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 Trip-hop pioneer (and, according to who you
speak to, the bloke who invented the whole thing), DJ Shadow returns to
the fore with his long-awaited follow-up to 2002’s ‘The Private Press’.
Indeed, the term ‘long-awaited’ is one that Shadow must be pretty used
to be now, having left a seven year gap between his breakthrough debut
‘Entroducing’ and the 2002 effort.
As such, whenever word gets around that the UNKLE collaborator is
emerging from the erm, well… shadows to release a new solo album, said
release is usually met head-on by an army of hype.
And though it may be an uphill struggle, The Outsider just about manages
to take on such hype with its multi-layered mangled mix of beats,
bleeps, blandness and boisterousness.
The Outsider continues were ‘The Private Press’ left off; moving as far
away from the formula laid down in ‘Entroducing’ that earned him such a
legendary status and striking bewilderment into the hearts of long time
fans.
A haunting intro sets the scene for what could be something quite dark
and sinister before the much lighter vibes kick in with ‘This Time (I’m
Gonna Try It My Way)’ and ruin the whole atmosphere.
By the time the already popular ‘3 Freaks’, featuring Keak Da Sneak and
Turf Talk, gets around, fans of Shadow’s previous work will perhaps be a
little distressed as blips, bleeps, 808 drums and phased vocals take
over from his trademark sound.
From then on in, things are a bit hit and miss.
The outsider threatens to falter with such fluff as ‘What Have I Done’,
and a dreary track featuring Chris James called ‘Erase You’. Believe us,
we wish we could.
Yet all is not lost. ‘The Tiger’, a collaboration with Sergio from
Kasabian is a decent track, whilst the intense ‘Keep ‘Em Close’
(featuring the unfortunately named ‘Nump’) is a brooding, dark affair
with police sirens and gunshots creating a sense of the disturbed, that
is only matched by an outstanding performance from ex A Tribe Called
Quest man, Q-Tip on ‘Enuff’.
The Outsider is certainly not the masterpiece many were looking for, and
it’s most definitely not DJ Shadow’s best, but then again, even the
trip-hop king’s worst is better than plenty of other artists’ best.
Recommended Links:
www.djshadow.com – DJ Shadow official website.
www.myspace.com/djsshadow - DJ Shadow @ Myspace
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