First of the year (on the second)
Published by Mertz on Wednesday, January 02, 2008 at 1:57 PM.
2008 is here and let me tell you, it has been quite the suck thus far. I spent NYE laying in bed, coughing and wincing in pain whenever I tried to swallow because of a sore throat. The Illini got trounced (although that is of little concern to me) and work has returned far too quickly. I don't really have much to add in terms of thoughts right now, but I'm trying to get this blog off on the right foot in 2008.
And for the record, my MacBook is everything I hoped it would be. Fantastic machine.
End of the Year Album
If I had done a better job of keeping up with music from month to month, I could do a much better job of a year end wrap up. As it stands, my charts were sporadic at best. If I'm going to make a music-related resolution, it is going to be better prepared for the 2008 wrap up.
Anyway, the more I've thought about my musical journey in 2007, I've realized that the album that impacted me the most profoundly was an old one. Released in 1996, DJ Shadow's Endtroducing received heaps of critical praise, changed the way people thought about hip hop and downtempo albums, and has been included in best of lists from '96 until now. I will admit that I didn't discover this album until about 2000. However, to be fully honest, I didn't fully digest this album until this year.
Working on the Chilled Beats show this year made me take my downtempo collection far more seriously than just "songs that I think sound good." And the more I returned to it, the more I realized the masterful nature of Endtroducing. While it always gets hype about being created solely from samples, what really makes it special is Shadow's production skills. The way his drums hit, the way notes gently bend, the occasional vocal sample... all of it and more adds up
to a downtempo album that more than stands the test of time. It has, in my opinion, remained the bar that all downtempo albums must rise to.
I'm posting up the track that sits squarely in the middle of the album, "Stem/Long Stem" which not only shows off how hard and full Shadow's drums are, but his ability to find a morose melody, and includes small snippets of the two biggest tracks from the album, "Organ Donor" and "Midnight In A Perfect World." Enjoy it, and then go buy a copy of Endtroducing if you don't have one already.
DJ Shadow - Stem / Long Stem
And for the record, my MacBook is everything I hoped it would be. Fantastic machine.
End of the Year Album
If I had done a better job of keeping up with music from month to month, I could do a much better job of a year end wrap up. As it stands, my charts were sporadic at best. If I'm going to make a music-related resolution, it is going to be better prepared for the 2008 wrap up.Anyway, the more I've thought about my musical journey in 2007, I've realized that the album that impacted me the most profoundly was an old one. Released in 1996, DJ Shadow's Endtroducing received heaps of critical praise, changed the way people thought about hip hop and downtempo albums, and has been included in best of lists from '96 until now. I will admit that I didn't discover this album until about 2000. However, to be fully honest, I didn't fully digest this album until this year.
Working on the Chilled Beats show this year made me take my downtempo collection far more seriously than just "songs that I think sound good." And the more I returned to it, the more I realized the masterful nature of Endtroducing. While it always gets hype about being created solely from samples, what really makes it special is Shadow's production skills. The way his drums hit, the way notes gently bend, the occasional vocal sample... all of it and more adds up
to a downtempo album that more than stands the test of time. It has, in my opinion, remained the bar that all downtempo albums must rise to.
I'm posting up the track that sits squarely in the middle of the album, "Stem/Long Stem" which not only shows off how hard and full Shadow's drums are, but his ability to find a morose melody, and includes small snippets of the two biggest tracks from the album, "Organ Donor" and "Midnight In A Perfect World." Enjoy it, and then go buy a copy of Endtroducing if you don't have one already.
DJ Shadow - Stem / Long Stem
0 Responses to “First of the year (on the second)”
Post a Comment