still sell it steadily, clearly there must be those as yet to discover it. Now, with the release of a double disc digipack "deluxe" edition in a plastic slipcase (a treatment afforded by the same label to the likes of John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, by the way, making this something of an honor for DJ Shadow!), we have the perfect excuse to basically take a few hundred words to say "amazing" again! Shadow's masterpiece (disc one, "The Album") is a brillant example of hip hop DJ-as-composer, sample-based songwriting, a mostly instrumental suite of songs built entirely from sounds, hooks and grooves sourced from the depths of Shadow's extensive record collection. He didn't invent the idea, of course, but he did do it better than almost anyone before (or after!) him, garnering for himself worldwide fame and heaps of deserved critical praise.
And even if you scratch (heh) your head when we talk about turntablists and sampling, rest assured that, process aside, this is a great album that transcends genre tags and easy categorization. It's dark, dramatic, bright, hip-hop, soul, and jazz. It is very accessible. Shadow picked cool samples (like the Pugh Rogefeldt bit that helped us sell a ton of reissued cds by that particular Swedish '60s psych-folkster so recently) AND also turned these samples utterly into his own, new music. Music that's groovy and moody and challenging, never all that easy to figure out, and not at all about turntablist hi-jinx or trickery, just about careful listening and the love of all kinds of old LPs!! Cut Chemist, in the liner notes, is quoted as calling DJ Shadow "The King Of Digging" and vinyl collecting/crate digging for sure is celebrated by Endtroducing, from the famous cover shot of the racks in the vast Sacramento shop simply called Records to the grooves reborn within. As Shadow himself put it: "this album reflects a lifetime of vinyl culture". He never topped it (opinions here were mixed about his many-years-later follow-up The Private Press in 2002) and probably never will. Not that anyone else has either! So if you don't have it already, what the heck are you waiting for? And to further underscore the point that this a great and important album, we're told that there's a book in the 33 1/3 Series coming out about it soon too!
Then there's disc two, what (aside from the packaging, which includes a booket of photos, essays, and track notes from Shadow himself) makes this a "deluxe" reissue. Disc two, entitled "Excessive Ephemera", features a slew of Endtroducing-era cuts -- alternate takes, demos, remixes, and a live radio performance. In addition to a few tracks that made it out on now-out-of-print MoWax singles, a bunch of these are unheard-before, work-in-progress versions of tracks from the album, so as bonus material this is more about providing insight into the creation of Endtroducing and less about any long-lost tracks that shoulda been on the album. It is kind of a way to listen to Endtroducing again with new ears. And it's nice to have the "extended overhaul" of the all-too-brief album track "Organ Donor", a mix that Shadow created expressly for James Lavelle's DJ use. So, a lot of added value for all Shadow fans who want to pick this up again and re-enter the world of Entroducing.
Amazing.
MPEG Stream: "Mutual Slump"
MPEG Stream: "Midnight In A Perfect World"

SHADOW, DJ In Tune And On Time (Geffen) dvd + cd 30.00
Isn't it astounding that DJ Shadow is still milking the accolades of his stellar, career-highpoint debut from six years ago? And we don't mean to belabour the subject but... how's this for obnoxious? On the introduction to this new live cd/dvd, DJ Shadow gives a thorough 'shout-out' NOT to his fans and homies, but instead to all of his releases... including eps and comp tracks! Ack, unbelievable! Aah, 'tis such a love/hate relationship!
Alright, now that we've got that out of our system... In Tune And On Time is comprised of a 20-track cd documenting his 2002 performance at the London Brixton Academy and a dvd with that very same performance (expanded to include a couple extra tracks) as well as an additional invigorating performance in L.A. (which also stars his pals Cut Chemist and DJ Nu-Mark of Jurassic 5), an interview and other candid footage. Good stuff. It always is. But how many times do you really need to hear the same old songs, especially live? They're not ever all that different, after all he's not a band, he's a DJ, playing records. But if you want more Shadow, this will have to suffice, at least until he gets around to making another record as good as Endtroducing.
MPEG Stream: "In/Flux"
MPEG Stream: "Lonely Soul"

SHADOW, DJ Midnight in a Perfect World/The Number Song (MoWax/ffrr) cdsingle 6.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
5 pieces, 3 of which are non-album. "The Number Song" is given a kickass remix by the Bay Area's own turntablist maestro the Cut Chemist. And if "Midnight in a Perfect World" is one of your favorite songs from the record, you'll want to hear the version here which includes more of Baraka's rousing sermon...

SHADOW, DJ Pre-Emptive Strike (MoWax/ffrr) cd 14.98
Collects Shadow's old singles (the great "What Does Your Soul Look Like" included) plus his recent import-only "High Noon" track.

SHADOW, DJ The Less You Know, The Better (Island) cd 14.98
Not our favorite outing by DJ Shadow. Though we do suspect there's a Magma sample in there somewhere, so that's cool! But also, maybe, Rage Against The Machine??

SHADOW, DJ The Outsider (Universal) cd 15.98
Not sure if the title of DJ Shadow's new production refers to himself or the listener, but there's no doubt there is something schizophrenically off-kilter here, and the jury is still out on whether this is a successful quality or merely a string of increasingly bad ideas. Chock full of guest appearances (mostly guest rappers-never a good sign!) including
local hyphy hip hop stars, Keak da Sneak and Turf Talk, Christina Carter from Charalambides and Chris James from Stateless doing his most earnest Chris Martin/Bono/Thom Yorke imitations. While the consensus from most of us here is that The Outsider as a whole is better than Shadow's last outing, The Private Press, what's missing here is that killer single track that makes the whole worthwhile. That said, we'll give Josh Davis the benefit of the doubt that The Outsider is definitely a grower with patient listeners reaping the most rewards from his erratic multiple personae.
MPEG Stream: "3 Freaks"
MPEG Stream: "Artifact"
MPEG Stream: "Erase You"

SHADOW, DJ The Private Press (MCA) cd 17.98
DJ Shadow's second full length is finally here, and I do believe I (Windy) am the only AQ-er who likes it. Well, Jim thinks it's ok, but the general consensus 'twixt my colleagues is that the rest of the field has caught up to him, and he hasn't hitched up his britches to keep ahead of the herd. Hmm. I disagree. Certainly The Private Press is no Endtroducing (his acclaimed debut full length), but neither should it be. It's a lot more accessible and crowdpleasing than the debut, the layers aren't as impenetrably mysterious, and yeah, it requires less work to like it (i.e. not as challenging). But there's nuthin' wrong with that. He's keeping it interesting for himself. The Private Press is a likable, listenable (might we even say, at times lighthearted?) trip. It's got everything from the moody arpeggiated piano lines that're DJ Shadow's signature, soul divas, sad minor key laments, funny Cut Chemist / Kid Koala-style spoken bits, super epic percussive climaxes, and an all over hip hop flavor. And the heartbreakingly sincere audio letters that bracket the album are incredibly well chosen, framing the songs as an emotional musical narrative. *Very* well done.
We have to wonder, though, why he used that old "pure energy" sample. Why don't ya just throw in "I got the power!" too? Not to mention the overused tired, sad android voice (y'know just like the one Radiohead used).
Cup sez: We had a DJ Shadow 12" here a little while ago, and I thought one of its tracks sounded as if he'd just plugged in his Playstation 2 system and recorded the sounds of someone playing the game REZ. If you're at all familiar with the game you'll undoubtedly find the Shadow track ringing familiar too. REZ is basically a shooter game, but with an astounding combination of rave-ready sounds and gorgeously trippy visuals - both of which are manipulated by your performance. Oh yeah, and the level bosses are pretty spectacular. Stunningly beautiful and deluxe fun! Really, you could just project the game action on a wall, pump the sounds through a bad-ass sound system, and *POOF!* instant party. Anyways, that track is included here too. And it sticks out like a sore thumb which makes the REZ theory all the more plausible!
RealAudio clip: "Fixed Income"
RealAudio clip: "Monosylabik"
RealAudio clip: "Giving Up The Ghost"
RealAudio clip: "Blood On The Motorway"

SHADOW, DJ The Private Press (MCA) lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We finally got some copies of the vinyl version of the new Shadow album. Here's what Windy wrote about the cd a month ago:
DJ Shadow's second full length is finally here, and I do believe I (Windy) am the only AQ-er who likes it. Well, Jim thinks it's ok, but the general consensus 'twixt my colleagues is that the rest of the field has caught up to him, and he hasn't hitched up his britches to keep ahead of the herd. Hmm. I disagree. Certainly The Private Press is no Endtroducing (his acclaimed debut full length), but neither should it be. It's a lot more accessible and crowdpleasing than the debut, the layers aren't as impenetrably mysterious, and yeah, it requires less work to like it (i.e. not as challenging). But there's nuthin' wrong with that. He's keeping it interesting for himself. The Private Press is a likable, listenable (might we even say, at times lighthearted?) trip. It's got everything from the moody arpeggiated piano lines that're DJ Shadow's signature, soul divas, sad minor key laments, funny Cut Chemist / Kid Koala-style spoken bits, super epic percussive climaxes, and an all over hip hop flavor. And the heartbreakingly sincere audio letters that bracket the album are incredibly well chosen, framing the songs as an emotional musical narrative. *Very* well done.
And now for my co-workers to have their say:
We have to wonder, though, why he used that old "pure energy" sample. Why don't ya just throw in "I got the power!" too? Not to mention the overused tired, sad android voice (y'know just like the one Radiohead used).
RealAudio clip: "Fixed Income"
RealAudio clip: "Monosylabik"
RealAudio clip: "Giving Up The Ghost"
RealAudio clip: "Blood On The Motorway"

SHADOW, DJ Total Breakdown (Reconstruction Productions) cd 19.98

SHADOW, DJ / CUT CHEMIST Freeze (Pirateria Fonografica) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
By now you may be familiar with the all-45's sets performed worldwide by famed DJs Cut Chemist (Ozomatli) and DJ Shadow and their accompanying cd recordings (when we have them, which isn't often as they are quasi-legal!). Here's another installment of their funk-fueled, sweet soul hipswayin', rare groove-y, hip hop spirited sessions. While the first three tracks are underwhelming yet but welcome opening sets by NuMark (doing his cute "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" bit) and rockwrangler Z-Trip, on the body of the disc is where Shadow and Cut Chemist really shine. Consists of 6 practice tidbits and 10 lengthy live performance clips. Lots of happy "oh shit!"'s and frenzied speedracer scratching showstoppers. High energy and a ton (80 minutes!) of nonstop fun. If you've already got all the other Brainfreeze discs, you could *maybe* skip this one, but then again one always needs another play-it-all-night party disc...
RealAudio clip: "Live I (excerpt 1)"