Band Scene VII: A Sampling

What do you get from a renouned producer/DJ whose musical tendencies are genre-bending? An album worthy of industry-wide attention? Definately. Introducing...DJ Shadow's The Outsider, a collection of hip hop, soul, folk, rock and jazz/funk influences, as well as electronic beats, and many tracks with live vocals. The only other artist I can seemingly compare Shadow to would be Cut Chemist (They did a mixtape years ago called Product Placement- more on that later). Yet, there is hardly any audible signs of scratching or turntablism in Shadow's work, as Chemists' album The Audience Is Listening is based on scratching techniques. Two very different techniques from two producers with similar experience. Shadow's ability to collaborate and effectively produce beats along with other artists is something a lot of DJs cannot do without proper experience. Stars like David Banner, Q-Tip and E-40 all show up on the album with strong performances. A lot of the tracks, such as "Backstage Girl" and "Broken Levee Blues" have strong Southern influences with bluesy guitars and agressive angst in the lyrics. Instrumentals like the placid "Triplicate" and "Artifact" show the true sampling talent of DJ Shadow. The deciding factor for me to give this a deep listen was how on his previous albums, specifically Preemptive Strike, Shadow was able to create not just beats, but effective songs, all by sampling and DJ'ing. It was something I had rarely heard out of any producer, and I knew this album would be worth the wait.