DJ Shadow
The Outsider
Universal Records
Back in the mid-'90s, it was unique for a 23-year-old to produce and engineer his own album. Today, it's fairly commonplace. Nearly a decade after debuting with
Endtroducing...
, DJ Shadow releases his third full-length record.
The Outsider
is diverse-not straight hip-hop, but an intense compilation of different
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sounds, blending rock and rap, blues and pop. It is music and politics, referencing Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath. But still,
The Outsider
will get you dancing.
The Outsider
's sound is all over the place-one second with an instrumental blues tune ("Broken Levee Blues") and the next throwing listeners into Radiohead-esque vocals accompanied by drums, mellow guitar and a violin. Hip-hop albums often require collaboration, and
The Outsider
features appearances by Lateef the Truth Speaker (of Lyrics Born), The Federation, Q-Tip (of A Tribe Called Quest) and two members of the independent Brit-pop group Kasabian. One of the best tracks, "Backstage Girl," has a classic rock 'n' roll sound-electric guitar rifts layered with clever raps (courtesy of Phonte Coleman) and a catchy chorus, exemplifying the blend of diverse sounds that is characteristic of Shadow's work.
Though not comparable to Shadow's earlier records,
The Outsider
is a mosaic in which he has ingeniously pieced together each divergent track to complement and accent an incessantly changing creative drive.
