Endtroducing.....

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.....

A load of samples expertly put together to bore you to death on a Wednesday morning. 2/5

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.

This is a beautiful album it needs to be felt, and feel it I do.

Elevator music + noise

Still do not see what people see in this album. I can appreciate the samples, but not the resulting sound, I guess.

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!

Painful.

Some of the tracks are nice and chill, others are annoying af. Not my cup of tea.

No

What a waste of time! Not my music genre at all. Did not like a single track of that album

A classic. Great

Great! Chill, and good to work to

Absolutely loved some of it. Some of it made me feel completely uneasy.

hello

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

Fantastic album, very awesome discovery

I know it is only samples and not songs, but it was amazing :D

Wow! Wasn't expecting to love this so much.

Already knew it well. Classic. Bit depressing to be reminded it came out 25 years ago though!

Absolute classic of hip-hop. I have so many nostalgic memories tied to this album. The sampling game here is just unparalleled.

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.

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!

I love plunderphonics but its just drawn out too much

Didn't like the beginning but by the middle it was getting interesting

Couldn't listen to it all.

Not my cup of tea.

I'll tell you want I did like...the use of an organ on a song titled "organ donor"

Elemental

One of my favorite albums ever. For me, this is where electronic music began.

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.

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.

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.

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).

surprisingly great all the way through

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?

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

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.

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.

Boring. Sampling is just such an uninteresting act. I don’t care for it.

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.

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

more noise than music

Shrug

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.

Not a fan

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.

dont really like it

Too experimental for my taste

Horrible

DJ music. Pass.

Definitely not for me.

One of the greatest. I love this, but am partial to private press

Fantastic production! Heard DJ Shadows on a lot of features, but this is the first album I've listened to.

Already have

Many good beats

Excellent

An extra one for nostalgia

Just an immense album. Instrumental hip-hop but more than that. Just listen to it. BT: Building Steam With a Grain of Salt, The Number Song, What Does Your Soul Look Like - Pt.4

Utterly unmissable. Seminal. Timeless.

i like this very much Cool Beats?? really cool beats

listened to while walking through the Edinburgh meadows at 11pm in the summer. What an incredibly calming yet still groovable album. I adore this.

Me recuerda a cuando descubrí a dj shadow, brutal

- mix of old school hip hop electronic instrumental vibes - each track blends right in with the next - lots of sampling - enjoy the journey it takes you on; feels a bit like a movie soundtrack in that regard rather than lofi/trip-hop style music

track 1 - sets up the album great, nearly all samples track 2 - starting track 2 sampling one word of a sample from track one very meta, great example of how a sampler is an instrument. This album and this song got me through college, great song to throw on while studying/programming. "The music's coming through me" track 3 - starts off with a song that has breakdown but doesn't even sample that part but choses a second sample to use for it. oldschool rap sound. track 4 - super mellow transmision 1 - always loved that film sample track 5 - never was one of my favourites from the album, sneaky kraftwerk sample hidden in there. track 6 - don't remember this song, what is this sample haha track 7 - banger. love the film sample at the end continuation of previous one. The drums are perfect over the strings/organ. Organs are later fleshed out in organ donor song, Giorgio Moroder - Tears. Great transition into the 2 songs this essentially is. Great version of this with heat sample that came out later. The sample at the end is a comedy sketch but the way it is played makes it sound like a madman from a film or a one man show or something. transmission 2 - love that musical sample, super chill then into another film sample about transmission from aliens. track 8 - alien sample previously into a chewie sample. Dj shadows wife talking, scratches, semi nonsensical lyrics around wookie sounds and screams and crossfader sounds. track 9 - simple sample but perfect mix/additions to not be too boring another great study/programming track. track 10 - cool little continuation with different keys after. "Why Hip Hop Sucks In ’96" = "It's the money" track 11 - jarring and chill at the same time somehow. That is gift of gab sampled at the end and the Gab Remix of this is excellent also. That version expands further on this song as being about the Doomsday Clock at the likely / upcoming end of humanity. track 12 - another odd alien film sample over banger drums and sparing bass, bird chirping and guitar. very long. track 13 - radio/transmissions at the start set the mood for the eerie/melancholic outro. The drum samples on this album really help make it. transmission 3 - final / "repeat" alien sample, always loved those samples and this one as it lowers / fades out with more information being given and the twin peaks sample is an odd ending to an album. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpbWz7QvJAo - most samples

this is actually pretty good. I like it. Favorite tracks: Building steam with a grain of salt, Stem/Long Stem

Very Nice. Great drums. Love the samples. First listen score : 10/10

4.7 + Love this record almost as much as “Donuts” by JDilla, another legendary DJ (RIP). Sophisticated, evocative.

Oh yeah this one's a favourite. Had this on vinyl for a few years. Stands as a giant in this style of music. Loved revisiting it! 5/5

Awesome chill beats

This is still really good! 4 or 5 , that's the question. I think the Zeitgeist for me takes it to 5

Big beats. Good background music that frequently demands your attention. Very relaxing, could smoke to this. Favorite tracks: "Midnight in a Perfect World", "Changeling / Transmission", "Building Steam With a Grain of Salt"

Amazing album, one of my favourites. Why don't I own this on vinyl yet

Una obra maestra, yo pienso. "Organ Donor" me maravilló, pero en sí, muy satisfecho con este disco, con todos sus sonidos 10/10.

no tenía idea de dj shadow. pero se ganó mi corazón. 100/10 a este disco. Aburrido, dark, maravilloso. Favs: Stem y Organ donor.

Me mama.

perfect

This is a lot of nice beats and I think it’s full of material that’s been sampled a lot. “Before we get started” right in the first song. I really liked listening to this. Favorites: building steam with a grain of salt, changeling, stem/long stem. I read the Wikipedia and it’s an album full of vinyl samples layered into new material

A classic hip-hop / trip-hop album from the nineties: great samples, great atmosphere and very coherent. I listened to it again and still like it very much.

Kuuntelin tätä joskus yläasteella/lukiossa. Building Steam on musta ainakin ollu aina ihan tajuttoman kova biisi. Nyt kolahti kovaa myös esim. Stem. Todella hyvä levy, jotenkin yöllinen tunnelma (teksteissäkin toki mainittu keskiyöt ja kuut mut se myös _kuulostaa_ yöltä.) Oli parempi ku mitä muistin.

Wonderful stuff

Gets boring at times, but I like it. It sounds like something that could inspire some of the genres that I really like today. Mostly electronic x-core-esque, but also the hip-hop of some of the samples. It has a vibe, not a strong one, but one. "Number Song" slaps hard! "Changeling" reminds me of the loading music for Mario Kart Wii Online for some reason. The darker songs almost have a sewerslvt kinda vibe. Love it. "Midnight In A Perfect World" is pretty bad actually. If it'd lose the vocals it'd be great. A 4 or a 5, this is awesome. About 8.5/10

He really nailed the pacing and atmosphere of this. The book review is corrwct in saying it instantly sounds familiar. Love it.

I'm a sucker for dark, creeping, atonal beats and this has them in abundance. Loved it thoroughly.

Baš sam ga ponovno u cijelosti preslušao prošli tjedan. Znam da puno o tome vodim brigu i dosadan sam možda, ali ovaj album dođe do savršenstva kad ga se sluša u kasne noćne sate. Sve su pogodili. Instrumentali, nokturalni osjećaj, mješavina trip/experimental/instrumental hip hopa + plunderphonicsa. Odlični prijelazi u dijelove albuma preko transmisija - imaš filing kao da je nekakva radio stanica. Ako baš moram najdraže izabrat to bi bile: Building Steam With a Grain of Salt, Stem/Long Stem i Midnight in a Perfect World. Preporuka svima jer ovo je obavezno štivo ovakvog žanra. Čak i za one kojima ne paše toliko hip hop (Anita), vjerujem da je bar instrumental prihvatljiviji.

Sick drums, funky beat, hypnotic mix

Trance-like, hypnotic, relaxing, laid back. An album that I had heard before but upon recent, multiple listens, it definitely grew on me and I realize its significance. It's like listening to the Chill station on Sirius XM, which actually may not exist without this. Classified as instrumental hip-hop. Stoner hip-hop could also fit. Built over a two-year period almost entirely out of samples from funk classics and bad horror soundtracks.

Have always known of its existence, but never properly sat down and listened. It's truly a marvel.

5 stars.

One of the all time greats

Still as groundbreaking and fresh as the day it was released. A modern masterpiece.

Brilliant album, Stem/Long Stem is genius and the rest is varied enough to keep you interested and high quality throughout

Elevates the skill of sampling to the highest art form, Shadow brings a chill out hip hop vibe from classic vinyl and has the heads bopping in the room. It’s such a well crafted album - the entirety sounds like movements from a symphony, so brilliantly is it assembled. Above all else it pushes the boundaries of what sampling is and can do and shows the world this ain’t just stealing from the work of other artists (all artists steal all the time - that’s how you make something new) but is homage, tribute - that Shadow’s instruments are turntables and samplers and hooks and riffs makes him no less a musician. A five star classic.

Cracking album. Holds up well today.

Rad. An old classic

Greatest damn thing ever

Szok. Nie znam dobrze trip hopu, ale wszystkie klasyczne albumy, jakie z tego gatunku słuchałem bardzo mi się podobały. A tutaj mamy właściwie gościa, który wymyślił nazwę i w dużej mierze wymyślił brzmienie! I to brzmi dobrze, a nie sztampowo. Atmosfera jest niesamowita. Tempo jest tak zróżnicowane, że właściwie się w żadnym momencie nie znudziłem. Nie ma tragicznych utworów ani zapychaczy. Parę jest po prostu fenomenalnych - Building Steam With A Grain of Salt czy Stem / Long Stem (Medley). Ale gość osiągnął tu idealny balans między posiadaniem charakterystycznego brzmienia i posiadaniem unikalnych piosenek, niezlewających się tak jedna w drugą. Z tego co widzę album był przyjęty bardzo dobrze i zupełnie ma swoje miejsce tutaj, biorąc pod uwagę opinie publiczności i krytyków. No i stworzył podwaliny dla instrumentalnego hip hopu. Ja sam uczciwie daję 5. I to mocne 5.

Took me by complete surprise. There's something really pleasurable about this music. Ambient-ish in nature, combined with very interesting sampling it created a specific vibe which I really enjoyed. Overall a worthwhile experience. I feel this album definitely inspired many later artists. I may have found a new album friend :) Highlight: What Does Your Soul Look Like (Pt. 1 / Blue Sky Revisit)

‘All my life,’ remarks one among the hundreds, maybe thousands of samples on 'Endtroducing…..'- samples as numberless as the stars in the sky- ‘I felt content to stargaze… Now I only want to melt.’ I feel like I’ve experienced both on this amazing LP. If I’m not mistaken, this is a bit of conceptual downtempo, trance electronica composed around the general theme of extraterrestrials broadcasting from the future, ‘using you brain’s electrical system as a receiver… in order to alter the events you are seeing.’ The aliens continue, ‘Our technology has not developed a transmitter strong enough to reach your conscious state of awareness, but this is not a dream. You are seeing what is actually occurring for the purpose of causality violation.’ This is a direct quote from the final track, that completes the story line parceled out over the length of the LP. I’m purposefully avoiding the use of the term ‘lyric’ because these are not really songs in any conventional sense. Rather, they (several at a time) are deconstructed from their original recordings and then reassembled, repurposed really, into something new, something quite beautiful actually- ‘Midnight in a Perfect World’ being one perfect example. 'Endtroducing…..' delivers deep, rich and steady funky bass lines around which synthesized sounds swirl, samples rise and fall, and seriously syncopated drums dazzle. Undergirding the whole thing is that nostalgic crackle and pop of old school vinyl being caressed by a diamond needle as it spins away on the turntable. Never was techno more seductive, not to mention creative. DJ Shadow offers an unexpected 7/4 prog rock time signature on ‘Changeling/Transmission 1,’ and ‘Stem/Long Stem/Transmission 2’ features enough tempo and melodic changes to keep the listener entranced. Perhaps enchanted might be more appropriate, finding myself, often, on the borderline of falling into a meditative state. To be honest, I embarked on this listening mission with a negative bias, informed that DJ Shadow had composed this mostly instrumental work almost entirely of samples, and exclusively on one machine. I’ve listened to other similar works and quickly grew weary of the redundancy and lack of creativity. Not so on 'Endtroducing…..' Not so at all. I was hoping at the End it was only just Beginning.

Absolute classic.