I encourage debate, argument and general harsh disagreements on this IMO so take that for what it is worth as you read on...
Overall, I like DJ Shadow. Especially his DJ credits and his older productions. Yet his newer albums have been shit. I don't know what happened to create this shit music period, but I think he got a little too deep for everyone including himself. In a polite nutshell, his last 3-4 albums have been consistently getting worse.
This one is finally better. At least good enough to warrant this topic.
I was EXTREMELY reluctant to even listen to this because I didn't want my opinion of his production to get worse than it already was. But it seems he rediscovered something with this album that he lost a while back. Evidently he got the hunger back and he absolutely masters the mixing console throughout. He drops thanks to a lot of great engineers, producers, and collaborators but bottom line, this is finally a DJ Shadow trip worth taking.
I'll keep this short and sweet because you are going to make up your own mind about this as you tend to do.
Prerequisite, don't be the girl on this cover and be all distracted by your phone, or listening on some cheap PC speakers while in your office, turn everything off and listen to this from start to finish and then you'll actually grasp all the nuances on this.
If you cannot turn off your phone for the duration of an album than you are literally the point of this album and you won't like it. Remember the you that used to listen to records without doing 5 other things simultaneously on your phone? Go back to that old you for one hour and thank me later.
Don't scan thru the weird parts because you don't like a sound he made. Find the time and be in the proper mood to listen to this uninterrupted and willing to dismiss all the prejudice you already have against this guy. Surprisingly, it's really not hard to be open minded to this album once it actually starts.
Long story short... (too late) I'll rate this from 1 to 5 per disc and add it up to the final rating since it's really 2 albums in one)
Disc 1 (Instrumental only) 5/5
No words (except a few vocal samples) just beats... Yes it's out there, but honestly if I could make beats like this I would probably never leave my house. I'd just sit around making beats all day. Maybe I'd leave to get food, beer, more records and to pick up my paycheck but I would just fucking make these beats all day every day.
If I rated this out of a 10 star scale, I would give it a 9 because I don't give anything a 10/10, but what I don't like about it is squashed by what I love about it and I'm rating it out of 5/5 like the discogs scale so the needle moves in his favor.
Disc 2 (Vocals (rap/singing) 3/5
Not nearly as good as his instrumental disc but what is good is pretty good. I personally think the smaller names on this are way better than De La Soul, the Wu Tang collab, Pharoahe Monch was not bad but not great either. The Run the Jewels track I could live without although surprisingly that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. "C.O.N.F.O.R.M" with Gift of Gab, Lateef and Infamous Taz was an accurate assessment of the phone zombies we have all become but perhaps because my phone made me ADD I get tired of it fairly quickly.
But the 15 year old kid can rap (Stro) and all the other rappers and singers I am unfamiliar with basically put the veterans aforementioned to shame. Shadow seemed to shine on their tracks as well. Overall, this "vocal suite" is not bad at all, what's good is really good and what's bad is only "meh"...
So while the vocal disc was not as nice I'll add those 2 discs up to a solid 8/10.
That said, I would buy this for the instrumental disc alone even if I hated the second record. I realize it's not straight boom bap or the old Endroducing simple beats everyone seems to gravitate towards, so I know it won't be everyone's cup of tea. Some of you will hate it I'm sure because it's the exact opposite of 90s beats. Still they are technically banging on all 8 cylinders and these beats aren't nearly as pretentious and they are not the "look what I can do" beats that were on his his last few albums.
So sound off (If you actually listened, no prejudgement, no judging based on a few singles) I say that because I am guilty of coming in with that attitude and leaving pleasantly surprised and humble.
What's your thoughts? Agree? Disagree?