DJ Shadow's latest full length album, The Outsider has come out recently to largely poor reviews. Stylus and Pitchfork have both derided it. So have the NME, Vibe and Blender on the magazine front. Rolling Stone, Q and Mojo think its half decent. I recently went through the damn thing like 5 times. My verdict? It was shit at first but slowly grew on me and now I think its ok. (Huh? Just ok? This is DJ Shadow you're talking about right?) Its almost so mediocre that I'd recommend you not to listen to it until you feel ready to accept that the world has been turned upside down.
Still, I retain a sense of optimism despite this debacle and hence I'm posting this to vindicate that perspective. This is gonna be a long one.
So DJ Shadow is a big deal amongst a lot of people. A lot of people who typically don't listen to mainstream hip-hop but more electronica as well. That's his fanset. Reason being his music easily transcends across cultural boundaries and has its own unique flavour, which was readily chomped down by the hip set. Granted, a lot of people who do listen to hip-hop also listen to DJ Shadow as well but most kids associate him as a sort of soundtrack to modern urbanity regardless of which culture you come from. Which is to say, people expect a lot out of him.
On first listen, wondered whether I got the wrong record. I mean... seriously... some of the boop beep beep sounds in there sound like Lil' Jon was behind the decks. It started off well enough, with an intro that is almost typical of DJ Shadow, intoning narrative over some repetitive track. Its just a build up, we all know that. Get to the good stuff. Then you hit This Time (I'm Gonna Try It My Way) which is a half decent and pretty listenable track. Think retro vibe Shadow. Then we hit 3 Freaks, which is the first single and although it seemed a decently complex beast, you wonder when the really good shit comes. After all, it was a hyphy track you normally wouldn't associate Shadow with.
But then you get barraged by more hyphy and more hyphy until a break to a largely guitar instrumental before he hits Artifact and Skullfuckery, which is probably the closest you'll get to the old Shadow on The Outsider. Even still, its probably only as good as filler tracks on The Private Press which you listen to because its part of a cohesive whole. Here, they seem misplaced and abrupt.
Then somehow, the album takes a sharp turn and gets into The Tiger, which has Kasabian colloborating. This track reminds me of Psyence Fiction, updated for 2006. Then suddenly we hit Erase You, featuring Chris James of Stateless on vocals. It almost sounds like a Radiohead track, particularly because of the syncopated snare bits running against some wailing noises, the gentle, delicate voice and well, the title's similarity to Thom Yorke's latest album. Chris James reappears again on You Made It, which has this incredibly irritating guitar riff set on some strings. Here, you might be forgiven for having thought Coldplay was on.
When it does end, it doesn't even sound like it and you're most probably wondering wtf was all that. If you actually finished it in one go that is. I stopped listening the first time when You Made It's guitar riff came on. I had a hissy fit at that point. Its just too much to handle at once. Its almost too eclectic and too incoherent. There's a lot of variety but the tracks don't seem to flow together.
Perhaps Shadow's trying too hard? Or maybe he's just putting too much of his own ego into the process. From the stuff he said about the album on his website, to the cover art and several self references in the music itself. I can't really understand why hip-hop tends to be a little ego-centric but then again, maybe its just my prejudices. If this is the real DJ Shadow, then this is him showing every single facet you never imagined. Like if he suddenly dropped his pants and mooned you.
Its the anticipation of the whole thing. You probably expect Endtroducing... part 2 or even something akin to The Private Re-Repress but its so far from that that you're scared off. His meanderings into hyphy in particular, which may be a reference to his own cultural set, alienate a lot of people who cannot comprehend that genre. The Outsider is largely unrecognisable as a DJ Shadow LP and the combination of public expectation, poor cohesion, and no real stand out tracks make it a disappointing effort.
Its also not so much the unfamiliarity of it all but the, dare I say it, blandness of it all. It almost sounds like something you can pick up off 18 other records, a compilation mixtape made for a friend or something. Gone is that breath of fresh air, that unique vibe that you associate with Mr. Davis. Instead, you get a chunk of mish-mashery of the week's hottest flavours. But if you put a lot of different ice creams into a milkshake, it tends to taste like mostly chocolate anyway. Most people just won't be able to accept The Outsider, which is set to stay where it intends, on the outside.
So where's that supposed optimism? Ah, its in the belief that every great artist will have pitfalls and a few forgivable self-indulgences. The dude has a music video directed by Wong Kar Wai. He's worked with so many luminaries in the music world and made so much hot shit that he is already forgiven for this and any future trespasses he will make. Its a hope forged by the faith in all the amazing stuff he has made and what wonders he might.
