Reviews (page 10 of 13)
An interesting view into the beginnings of trip hop
While the defining samples are tied to their era, there's a steady groove.
"What Does Your Soul Look Like, Pt. 1" me encantó. Qué increíble que DJ Shadow (a quien no conocía hasta ahora) haya compuesto temas así usando solo samples. Hasta batió un record de Guinness por ser el primer disco en estar grabado casi en su totalidad mediante samples.
mid
3/5 Death grips before they were cool Very unique Good exercise music
Alright but not my thing
Interesting experiment, but I felt it more like background music.
nice solid album with good groves and interesting mixing
Pretty cool. Noticed that there was a brief melody in "Stem" (used elsewhere in the album) that was sample by Canadian rap group "Swollen Members on their track Fuel Injected.
Düster-melancholischer instrumental Hip-Hop aus den 90‘. Schöne Schlagzeugrhythmen
Great beats and a chill vibe. Not much in the way of lyrics, but a good sound.
Nothing about this is explicitly bad, but it is sleepy vaporware stuff that ends up feeling a little hollow
Great sampling but is that really what music is about?
It's interesting. Was kinda boring in the beginning and it had me worried, but there's some cool stuff on here. Despite the length, it went by kind of fast, so I guess that's something. My favourite song was Stem/Long Stem (Medley).
It was like a lot of DJ music kinda repetitive. It was fun but not really my thing.
C+ Best Foot Forward* 3 Building Steam With a Grain of Salt 3 The Number Song 3 Changeling 2 Transmission 1* 3 What Does Your Soul Look Like , Pt. 4 2 Untitled* 3 Stem / Long Stem (Medley) 3 Transmission 2* 3 Mutual Slump 3 Organ Donor 3 Why Hip-Hop Sucks In '96* 3 Midnight In a Perfect World 3 Napalm Brain / Scatter Brain (Medley) 2 What Does Your Soul Look Like, Pt. 1 (Blue Sky Revisit) 3 Transmission 3* 3 This felt more like an electronic album rather than a hip-hop one.
I am happy that I had the opportunity to find this artist.
Interesting instrumentals.
très slow comme album et très simple. surement expliquer par la simplicité de l'équipement. still très intéressant pour les moyens utilisés. 6.5/10
not something i would normally listen too, but its interesting
A precursor to Lofi Girl, in a way. Chill music to work or relax to.
i'm sure there are a lot of important and interesting beatmaking ideas going on here, but i think if there are any, they are lost on me. the beats are nice enough but a whole album of them is a little much for my taste. to me, this works well as background music but not so much as active listening. and that's kinda what it feels like, an album of background music at some trendy clothing store or something. not bad but just doesn't interest me much.
It reminds of Nujabes, with a lot more sampling from drums. Really nice music. I especially liked What does your soul look like and organ donor.
This didn't do much for me. I like foreground music, and generally prefer music with lyrics... this felt like it was just a bit too clever for its own good.
ganska ambient fiilis
I wish I had bigger feelings for this album, but in the end it was a bit too mid for me.
A little slow / repetitive at times but i liked it.
a fun mix of tracks that are amazing and ones that sound like going grocery shopping after work. had me wondering if my laptop's speakers broke at one point but i guess that's what makes the experience complete.
Liked the overall sound of the album, some pieces were reaaally sweet but i don't think it's really my thing ! It's just me though I think you could really love it.
This would play well in a contemporary art museum… somebody call Meow Wolf. I appreciated the song names, solid work there. “Mutual Slump” was perhaps made when he was in a slump. It felt like the slump of the album, I couldn’t get behind it. “Organ Donor” is something everyone should have on their driver’s license. It is an average song. “Building Steam with a Grain of Salt” is a great song with a great title. If I had owned a large boombox in the ‘90s, this album may have been on the play list.
Fine for background music.
Interesting beats but failed to really hold my interest during the duration of the album. Very worth a listen however.
This is actually pretty chill. Don't mind it.
I personally am not that into this genre of music. The album was good, even tho i wouldn’t listen to it in my free time by choice. I also think sometimes the beat was repeating to much which made the song a bit boring in my opinion. I do however suggest this for people who need music to focus or just for background music when you’ve got guests over. I think it would create a very comfy vibe.
Very tight grooves here - especially impressive given the sampling technology available then.
The second song was great but nothing memorable on the album from there
It’s really good, and certainly interesting when you know the production of it, but I can see why the adoption was slow as it isn’t the most exciting record.
DJ Shadow. De koning van het casettebandjes-geluid in het digitale tijdperk.
- super groovy and funky beats - simultaneously fun to chill to and get hype too - super impressive how all the samples fit together and flow - 3.5
Top 3 Songs: 1 - Midnight In A Perfect World (11) 2 - Stem / Long Stem / Transmission 2 (7) 3 - Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt (2)
Yllättävän hyvä, kokonaisuus pitää otteessaan loppuun asti. Skrätsäys ja puhesamplet muistuttivat 90-luvusta. Tykkäsin yhden biisin lähes tuplabasarirummusta (kone).
3.5
Interesting stuff, especially because it's a bit outside the typical stream of what I listen to these days. I like the artist's blending of many elements on this one. It can get a little frenetic at times for my own personal tastes, but in the right frame of mind, I can imagine myself enjoying it more.
About 50/50 for me
Eh.
Hmm, not good, but also not bad. They've got some cool samples on here, but it does not really amount to anything good. Also it's too long for what it is.
I like some of the songs on this album; the sounds were unique and it was easy listening. Some of the spoken word (?) or speaking just didn’t work for me.
C'est okay
Historically relevant but not the most interesting listen in 2023.
I wouldn;t have classified this as hip-hop. Interesting mix of styles and samples.
A more poppy less harsh version of TJMC, I prefer the rawer psycho candy
good, probably won't listen again but pretty good nontheless Favorite track: Midnight in a Perfect World
Pleasant but a bit boring, not really special
Pleasant listen but nothing earth shattering. 3.5
Impressed by the technique for sure (pre-ableton sample-heavy techno is such a wonder to me) I don't really /remember/ any of the hooks/riffs a day later though. Def lots of cool beats and grooves though. Very enjoyable.
Took a few songs to get into it but after that I liked it. In the end its a one and done for me.
Great
Hadn't come across many good examples of trip hop until now, loved the beats but a number of tracks at the start I was just waiting and waiting for the rapper to come in with his lines but looked it up and lo and behold it an instrumental, from then on I got into it for what it was and it pleased me.
Holy Calamity! This was a super interesting listen. I definitely liked the front half more than the back. It felt more sinister and textured and less like the Powerpuff Girls soundtrack. At times there was super really interesting stuff going on with the beat and others it was so run of the mill. Not bad. There are for sure some tracks I'll be listening to again but I doubt I'll go as far as buying on vinyl. 3
3.5 I’m familiar with this guy’s name from collaborations with other artists, but I think this is my first time listening to any of his standalone work - though a lot of this sounded really familiar to me. I had to look up the songs Organ Donor and What Does Your Soul Look Like, Pt. 1 in particular to see if I knew them from somewhere else or if I knew the original source, but didn’t see anything I recognized. Honestly, it may just be because they sound like video game music (picturing a haunted house level with Organ Donor). I also got strong Moon Safari vibes overall with its style of electronic, easy listening ambience, though its reliance on samples also made it feel like a mellower Fatboy Slim album. Supposedly this is the first album ever to exist solely of samples, and I’ll give credit to Shadow’s creativity and innovation there. While I don’t know a ton about mixing and remixing music myself, I have to imagine trying to seamlessly blend existing stuff together must be a tougher challenge at times than writing something from scratch - especially by 1996 standards. Anyway, I struggled with my rating a bit on this one - I really liked the overall vibe, but I’m not sure if there’s much on here I would go back to and re-visit. Building Steam with a Grain of Salt was probably my favorite track with how atmospheric it felt, though I also really liked the audio track of the woman on Mutual Slump (Do you feel like Darth Vader?) The only thing on the album I wasn’t a real big fan of whatever that stuttering audio effect was on Changeling - thought I was having connection issues with my speaker for a sec. Good, but not great - pretty good album to have on for getting work done though.
Much of this is a little too jazzy and/or abstract for my taste, but I'm a huge fan of "Organ Donor." I highly recommend checking out the "Extended Overhaul" version of the track, 'cause it's dope as fuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
Wasn't too distracting as far as music that I just sort of tune out and leave as background.
Not bad. Quite surprised by this
Good
I like the vibe but it never grabbed my attention to rise above background music.
Vibey, moody electronic music and hip-hop beats. (Although maybe electronic isn’t the best descriptor —there are a lot of different genres sampled here.) I'm into it. I listened to it on headphones while cooking and it mostly floated into the background as my mind thought about other things. Pretty cool stuff and I respect the craft of it.
Endtroducing is such an interesting album title. I really enjoy the second track, "Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt". Not only am i a big fan of long winded titles but I also like ambiguous titles and boy is this one. The music is equally as intriguing as the title- the weird piano cluster chords with the spoken voice sample over the top somehow actually really transition nicely into the somber piano/drumset/vocal "ooo aaaah"'s section that follows. Very cool track. I love the glitching on "Midnight In A Perfect World". It's a very cool effect that I guess is being created by a sampled sound/recording being scratched on an actual vinyl. Also a different style of glitching than earlier tracks. This was really enjoyable. I've been listening to a lot of this music lately so I'm in a recent-enjoyment-bias but I can also tell that this was an influential album that inspired others. Lots of good ideas in this one. I wish I could give it a 4 but it's more so a high 3 for me.
Nice to work to.
Cool one time for sure. I can see how influential it has been.
Groovy music. 7/10
Nice beats. Good to hear different than the usual stuff. Had it on while doing stuff - nice.
I'll definitely plan to revisit this.
If this was created in 2020, I would say it was just someone with an iMac and too much time on their hands. But being a 1996 album composed from vinyl on a sampler - respect.
Chill but nothing special
Pretty chill, but annoying and repetitive enough for me to not want to listen more.
changeling was my favorite song. Interesting sampling work and I appreciate that it’s an instrumental hip hop album, but I am wondering if it would be better if it had a vocal like a singer or rapper on a few of the songs to unify the album a bit. Maybe even more melody.
I think I would have enjoyed this way more when I was 14 smoking weed for the first time. I found it a little boring but there are some interesting moments and kind of cool sampling. Decent background music I guess but wasn’t really moved by it.
I would have given this a two but Bowie really liked it so it gets a 3.
Good background music!
Some great Big Beat vibes, but it gets a little monotonous.
3/5. A very interesting and unique album that says more in its existence than its listenability. Cool samples and some good songs but mostly a statement on music itself that feels important.
Mon camarade d'écoute roblumière est actuellement sur les nerfs la faute à de nombreux albums fort peu intéressants au sein du générateur. Je le comprends parfaitement, et cet album moyen ne va certainement pas améliorer son hystérie destructrice.
Seems pretty important. Lot of good beats. I’d do a 3.5 but just can’t give it a 4.
It’s intriguingly dense and laudable insofar as it was completely created from samples, but it’s not giving me the earworms I was hoping it would. Perhaps two or three more listens will bring this up to a 3.5, but for now…
An interesting audio experiment that I enjoyed more than I expected.
Solid electronic music. 3.5/5
3/5 not what I was expecting so it was surprisingly good minus a few songs
I’ll give it 3 for merit on its sampling but overall wasn’t too keen on the album.
Building steam and midnight good songs
On balance, I liked this a whole lot more than I thought I was going to. I expected it to be an album that you’d listen to out of obligation due to its historical significance as an early example of sampling, but that wouldn’t hold together musically. I was wrong. I didn’t like all the tracks (I could do without “Napalm” for example), but others (like “Transmission 2” and the Soul tracks) had a strong appeal to me, and I think its because of their ambient sound. If only the whole album sounded like that, I’d rate it higher. One side note: the second Soul track sounds a lot like Radiohead’s Climbing Up the Walls. Not sure which one came first.
An extremely divisive record in my household! Mum loved it, Pa’s ears were burning. I found it pretty mellow and inoffensive for the most part, except when those weird guttural sounds bubble up in What Does Your Soul Look Like. Most songs make for great background music. I think I have trouble taking instrumental hip hop seriously as anything more than that, and this album is no exception. side note- are we seriously like 50 albums in and this is our first hip hop record?? And it’s by a white guy no less 🙄
Not my first time hearing this album, but it did click for me more this time around. Mellow and cold feeling to me. Liked the first few songs more than the last few. Favorites were Building Steam with a Grain of Salt and Changeling/Transmission.
Actually pretty cool. Hypnotic psychedelic hip hop. I definitely appreciated that there was hardly any rapping
The samples were extremely well done and professional I can appreciate that but the songs dragged on for too long and got boring. It didn’t have a story to it at all and didn’t peak my interest particularly.
Overall good but not exactly my style. I like my hip hop a little less aggressively 90s than this.
I love the concept - trip hop with no vocals, mostly samples put together to create a groove. There's a lot to enjoy here - e.g. I love tracks like "Changeling" and "What Does Your Soul Look Like/4" "Stem/Long Stem"- that's how I want the entire record to sound; not exactly the same, but these are tracks that you can really feel. The negatives though....it's inconsistent overall, especially early on; there are many jarring moments (e.g. "Mutual Slump"); too often for me the tracks are aimless and don't go anywhere. The sounds and grooves are individually pretty cool but too often it's hard to really settle in. It's a bit of nitpicking - overall I like it, would listen again and probably selectively pick out 6-7 tracks. 7/10 3 stars
I liked when it got spooky. More of a Portishead guy myself, but this was very solid. Is that Nardwuar on the cover?
A handful of really good tracks on here
Chill and cool.
Chill beats to study to
Okay
DJ Shadow and all of the tracks on Endtroducing were new to me. I generally liked to groove of most of the tracks. I marked "Changeling" as my favorite, but I think the album could grow on me. I'd be interested in hearing more from the artist. The shorter tracks which were about a minute long, with more spoken word samples, felt like tracks that I would want to skip on a second listen.
I should like this, but I just can’t get into it
Didn't relisten. Hip hop/Turntabalism
Wow, was this album long. I can see why it was so influential, the hybrid of trip-hop, ambient music and electronica is unique, but it ultimately was just background music for me. Super cool record that I don't foresee myself ever really coming back to. Favorite Tracks: Building Steam With A Grain of Salt Least Favorite Tracks: Napalm Brain
this is the first blind spot album for me. even though i’ve never listened to endtroducing before (sorry i am a fraud), i am so glad this album is in the rotation. i love jazz rap, and i love soul samples, and albums like this is foundational for a lot of the rap i love today. deejaying (djing? dj-ing?) is a lost art in our modern era. producers like madlib are legendary, but they’re only legendary because folks like dj shadow paved the way. there’s something about a legitimate, real record scratch on a track that just gets me. i’m not one to listen to (non-jazz) purely instrumental work often, but i can definitely appreciate this album for what it is. songs like building steam with a grain of salt are a love letter to the soul/funk that paved the way for sampling and hip-hop instrumentals. songs like the number song place this album in time with contemporaries like aphex twin. these tracks are long, and some of them are a little heavy/kind of tough listens, but there’s a serious artistic intent behind every song that i just absolutely dig. i’m glad i was able to get to this one. it’s a staple in a genre full of blind spots for me.
I mean it's nice background music, another album people promote to show how much more "in the know" they are than you. I'll prefer an album with songs I can sing along to 100% of the time.
It's ok - It covers quite a few styles and moods, but most of it I'm not that into beyond general background music. Some tracks I really dig and are definitely my kind of thing (like Midnight in a Perfect World) but I wouldn't revisit the album beyond that.
I am always one for pushing the genre but I just found it kinda boring in most parts
The whole album felt like a soundtrack to some post-apocalyptic/cyberpunk-ish sci-fi game. I could see some of the tunes being played in a neon-lighted bar where humanoid robots play them on instruments made of scrapyard metals while others pretend to drink their oils to mimic what people of the past use to do. Others were made for some action running-fighting sequence or cutscene, others were just ambient. Usually this ability to evoke such kind of feelings and imagination is what I rate highest for albums, but sadly here it's not enough. For one thing some parts are just noise to me and it's simply too long. For other part, it's nice music for something but without the "something" it's just not enough. The significance in it's context and how influential it was is undeniable which makes it all the more hard to rate but I can't push myself to give this 4 stars.
I feel a little out of my depth with this one. As with jazz, I don't think I've got the right vocabulary or understanding of this type of music to say much beyond whether I like it or not. It's an impressive undertaking, a kind of collage of sound fixed to a hip-hop frame. It must've taken a long time to make this sound so cohesive and disciplined. But did I enjoy it? At times. Did it challenge me? At times. How to score such endeavour?
Surprised at how enjoyable this was. 3.5/5
Fun, interesting album to chill out to.
Soort rauwe versie van 90’s hip-hop. Album met echte headbangers. Alleen niet echt voor mij.
Grooves and Beats
Best Foot Forward- 5/10 Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt- 7/10 The Number Song- 7/10 Changeling- 9/10 Transmission 1- 5/10 What Does Your Soul Look Like Pt.4- 5/10 Untitled- 6/10 Steam / Long Stem- 4/10 Transmission 2- 5/10 Mutual Slump- 4/10 Organ Donor- 5/10 Why Hip Hop Sucks In '96- 7/10 Midnight In A Perfect World- 6/10 Napalm Brain / Scatter Brain- 5/10 What Does Your Soul Look Like Pt.1- 6/10 Transmission 3- 5/10 Endtroducting.....- 6/10
Few good beats. Hardly seems like an album. Even a beat one at that.
Inégal de par sa nature, l'album m'a quand même fait découvrir un DJ que je ne connaissais que de nom. Approche originale pour l'époque, mais je crois que les chansons s'apprécient mieux en live qu'en album. Du moins, j'ai pas l'habitude d'écouter ça en char!
Un bon dj j’ai biennaime ca drtent et ca sonne super bien.les mix sont bons. 3.90
When it’s not about the lyrics, the talent of the instruments, the sound design, it’s simply about production. I’ve never heard of DJ Shadow or of this album, or heard any references to it, but then again I’m only just now learning about the concept of music production. It’s always been about the lyrics and songs for me, not about the production. As a historical marker this kind of music brings us into the new age and certainly marks a change in the winds when it comes to music and recording. Influential not for its ability to pull at your heart strings or make you identify with a certain lyric, but simply because of how it was made. Not my style, wouldn’t put any of these songs on my playlist, but I appreciate it for its historical and cultural value and respect the innovation that comes through so clearly. Made me feel melancholy at times, relaxed at others, but mostly I just waited for it to be over. My favorites: Mutual Slump, Organ Donor, Napalm Brain/Scatter Brain
Not my thing. Alright techno music but didn’t engage me
Building steam is fire rest of the album is mostly average
When this first started I thought it was going to be another boring ass mfin album with no words and all beats. But you know what? When this album ended i wanted to keep listening. The back half of the album is just super chill and reminded me of pink floyd. Good album! 6/10
Not my cup of tea, but it was interesting to hear.
I thought this was mids.
Example.
The technical achievement of this album's construction aside, I quite like the end result! There's good music to be had here. However, at the same time I find there's a slight but definitive lack of traits to make me go back and re-listen to this album (or, for that matter, DJ Shadow's library in general). It's probably the result of building the entire album out of samples without a spine of its own, but it means the album is more of a curiosity than a pillar in the field of music.
Meh. Probably carefully crafted but missing that X-factor that really lapels me love an album. Maybe it’s because I’m used to hearing rapping over beats.
Fine as background music
interesting experimental hip-hop, never tried this kind of music so it was an interesting experience I guess...?
Based on the description in the book, I was prepared to hate this album, but I don't. This is a compilation of tracks that are totally based on sampling. Thankfully hardly any rap is to be found here. There are quite interesting tracks here, but others don't evoke any reaction or are even quite annoying. The result is a very mixed album - in every regard. 2.5/5
I really respect what they were doing here with creating music by arranging existing music into this album. It was a lot of noise to me personally, but I did think it was artistic.
All over the place. Same interesting songs.
This is an album that's hard to judge and I'll tell you why. When I did my Music Technology Degree, the first essay we were asked to do was answer the question 'What is Music?'. Naturally, everybody's essay was very different and based on their own personal viewpoint - WHAT QUALIFIES AS MUSIC TO THEM? And this is where albums like this might particularly cause disagreement or even confusion, because there is no set criteria on which to judge it. It's interesting to point this out because there's no songs here; it's an album of beats, samples, spoken word, musical phrases, licks. As there's no songs, I didn't have any emotive response like a 'pop' song as there's not really any modulation or harmony development; melodies are repeated refrains. But it's clear that creating a "song" was not the intention of the producer anyway. The rhythm and feel is pretty much everything (although the sounds on offer are pretty cool as well). Ultimate question though: was it fun to listen to? Yes and no.
I appreciate the skill and talent in the sampling - discovering old parts and making something new - somewhat genius. That said, while the album was good and interesting, glad I listened to it, and I'm sure it'll come up in pub conversations, but doubt it's something I'll revisit. 3.5
👎
Not bad
I digged (dug?) Entroducing..., it's got an atmospheric swagger about it, a big sound without getting in your face, maybe drags a little at 1hr+ but it's an engrossing listen even if you're not paying attention. Solid 3 pushed higher by Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt.
Didn't like.
good work music
DJing is a legitimate form of songwriting. Unpopular opinion, I know. Music like this just doesn't grab me. I like it. I appreciate the art. There's just nothing here to keep me coming back. Maybe I need to be able to sing along.
Not really my genre, but I didn't mind it. Very pleasant background music, but never engaged me beyond that. Enjoyable!
So, I guess this album was picked for being a technical breakthrough, the first album made entirely from samples (and a drum machine), according to Guinness, though I’m sure there were many albums that were 90%+ created from samples. His reliance on samples leaves the drum machine as the only instrument available to do solos, which is a bit annoying at times. On first listen, I thought there wasn’t much that differentiated DJ Shadow from a lot of the other trip-hop DJs at that time, but I liked it better the second time around. I like the moods and textures, especially on pieces that start with melancholic keyboard intros like “Producing Steam…” and “Midnight…” 7/10
Seminal sampling album, its hard to tell what influenced DJ Shadow and what he influenced because this is such a mish mash. I enjoyed Building Steam the most. This album would probably be even more impactful if I listened to it cranked up with headphones, there's some thunderous bass here.
Not too much here. Good study music but not something you really want to pay too much attention to.
A very pleasant mix of sounds creates nothing revolutionary by today's standards. The album starts out very strong, with what I belive to be it's two strongest tracks in the first 4, but fails to follow up on them in any way. Overall a decent, but forgetable experience, a fun experiment with sounds with no explosions or steam. Highlights: Changeling, Building Steam With a Grain of Salt
Nie słuchałem na początku, przez serię słąbych albumów w oczekiwaniu na porządny rockowy album challenge przestał mieć dla mnie sens, gdy zobaczyłem DJ - hip-hopu po prostu nie lubię. Ale dałem jeszcze jedną szansę i okazuje się, że gość jest muzycznie bardzo osłuchany i do swoich tracków wrzucił wiele instrumentów symfonicznych, całości słucha się bardzo przyjemnie i brak wokali nie przeszkadza aż tak. Nic nadzwyczajnego, na pewno stabilny album dobry na początek dla osób, którym hip-hop jest obcy i chciałyby od czegoś zacząć.
Dobre chillowe sample, ale brakowało mi jakiejś inwencji twórczej, bo znowu wyszła składanka tracków do użycia później.
A very experimental hip-hop album and not as weird and lame as welcome to the afterfuture. Still not the most amazing music ever though
Interesting…
3/5
Not as great as I remembered.
Bland
Album was a bit disjointed in my opinion. Did it want to ve a dance album or a hip hop slbum .I wasnt sure.
Already listened to it
Very chilled but maybe too much to excite my feelings
-THE INTRO was kinda creepy -I have never EVER heard something so vibey yet unnerving in my life. I am very intruiged. -The number song made me feel like i was tripping and made me kinda anxious??? It feels like i'm being executed -It's giving Wandavision: everything seems alright but there are weird 'flaws' here and there and stuff that is not supposed to be there. Creepy is the right word. -As I'm listening the album and theme is growing on me -The short songs are easily the worst songs on the album. The album works better when the songs are 6+ minutes. Midnight in a Perfect World is the one exception on this. -The album sounds timeless and inventive for it's time. -When there is silence, the silence is LOUD. I feel like talking would get me killed -The ending of the album is quite iconic
3, pretty good
Giggled at Organ Donor. Clever title. Liked the video game sounds too.
Druga pjesma na albumu mi je TOPCINA. Ovo ostalo mi nije tolika topcina al kuzim.
Dobro pa sam ga neki dan slušao jer sam tražio radio albume hahahahah
I kinda dig it. The fact that it's the first completely sampled album gives it a little bump
Pleasantly surprised, and I could definitely listen to this again.
For what it is
Ég man að @arnlaugsson hlustaði svolítið á þessa í gamla daga. Margt skemmtilegt en stundum of mikil dramarólegheit fyrir minn smekk.
A very interesting album. Never cared for sampling, but this album uses it well. Some very artistic songs, but my main complaint is that it sort of dragged on. Favorite songs: Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt, Midnight In A Perfect World
90s beats but better instrumentation 3.5
Interesting history here, first album of all samples. Good background stuff.
6/16=38%
Cool vibes, funky and chill at times too.
A great mix but not above average.
pretty cool
6/10 well produced but pretty boring
It's cool that this album was made up entirely of samples, but it still seems like background music to me.
Chill. Funky. 3.333.
The debut album from DJ Shadow was made entirely from samples of records. It's one of the first - and definitely most popular - "trip hop" or instrumental hip hop albums. This album is certified gold and it spawned a wave of other albums and songs created solely by samples. Listeners will get lost in the flow of this album as it transitions from one innovative song to the next, all with a hip hop backing beat, along with sampled sounds made from different types of instruments. This ground-breaking album delivers many moody atmospheres and brings hip hop into a new dimension. Great album to let play in the background of any event.
Interesting
This is a convincing example of a genre tradition, but lacks the sound design I've mentioned about certain other albums. It's just too long but not quite ambitions, beat-centered but without fascinating drums.
Pretty solid
To be honest, I was hoping for more. I really like the samples and the interweaving of musical styles, but the overall result just didn’t quite hit the mark for me. The journey was interesting but at times I found it quite lacking. 3/5 - Wanted to like it more. Will definitely check out more DJ shadow, hopefully it gets better than this album.
Surprisingly decent.
The album is all electronic music. It is not quite wub wub but it is close. It is probably best described as the beginning of EDM. I wouldn't willfully listen to it again but it wasn't horrible.
Aun reconociendo que se escucha con facilidad y que tiene alguna melodía tranquila y elaborada, lo cierto es que le falta algo de punch. En general, música ambiente con trazas de techno.
This album is a good example of why I wanted to try listening to the 1001 albums. Something I missed back in the day, something I probably wouldn’t listen to a lot, but that I am glad to have listened to now. As someone who used to troll used record stores to make mix tapes filled with unusual things I love knowing that this was the genesis of these songs. Also reminiscent of the music a friend of mine from Montreal creates.
Good.
Good chill out
Never listened to a whole album. Liked it. Need to listen again
This was a very different album. I was prepared for something very electronic and 2000's feelings, but I found one of the precursors of the sample used in hip-hop music (maybe). Is this instrumental? Is this some kind of risk vinyl disk? What it is? In short, this is far away from the best album on this list and it's not exactly my kind of music, but it makes me realize the purpose of this project (and probably my reason to keep into it).
Samples are fun!
Some cool musical moments, but with no vocals, either singing or rapping, it’s easily forgetable and frankly, pointless.
Just some hip hop ambience music....
Interesting and cool.
Appreciate the effort in developing the album and finding a vast array of samples to pull it together. It’s too disconnect for me to find a natural progression and flow to the album to enjoy. I feel a 4 is a fair vote given the skill in around the production but that would also suggest I’d listen to it again.
twas good i like instrumental when i’m studying so i would listen to it then
Pretty cool background music. Not something I would usually listen to but enjoyable. Some of the songs are too long but as instrumentals I guess that’s okay. “Building Steam…” was probably my favorite track. Just felt really epic and I love that piano part.
Building Steam With a Grain Of Salt: Figo come inizio, me aspettavo una cosa totalmente diversa. C'è il rischio che me piaccia sto disco! What Does Your Soul Look Like - Pt.4: Mi piace molto l'atmosfera lounge ma raffinata, fa molto musica pre/post concerto. Organ Donor: Doveva avere per forza l'organo ma, anche se me lo aspettavo, quando è entrato ho apprezzato. Figo che poi fa tipo un pattern mezzo irlandese. Midnight In A Perfect World: M'ha ricordato Moby non so perché. In conclusione: Confermo che mi aspettavo una cosa molto diversa. Non è un genere che conosco bene se non appunto come sottofondo nei locali in attesa dei concerti, però mi è piaciuto, l'ho trovato raffinato al punto giusto e molto d'atmosfera. Ho visto che è il primo disco fatto unicamente di sample con l'Akai MPC60, non saprei manco da dove iniziare per scrivere musica solo coi sample quindi sicuramente lo ammiro.
Not for me per se but I respect it. 3,5
Hmm, veldig forvirra av dette albumet. Så mye rart og interesant og merkelig og jeg vet ikke. Virker som noe man kan høre på når man blir høy for å ha en skikkelig god tid. Ikke noe jeg kommer til å høre på for meg selv, men ikke noe imot å høre det sammen med andre.
I thought this album was going to be hiphop from the first song. But then again, it is? Pretty interesting listen. Mood: weird but cool low lit bar and/or strobe lighting
Cool album to have in the background but gets old
Was getting into it near the start, but paused about 10 tracks in and had no desire to go back later on.
Saved Prior: None Off Rip: Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt, What Does Your Soul Look Like - Pt. 4, Stem / Long Stem, Mutual Slump Cutting Edge: None Overall Notes: Lots of cool musical ideas on this album, and a deceptively large amount of the songs were saved seeing as a third of the songs were interludes. 3.5 that I'm going to round down because that felt right in my soul, though the quality of the beats was definitely 4 worthy.
Creo que es buenísimo, pero no es mi estilo y no logro apreciarlo bien.
Voor een brakke zondag prima te pruimen op de achtergrond.
The music is little bit too experimental for my taste and I am not a great fan of this kind of electronic music. But great accomplishment due to all the vinyl he used to make this.
I wanted to like this more. Nothing really jumped out. It was ok
Interesting g story about this on Wikipedia, so I’ll give 5 stars for effort, but only a three stars for execution. It’s interesting, but I didn’t really love any of the songs. As someone recently told me “I love effort, but pay for results”. 3stars.
Ok but not a massive fan
Interesting... need to listen more
Some good tracks
never heard of DJ Shadow - building steam with a grain of salt was great and the rest was just ok
Hip hop instrumental. No está mal del todo.
I liked this more than I guessed I would. It is more old-school than a lot of urban/hip-hop titles that this site suggests. But, I'll still probably never listen to it again.
Solid
What is it with these loop-style albums? At least this one feels better than Moby’s
Was fine
Good chill vibes
eh... didn't do much for me
einzigartiger sound, handvoll extrem guter tracks, als ganzes album aber durchaus anstrengend, teilweise geht es richtung noise, teilweise erinnert es auch an den bonobo sound (wobei der andere beats benutzt)
I don't think I've listened to this in full before: my hip hop credentials are weak. I did see him in concert in the late 90s, a show my brother invited me to join him at. It was a bad vibe night in Minneapolis I guess: Jeru the Damaga continuously berated the audience for not being hype enough and going like half an hour over his set, and DJ Shadow kind of listlessly spun record for about 20 minutes and then just left the stage...
Some good beats on this one, well done
I thought it was some funky-good stuff at times, but very 90s and not something I'd especially listen to again? But also not exactly bad? It certainly had its place- reminded me of listening to Chemical Brothers
Not a bad album though not really my thing these days. Some good bass parts and beats. Got annoyed by some of the samples and the artifical record crackle
This was a nice listen, very relaxing. It gets a bit much after a while, but overall it' a decent album, smooth tunes, chilled vibe.
Decent
Track 2
3/5
lite goa beats ändå. för långt album för att det ska kicka ordentligt för mig.
3.5 stars
Great late 90s mixes.
Crunchy drum kit. Enjoyed and working on determining my scale so landing on a 3. Some nujabees, elevator, and ballpark organ at times. “Nobody speak” played after the album and was recognizable
It was fine
Instrumental hip-hop, indflydelsesrigt, skelsættende, sampling teknik
Not really my jam
Instrumental hip hop. Härliga grejer.
It finally ended
I do see why most people like this but unfortunately I’m the odd one out. 5/10
Historically the idea of an album entirely of samples would have me up in arms but…
Another case where the cover can tell a lot about the album right off the bat. The story takes place in a vinyl store. DJ Shadow (not Sonic's friend) really did need a lot of vinyl to create the album — considering the lack of vocals, it was the first record ever composed entirely of samples plucked from jazz, funk, hip-hop, and a few films. And the blurry state of the photograph is clearly meant to symbolize the listener's vision, because I almost fell asleep while playing this album. It's an incredibly monotonous, repetitive mid-tempo affair, though it does occasionally reveal interesting melodies. However, that's very rare, given the album's hour-long length. Perhaps the lack of vocals is actually a plus here, in that the record could serve as a good background for work. But nothing more.
nothing special
Eh im not into this Dj music mixing stuff
Lisa did not like it.
Just not really my vibe. Interesting, maybe at another time I could get more into it.
I can see myself listening to this when I’m studying or when I need some lyric-less background noise. No song was my favorite.
Parece um monte de som aleatório. Se o artista queria passar alguma mensagem, teria que ir mais a fundo, sem tempo agora irmão. Tem que ter pelo menos algo agradável na superfície, se quiser buscar algo mais fundo.
Fine background noise, but way too long
This did not appeal to my tastes, but the production was interesting.
It made me feel like I was in an elevator.
I've completely forgotten this after listening. I mean if u are a big fan of expert sampling and mash-ups this will work for you. But this was very forgettable to me, not much here that I would actively put on other than for background noise tbh. Fav Track: Changeling
this music is really, really repetitive.
Different.
3/10 - Definitely some personal preference in here but not striking whatsoever. Not offensive by any means, just lacking substance to make the album worth listening to.
Beats were fire but that’s all it was …
I can understand the geniosity of DJ Shadow and his complex sound and drum patterns, but I found out to challenging to endure listening to more than just a song.
Eh? Didn't care for that one.
Still not my genre.
Beats…
Uh, fine. I guess: some beats, some samples
A freaking 1 hr+ of a freaking mediocre nonsense.
Important≠Good
Cool beats that get old.
Cool but also tiring.
Why? This album just confused me on why it's a part of this list. Interesting and not un-enjoyable but no clear point to the music. Lots of cool sample, but just appear randomly in the songs. Fave Songs: What Does Your Soul Look Like, Pt 4 and Pt 1 (Pt 1 is the best song of the album by far)
Bezveze album, bilo mi je zanimljivo u par trenutaka, ali stvarno ništa posebno. 2/5, 3/10
Well this album was definitely a journey. A lot of the time I felt like I was listening to 'Local on the 8s' on the Weather Channel lol. There was another song that sounded liked I was watching some 90s crime drama and another that sounded like a Bach organ piece. Will I listen to it again? Probably not.
Couldn't wait for it to be over
Nice background music, but didn't really care for it
Álbum que solo da gusto escuchar de fondo. La música varía y intenta experimentar pero al final del día solo lo volvería a escuchar si tuviese que abrir un café y poner música de fondo. O capaz ni eso.
Maybe if I were stoned.
In the 90s, my brother was an amateur DJ (graduation parties not turntables) and car stereo guy and would listen to a lot of this type of stuff all the time to “test his system”. There would be a cool beat or something interesting and then the song would continue for 6 more minutes of that. This reminded me of being trapped in the car with him on the way to school.
I guess this is good background music. It didn't annoy me but it didn't really inspire me either.
2 - Mostly listenable, occasionally not.
snoozefest
Something I can get down with having in the background, but it’s not what I would choose to listen to
Meh. I can get the foundational nees this has
This is one of those albums where if anyone saying it's their favorite, they're lying in hopes you won't give it a listen. It's background music. It works for what it is, and I would listen if nothing else was sounding right, but it's just boring. The thing is: it has so much potential. The beats are good, the tone is there, it's just missing an element (that would make it interesting).
I just have zero interest in sample-only music, especially when there's a lot of talking and it goes on for an hour. 1.5/5.0: Bad
Not my kind of music. Anything with repetitive electronic beats needs to have some decent hip hop over the tip or I'm out, it seems
It was pretty good, the beats were very good, but I'm not the biggest fan, still it was impressive beats, just a bit too repetitive
Meh.
Más o menos
90’s Electronica
A great collection of samples but not something I would listen to again. It was kind of boring to be honest.
I wanted to like this album so bad, but it's just ... boring.
Tried to appreciate this more and just couldn’t. Kept forgetting to pay attention. A couple decent tracks, otherwise just background music for me.
Completely forgettable.
OK.
I don’t like instrumental music much. But it had some good melodies
Kind of had some old school hip hop vibes, so I'll place it above the last album, but still not really my thing.
I really wanted to like this album. I'm a sucker for a hip-hop sample, so I was eagerly awaiting catchy hooks and head-nodding beats with this. Unfortunately, I was waiting for over an hour, with no resolution in the end. I can see how this could have been influential, an experiment in how far sampling can go as an art, but at the end of the day it just didn't do enough to keep me hooked, especially in a genre that I already feel is over-represented on this list.
Building Steam With a Grain of Salt Stem/Long Stem Mutual Slump
There is a universe where this album got the recognition and success of Fatboy Slim.....I'd prefer to live in that universe. 2.5 stars
I appreciate the skill involved, and I like the cover, but I don’t like the content.
Kinda cool but also kinda boring
I'm sure this was very fresh in its time, but it reminded me of a random A24 movie soundtrack unfortunately.
the fuck is this. Not for me. Se escucha como adentro de una caja, no me gustó eso.
I didn’t quite like it
Kinda cool, but mostly noise
good if you want some background music but I'm not really into this stuff
HipHop alternativo¿? Base de lo que se empezo a escuchar en los 00 (maybe), medio pelo para escuchar si no es de fondo.