Sep 07 2021
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5
Questions of ownership. Whose property is that drum beat, this organ, that voice? Of authorship. If I use your art for my art, do I become its creator? If not, does that tune belong to the guitar maker or the composer? Of permanence. If placing that snippet next to this one, or looping it, or giving it a beat, changes its original meaning, does art ever have a final form? A man in a room filled with vinyl, exploring every groove in minute detail, sinking deeper into his musical fever dream, the answers always a fingertip away, if he'd just.....
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Jun 03 2021
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2
A load of samples expertly put together to bore you to death on a Wednesday morning.
2/5
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Apr 05 2022
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3
It's sort of the epitome of what this list is all about. I would argue that it's absolutely one of the albums everyone should listen to at least once before shuffling off to the great beyond. That isn't to say you'll like it. I'm not even sure if I liked it or would bother listening again. I do know there's no album like this, and was happy to hear it. Something like a hip hop DJ trying to update jazz.
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Jun 29 2021
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5
This is a beautiful album it needs to be felt, and feel it I do.
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Apr 29 2021
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2
Elevator music + noise
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Feb 22 2021
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5
No idea about anything about this. Let's dive in.
Best Foot Forward - Classic 90s rap intro. Not really music.
Building Steam with a Grain of Salt - Lovely little piano line leads into a great hook. Quotes from a guy who MIGHT be JK Simmons? This track evolves into something that sounds a lot like Blockhead
The Number Song - This reminds me of a Guitar Hero spinoff game called DJ Hero. Shadow has a great knack for mixing other people's melodies, drum beats, and samples. You could draw a direct line from DJ Shadow in the mid-90s to Girl Talk in the mid-2000s. Peppy with a lot of hard kicking drums.
Changeling - A rainy, dreary, ethereal piece. Eventually a melody comes in that can only be described as Cyperpunk Weather Channel.
What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4) - Jazzy AF with a nasty little bass riff.
Untitled - I have to imagine that this is the stinger at the end of Side 1 on the LP (and the cassette). Just a goofy little 20 second thing.
Stem/Long Stem - A long medley of melodies
Mutual Slump - This one didn't make a huge impression on me
Organ Donor - I think this hook was LITERALLY used by Blockhead!
Why Hip Hop Sucks in '96 - Frankly, I don't think it does!
Midnight in a Perfect World - This one also failed to make much of an impression on me.
Napalm Brain/Scatter Brain - Chill vibes
What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 1 – Blue Sky Revisit) - Maybe the best track on the album?
Overall this is excellent. You can hear the artists that influenced Shadow, as well as the artists he influenced. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent!
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Feb 15 2021
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2
Still do not see what people see in this album. I can appreciate the samples, but not the resulting sound, I guess.
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Dec 14 2023
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3
Some of the tracks are nice and chill, others are annoying af.
Not my cup of tea.
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Oct 22 2021
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1
Painful.
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Dec 23 2022
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2
No
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Mar 19 2021
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1
What a waste of time! Not my music genre at all. Did not like a single track of that album
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Nov 01 2021
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5
Absolute classic of hip-hop. I have so many nostalgic memories tied to this album. The sampling game here is just unparalleled.
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Sep 30 2021
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5
Already knew it well. Classic. Bit depressing to be reminded it came out 25 years ago though!
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Jan 25 2021
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5
Great! Chill, and good to work to
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Feb 21 2021
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5
A classic. Great
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Jul 29 2022
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5
This album defined so much of my late teenage years, it was epic back then and it's still epic now. I give this 4 blazed years of PlayStation in your mates garage and a long walk home in the rain with your cans on.
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Sep 13 2021
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5
Wow! Wasn't expecting to love this so much.
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Jan 26 2021
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5
I know it is only samples and not songs, but it was amazing :D
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Jan 18 2021
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5
Fantastic album, very awesome discovery
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Jan 18 2021
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5
Conhecia já. Amo. Perfeito. Sampling at its best.
Um dos meus álbuns preferidos, queria morar dentro dele.
Músicas preferidas: Changeling, Stem/Long Stem, e principalmente Midnight in a Perfect World
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Sep 17 2020
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4
Absolutely loved some of it. Some of it made me feel completely uneasy.
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Jul 30 2024
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2
Background music. Not much else to say about this one, it faded into the background and I could not identify any individual songs. Wasn't bad music but definitely not something that stood out to me. I know DJ Shadow is one of the original producers who brought this music to the forefront but it will never be more than working background music for me.
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Mar 10 2024
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1
I'll tell you want I did like...the use of an organ on a song titled "organ donor"
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Jul 04 2021
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1
Not my cup of tea.
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Nov 30 2020
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1
Couldn't listen to it all.
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Dec 29 2020
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5
hello
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Dec 21 2024
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4
Godamn. This album is pretty damn immaculate. Nothing that really blew me out of the water per se, but the mixing is incredible. I feel like I'm saying this every review but instrumental hip-hop is new to me. The samples of interviews are also a nice touch. Just great.
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Mar 29 2021
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4
Really enjoying this album. Definitely one to come back to while riding my bike, chilling in the tub, or to have echoing through the house. Cool find!
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Apr 15 2021
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3
Didn't like the beginning but by the middle it was getting interesting
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Mar 02 2021
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3
I love plunderphonics but its just drawn out too much
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Oct 05 2021
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2
Boring. Sampling is just such an uninteresting act. I don’t care for it.
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Mar 29 2024
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1
Definitely not for me.
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Mar 09 2024
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1
Horrible
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Feb 19 2021
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1
dont really like it
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Jan 07 2025
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5
Shadows masterpiece. Still such an amazing soundscape of trip hop and down tempo hip hop. Too good.
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Dec 22 2024
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5
Amazing album, absolute top of the feeling/atmospheric records of all time. For a long time I was only listening to Midnight In the Perfect World, and the song is great for sure, but in comparison to the rest of the album it doesn't really stand out. Every track is like a short, slightly melancholic story that creates an overarching theme, and MITPW is just one of those stories. Easily one of the top records on this list, in my opinion, and probably one of my favourite trip hop album, maybe even better than Massive Attack. Absolutely great stuff.
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Dec 11 2024
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5
Piękny eksperyment, piękny chaos. Z jednej strony słyszę, jak prostymi środkami ten album został stworzony, z drugiej strony to wciąż jest kawał świetnej muzyki stworzonej przez jednego człowieka gdzieś w garażu.
Współczesna oda do muzyki, bez rozróżniania na gatunki. Mam wrażenie, że na tej płycie wykorzystał wszystko - klasykę, jazz, synthy, funk, drum machine, hip-hop, wywiady, wycinki z filmów, co tylko chcecie. I gość sprawia, że to się łączy w jedną, spójną całość.
"Stem" to absolutna perełka dla mnie.
Słuchając tego mam wrażenie, jakbym dosłownie słuchał esencji wczesnych lat 90-tych.
Ta płyta jest przede wszystkim intrygująca, zachęca do odkrywania i poszukiwań, a jednocześnie pozwala się w niej totalnie pogubić i po prostu porwać zmiennemu nurtowi.
Jakbym miał czas na kolejne hobby, to po przesłuchaniu tego albumu kupiłbym sampler. Wahałem się długo między 4 a 5, ale chyba w ramach uznania za samo to, ile pracy i pasji musiało zająć samo zbieranie tych dźwięków pójdę w pięć.
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Oct 24 2024
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5
surprisingly great all the way through
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Jan 23 2022
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5
I got this album when I was 15 or so. I've loved it ever since. Moody, atmospheric, with beats that sounded like nothing else ever at the time.
It introduced me to the concept of crate digging for which I am so grateful.
Dig out the extended mix of Organ Donor if you can. The 90 seconds you get on here almost feels cruel - like here is the best song ever but you can only play for a moment. I forgive it, because Building Steam, The Number Song, Midnight and What Does Your Soul Look Like also deliver at that level, and I suppose he had to make it all fit on wax somehow (hint, drop Why Hip Hop Sucks in 96 - while it remains true in any year, the joke wastes 40 seconds!)
Before Timbaland and Dilla, there was this, and damn it was good - a real shame his tracks are almost too distinct to be rhymed over (though RTJ do a great job).
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Dec 14 2021
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5
Still love this album. The beats, the bass, the samples, the soul. Especially noticed the sample from Bjork's Possibly Maybe on Mutual Slump, which made me very happy.
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Dec 10 2021
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5
A hypnotizing cinematic sound and a masterpiece of reinvention by way of ingenious layering. Amazing dynamics along the way on this head-bobbing ride. I could stay inside this postmodern collage all night.
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Dec 02 2021
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5
I'm very happy this album popped up, as it is already one of my favorite albums of all-time. It may be popular/over-rated in music circles on the internet, but I don't care about that. It's such an interesting, beautiful album with immense atmosphere. It captivates me like no other record has before, and that's just with samples and drums. Definitely has high replay value and is very memorable.
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Jul 16 2021
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5
One of my favorite albums ever. For me, this is where electronic music began.
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Jan 13 2021
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5
Elemental
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Dec 23 2024
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4
I should like Endtroducing more than I do.
It ticks pretty much every single box that I look for in music.
But there has always been something about it that I find a bit … cold. It’s good, but it has never engendered any affection in me. But everyone else seems to think it’s amazing.
I can appreciate the dusty crate driven craftsmanship.
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Dec 18 2024
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4
2/1001. Beautiful record, had already listened to it a few times before. Took a while to click (listens with proper headphones, for starters). Its highs are sensational (Steam, Stem, Midnight). Only knocks I can see is that otherwise its repetition can get a bit stale, and I value lyricism a lot so its absence limits the upside of becoming a phenomenal album to me. Either way this album sits firmly in 8/10 territory and I could see it ascending just by virtue of more exposure to its deeper cuts and associating it with other life events.
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Oct 28 2024
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4
Definitely not beating the lo-fi chill weed vibe allegations here. This whole album just feels easy to unwind to or have on in the back during a quiet/lazy day of work. I can see where someone could find this monotonous but this whole thing just flows together so easily. if I had to pick a specific part that stood out to me as a favourite it would be Midnight in a Perfect World
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Feb 12 2024
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4
When this came out I avoided it for lost ideological reasons that would’ve been fed by the era’s wash of tepid trip-hop. Big beats, soft beats, dead beats, sugar beats, ubiquitous in every other stoner’s college latte lounge, utterly vile. A couple of years on, Simon and I attended an UNKLE set for free, and had a lovely conversation, only mentioning the music when I asked if the gig had started and was told Lavelle sans Shadow had been playing for half an hour. Thank goodness we had seats and each other’s sparkling company, otherwise blood would’ve been glugged by the goblet.
26 years later, I like this! Thoughtful splashes of big drums Pollock’d with drama and intent, the best tracks reminiscent of Morricone and Carpenter soundtracks. I also belong to the same vintage cycle club as the The Herbaliser. What was the prime of your youth like?
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Dec 25 2024
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3
I am a fan of hip-hop and respect the context of this record and DJ Shadow's meticulous sampling. Many of the songs just aren't clicking for me, especially Organ Donor. Overall, I'd give this a 3.5, just barely rounded down to a 3 on this scale.
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Apr 15 2024
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3
I initially came across DJ Shadow on various compilations, especially cover CDs from British music monthlies like Mojo, and some remixes. And I read about this album long before I ever heard it.
This is the ur-text for instrumental hip hop, re-inventing the album patchworked out of samples. Less frenetic than its forebears (Three Ft High and Rising, Paul's Boutique, Nation of Millions, etc), it showed that trawling through the crates could yield atmospheric and open soundtracks. It established the blueprint for Dilla and the Avalanches.
Moody, cinematic, and with a distinct trip-hop vibe, the material, is ultimately, a bit forgettable. But a pretty chill vibe.
I do love the cover. I've spent many an hour digging crates in stores just like that. It felt like I had been seen.
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Apr 09 2024
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2
Shrug
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Mar 30 2024
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2
more noise than music
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Feb 12 2024
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2
Yet another I was puzzled by when it came out. It's built entirely from samples - great, but why? Dull as ditchwater, highlight is Organ Donor but when you're relying on Bach for a tune you're pretty low on ideas. Could be entirely AI-generated these days. Rubbish
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Jan 31 2022
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2
Somewhat catchy during certain parts, but not super memorable as a whole. It is hard for me to judge a DJ's work as it is typically relies on the work of others through samples. In this instance, I noticed a bit of Metallica's 'Orion' on one of these tracks so I am sure that there is a ton here that was not originally created by DJ Shadow. While he did use this piece in a unique way, it is hard for me to tell how good this really is outside of my personal enjoyment of it (which was average). I understand that it takes real talent and patience to create mixes on the level he is doing here; however, I am overall not as impressed as I probably should be by this work. If it had more that stood out or more of a cohesive album structure, I would probably like this more, but it just ended up coming across as what I would consider mediocre DJ work (even though this is probably considered one of the best given its placement on this list). There is nothing here that would make me want to come back to it. 2/5.
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Sep 28 2021
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2
Listened to this on a road trip, album pretty much finished, and I barely realised it was on. Not adding nor deducting points for working with Zack De La Rocha later down the track.
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Mar 11 2024
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1
DJ music. Pass.
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May 14 2021
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1
Too experimental for my taste
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Jan 21 2021
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1
I don't get this album, pretty sure that I listened to it before a couple of times but it doesn't inspire anything in me at all. Maybe it's an album of it's time but not for me.
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Feb 02 2021
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1
Not a fan
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May 08 2025
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5
This is a seminal album for me.
When i first heard it, my mjnd was blown. It sounded like the future and was exciting and different, but above all good. When i discovered it was made in the way it was i was even more inpressed.
There is such variety in this, from big beats to lovely hooks to quiet emotional pieces. Its exactly what this list is for.
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May 08 2025
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5
one of my favourite albums of all time. transcends hip-hop
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May 06 2025
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5
Absolutely fabulous
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Apr 30 2025
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5
Another one of those hip hop / rap / beat albums that absolutely resonates with my soul. Really really cool instrumental tracks on here. LOLITAS
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Apr 29 2025
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5
Génial! Influence de Daniel Bélanger. Vraiment bon album.
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Apr 29 2025
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5
God damn this album is so fucking good.
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Apr 29 2025
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5
A seminal masterpiece in instrumental hip-hop and by many accounts the genesis of trip hop
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Apr 28 2025
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5
Love it
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Apr 26 2025
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5
The best hip-hop record of the '90s, endlessly creative and exciting. That transition from Building Steam into The Number Song is pure electricity. Stem/Long Stem does the GY!BE angry-man sampling better than GY!BE. The second What Does Your Soul Look Like track is the pinnacle, particularly when that opening sample breaks into the drum fill. It is happening again.
I cannot believe that working at a student newspaper as a stupid 18-year-old gave me the opportunity to interview this guy, a true musical genius, and got me on the guest list for his show. I have been chasing that level of cool ever since.
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Apr 25 2025
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5
I know I'm only three albums in, this is by far my favorite, and feels like it really belongs on a list of best of all time. It's fun, surprising, and mesmerizing.
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Apr 22 2025
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5
Really sick beats, and great sampling.
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Apr 22 2025
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5
A really fun listen, was not expecting it
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Apr 18 2025
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5
This is a phenomenally well crafted album, I have absolutely nothing negative to say about it. Had it on 3 times in a row now.
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Apr 16 2025
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5
Fascinating sound. So interesting and dynamic and beautiful. also just really nice chill vibes.
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Apr 11 2025
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5
This album is an interesting easy listen. It's great for paying attention to and for letting it ride in the background while you focus on other things. Great vibes for getting shit done.
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Apr 09 2025
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5
Made entirely from samples from obscure old albums. Incredible.
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Apr 05 2025
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5
Just pure vibes throughout. I was expecting this to be closer to Dilla, but this was surprisingly beautiful.
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Apr 04 2025
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5
Entroducing is one of those albums which I used to love, but subsequently disappeared out of consciousness when the ex-wife insisted we make space and go digital as opposed to keeping my separate system which had served me well for many years. No visual cues, no DJ Shadow.
So excited to see this pop up, and man has it aged well. It’s still as engaging as it was upon release. Genre defining and experimental in its sampling.
Probably not one an album I will return to as often as I once did, as I don’t have enough “chill sessions” to do that these days.
Still a great album. 5 stars all the way!
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Apr 04 2025
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5
Probably like a 3.5 musically but the vibes are incredible and I used to listen to this in college so we're rounding way up.
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Apr 03 2025
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5
Absolutely iconic. As a teenager, this album is what showed me turntablism was more than just scratching.
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Mar 31 2025
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5
Master sampler, show me the ways. How to do low-fi beats before it was a thing.
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Mar 29 2025
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5
I bloody love it
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Mar 26 2025
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5
One of the key albums of the 1990s. Redefining the music making process and opening up the imigination of thousands of dj/producer/sampling musicians that would deconstruct and rebuild pop on Akai's MPC, turntables and other tools enabling not-formally trained creativity to find new ways to come up with sound designs/tracks/sets in the following decades. Hardly anyone (incl. Shadow) could follow up the feat of condensing this into a cohesive album like "Endtroducing..." though.
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Mar 17 2025
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5
10
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Mar 15 2025
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5
probably the core album for me . mateen kinda forced me to buy a used copy of this at dr disc when i was like 14 and im glad he did! it really changed about what i thought music could look like and also introduced me to a lot of older rap music which I still really love... dont tell mateen tho...
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Mar 13 2025
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5
Rlly liked it
Loved all of the instrumentation
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Mar 05 2025
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5
5/5 Certified hood classic
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Mar 04 2025
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5
outstanding stuff.
5
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Feb 28 2025
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5
Excellent.
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Feb 25 2025
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5
Really unique album and I just love a hip hop drum beat
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Feb 22 2025
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5
!!!
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Feb 20 2025
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5
A landmark, a monument. The ultimate lp of its kind. The only thing that comes close is Donuts. The ability to tell a compelling story using only samples and beats is remarkable.
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Feb 18 2025
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5
Top 10 albums of all time. A fuckin' masterpiece.
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Feb 16 2025
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5
Simply immaculate electronic. Solid 5 Stars.
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Feb 16 2025
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5
That’s an easy 5.
This is a little more in the Fatboy Slim / Prodigy type of instrumental drum & bass album genre than it is a “hip hop instrumentals” album (ala MF DOOM’s Special Herbs), but I’m totally fine with that – this exceeded any and all expectations I had for it. It’s a breezy 60 minutes of some incredibly varied beats & soundscapes that feels innovative beyond its years, in a way that feels more attuned to the mid-2000s than 1996.
I really don’t have THAT much to say about it – a lot of my praise would come down to “really cool percussion” or “neat synth work” or “great sampling throughout” or “this sounds like this video game I really like”. It’s really just an audio journey that’s meant to be experienced with headphones in, ears attentive, eyes occasionally closed to bop your head to, and your hands available to hit some sick air drums.
If I have any knocks, it’s that some of the shorter, intermission-y tracks feel out of place (not the alien transmission ones, but stuff like “Untitled” & “Why Hip-Hop Sucks In '96”) & a few songs enter some repetitive states,but those are incredibly minor knocks – I really, really enjoyed this. It’s a wonderful listen, a great album experience, and a very welcome surprise for my ears; an album like this is the reason I’ve stuck with this for 412 albums so far, and it’s a very easy 5.
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Feb 15 2025
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5
Reading some of the reviews I think some people really miss the point of this exercise. It is not a list of all your favourite albums, it's there to challenge you and get you to try to listen to things that you would otherwise never have listened to. When you approach it this way, it truly makes sense, it's a percentage of what I have listened to I would never have tried and my life is better for it. Hot Buttered Soul was a revelation, plus some of the rap I wouldn't have listened to either. So please embrace the true spirit of the app😁
This album is "cool" love the laid back beats.
On the issue of ownership of samples the artists are paid and also how many chord combinations are now original? You have to be at the front edge of creativity to come up with original music eg Radiohead etc which most people are not to create totally new music
Great experience 5*
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Feb 14 2025
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5
Mutual Slump might be the highlight for me?
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Feb 13 2025
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5
понравилось. процесс создания думаю был чем-то средним между музыкой, поиском и каталогизированием)
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Feb 11 2025
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5
Classic!
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Feb 10 2025
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5
Groundbreaking and trailblazing when it came out, Still influencing to this very day!
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Feb 05 2025
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5
Another album that I was fortunate enough to buy on release and have listened to more times than I can count. It's another ground-breaking album. There really wasn't anything like this at the time it came out. It spawned thousands of replicas which all fell short of this masterpiece.
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