Second studio album for Hideaki Ishii aka DJ Krush, released about eight months after its debut. The fact that he was linked to the Japanese mafia in his youth is the only possible explanation for not being sunk by critics, because this effort isn't good. The dude tries to make a tape of experimental instrumental hip-hop rhythms, but his attempt is mediocre: in these 38 minutes of listening divided into 11 songs, Krush never changes his sound, keeping loops of 4 or 5 minutes which all become exhausting after a few seconds.
There's not a single beat even remotely good on this CD, due to the extremely simplistic nature of the rhythms: drum, sample, end. It should work. Theoretically, it should work. It has always worked. Not here: the producer often gets the drum right, but his choice of samples is simply embarrassing, they're all wacky, weird, mediocre and shoddy, with the only exception of a lucky dark piano in "Lunation". Instrumentals are in a cast, generic and flat, the closest thing to a decent cut is "Dig This Vibe", where everything sounds good and accessible.
The message has been passed several times that the project has no vocalists or performers, however some non-accredited dudes make random noises in the last track. The disc is distributed by the trip-hop label Mo Wax in the UK and France, then in Japan (Jazz Not Jazz Records) the following year, finally also in Europe and the United States. At the time of its release, it doesn't get particular feedback from the public and critics, however, it's hailed on the same level as a classic by the reviewers in retrospect. It's one of the first products close to Japanese hip-hop to land in the US market, but it's pretty disappointing, boring and erratic, and listening isn't essential.
Rating: 5/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment