DJ Shadow - More Sight: Additional Rarities

Here is the third set of DJ Shadow rarities that I'm posting, and at the bottom of this page you'll find download links for FLAC versions of the first two collections. There are a few rarities that aren't included here that will be posted eventually, but they will be in a much smaller collection. As for this one, everything here is an MP3 or M4A that I couldn't find an original or lossless copy of. Once again, the art is "borrowed" from Napalm filled tires' awesome flickr page which you should go and visit right now! Enjoy!


DJ Shadow - More Sight


01 Hardcore Hip-Hop (Original Version)
This is the original version which includes the radio intro and a lot of additional samples which don't appear on the instrumental version from the Greatest Bumps compilation.

02 Flashback
From the Turntables By The Bay compilation, Shadow provides all the cuts and scratches on this track.

03 Love, Love
An Outsider leftover, this is the b-side to This Time (I'm Gonna Try It My Way).

04 DJ Shadow's Beat
A brief instrumental from the single for Lateef's The Quickening.

05 March Of Death (feat. Zach de la Rocha)
This was released in protest of the US invading Iraq in 2003. It was a free download and has not been officially released in any other format, so if you see a 12" of it for sale, please disregard it as it's a bootleg sourced from this MP3.

06 Instrumental 3
This track was created for Zach de la Rocha's solo album. Shadow featured it on his website's streaming radio. Zach did record a vocal track for this but it hasn't leaked. Yet. That "yet" is more wishful thinking than anything else, but who wouldn't love to hear all of the finished tracks Shadow made for Zach? Same goes for the tracks Trent Reznor, El-P, ?uestlove and everyone else involved did for Zach's unreleased album. It's supposedly finished so I guess it might be sitting in a Sony vault somewhere.

07 Reebok Overture
For a Reebok commercial. I know, kinda obvious.

08 Skullfuckery (feat. The Heliocentrics)
A bonus track from some versions of The Outsider, Shadow made a point of mentioning that this track was meant as a bit of a challenge to show he could blend sampled tracks with live performances and keep you guessing as to which is which.

09 Gabracadabra (feat. The Gift Of Gab)
This track is a leftover from The Outsider and was given away at a show Shadow had to reschedule in the UK. Not Gab's best moment but I'll take mediocre Gab any day, and the track is quite good on its own.

10 Count and Estimate (Dub)
This version is on the a-side of the Asia Born/DJ Shadow 12" for Send Them and Entropy.

11 Flobots - Handlebars (DJ Shadow Remix)

12 Erase You (Long Version)
This version was a bonus track with some versions of The Outsider. I know a lot of people hate that album but I honestly don't think it's as bad as people treat it. Yes, it's a bit uneven, but there are still a lot of great tracks on it like this one.

13 Radiohead - The Gloaming (Would You Buy A War From This Man?)
From the first of Shadow's Rogue's Gallery singles, this remix was denied release by EMI, most likely because of the numerous George W. Bush samples. I'd love to find a proper rip of this as I have no hope of ever seeing an original copy, but I don't know anyone that has it. Too bad, because the b-side has the instrumental.

14 Teriyaki Boyz - Kamikaze 108 (Toridoshi Mix)
Not technically a remix, at least as far as I know, Shadow produced this track which appears on the Teriyaki Boyz first album, Beef Or Chicken?

15 Entropy (Part A - Intropy) (Original Version)
16 Entropy (Part B - The Third Decade, Our Move) (Original Version)
17 Entropy (Part C - Count and Estimate) (Original Version)
18 Entropy (Part D - B-Boys Revenge) (Original Version)
19 Entropy (Part E - Back To Back Breaks) (Original Version)
20 Entropy (Part F - DJ Shadow's Theme) (Original Version)
21 Entropy (Part G - Endtropy) (Original Version)
Here is the complete, original version of Entropy. Unlike the version that appears on the vinyl version of SoleSides Greatest Bumps or the tracks on the CD version of that compilation, these feature all the samples that have since been removed. Unfortunately, these seven tracks are transcodes as some of the original files were damaged and they weren't separated at the correct points.



Insight

FLAC Part 1
FLAC Part 2
FLAC Part 3


Foresight

FLAC Part 1
FLAC Part 2
FLAC Part 3

DJ Shadow - Foresight: Additional Rarities

Here is the second collection of Shadow rarities I'll be posting. I was intending to post the lossless versions this week but rather they will appear next week. The same will probably go for the third volume which is sourced entirely from lossy tracks. This volume though, like the first, is comprised entirely of tracks taken from lossless sources and, as such, the lossless version posted next week will be free of transcodes. Once again, art is "borrowed" from Napalm filled tires' flickr page which you should visit immediately. Enjoy!



DJ Shadow - Foresight

01 High Noon Intro - You Are Going On A Musical Trip
This is the intro from the High Noon EP.

02 100 Metre Dash
Excellent B-Side to Six Days which, like most of the post-Endtroducing... singles, seems to have fallen into obscurity due to major label release policy and a lack of promotion.

03 The Number Song (Cut Chemist Party Mix)
I'm only posting this because there seems to be a slight difference between the master used on the earlier releases of this mix compared to the one available on the Deluxe Edition of Endtroducing..., although I might just be hearing things.

04 DJ Shadow vs. Keane - We Might As Well Be Strangers (Remix)
Definitely of the Outsider era, this mix contains no samples and is more of a digital creation on Shadow's part. I've heard from a lot of people who don't care for this track but I like it.

05 Treach Battle Beat
A B-Side to You Can't Go Home Again, this is a stripped down instrumental of Walkie Talkie. I have to wonder whether Shadow chose Home as the first single or the label did since most people I've spoken with don't think it was the right record to go with. Special promos of Monosylabik were given out in the UK prior to that single's release and I think that would have been a better cut to go with, but it is rather experimental so maybe it wouldn't have been a good move after all. What makes this track's appearance all the more ironic is that Walkie Talkie was paired with Mashin' On The Motorway as the next single release, probably promoting the album better but pigeonholing Shadow more as a party rocker than the brilliant collage artist that he is.

Brilliant? Yeah, I said it. I'm waiting for someone to say I'm kissing his ass and yeah, to an extent I am, but I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it.

06 Dark Days (Main Theme)
The theme to the Dark Days documentary. That sentence reads kind of redundant but I know a lot of people who have no idea that the documentary exists. You'd be better off visiting the wikipedia reference for the film to find out more about it, and you should definitely see the film!

07 Untitled Heavy Beat (Part 1 & 2)
This instrumental appears on the soundtrack for The End Of Violence.

08 Cage - Grand Ol' Party Crash (feat. Jello Biafra)
This appeared on Cage's album, Hell's Winter, as well as the second of Shadow's Rogue Gallery picture disc single releases as Donald The Merciless, although the track was unchanged. The instrumental is totally outside of Shadow's general style and rather excellent, although the vocals and Bush-bashing are really dated. Jello, in particular, gets pretty damn annoying as the track goes on, regardless of how you feel about GWB. Cage's verses, while dated, are still excellent. Nonetheless, another example of why just about everyone should stay away from writing political songs about current events as they do not age well.

09 Disavowed
Another B-Side for You Can't Go Home Again, Zach de la Rocha is credited as a co-writer and co-producer although his only contribution appears to be the live drums. Maybe a vocal version is sitting in Shadow's vault. This also appeared on The Private Repress which is a Japan-only B-Sides and Remixes compilation.

10 Divine Intervention (feat. Divine Styler)
This track appeared on the Quannum Spectrum compilation although it fades earlier here so as to remove the additional DJ chatter from the end.

11 Handsome Boy Modeling School - Holy Calamity (Bear Witness II) (feat. DJ Shadow & DJ Quest)
This is probably more of a Shadow track than a Handsome Boy one, but Prince Paul and the Automator get writing credits alongside Shadow so they're probably in there too. Quest provides the turntable pyrotechnics. There is a note in the credits that reads "For all three of you that care, DJ Shadow would like to state that all breaks used in this song were taken from the original source vinyl and not bootlegs or reissues. Suckers.", for which I must assume I'm one of those three people, give or take a few thousand.

12 Blackalicious - Halfway Home
This track appears as the second half of Paragraph President on Blackalicious' Blazing Arrow despite only being listed in the liner notes. Shadow also played this on the In Tune and On Time tour.

13 Blues Explosion - Fed Up and Low Down
This is taken from the Blues Explosion's Damage album which features a number of collaborative productions from Dan The Automator, David Holmes and on this track, DJ Shadow. Just to clarify, the Blues Explosion is the same group as The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, just dropping Spencer from the name despite the fact he still leads the band. This is in a similar vein to the aforementioned Cage track.

14 War Is Hell
This track started like as an UNKLE demo and then made an appearance in Dark Days, although it again appears, albeit in a more finished state, on the Diminishing Returns mix and received yet another release on a limited single alongside the instrumental version of The Outsider Theme, although both of those tracks also appeared on the soundtrack to Vexille. Despite never receiving a wide, standard release, this track must hold some importance to Shadow since it's been reissued so many times in limited or hard to find formats.

15 Dark Days (Spoken For Mix)
The B-Side to the Dark Days single, this mix features dialogue from the film scratched in over an alternate version of the Theme.

16 (Letter From Home)
This (Letter From Home), a series of peculiar interludes that appeared on The Private Press, was issued as a B-Side of sorts to You Can't Go Home Again and should not be confused with either of the Letters that appear on the album. A fourth Letter was issued as the B-Side of the limited Monosylabik single, although I haven't heard from anyone who has that track or has heard it. These tracks, in case you're unfamiliar with them, are difficult to discern the legitimacy of, as in to say it's unclear whether they're all legitimate recordable messages made in the earlier parts of the 1900s or merely made to sound as such. If they are legit, they are truly the most private of private pressings, but even if not they're still remarkable ephemera from Shadow's excellent yet under-appreciated second album under his name.

17 Midnight In A Perfect World (Extended Vision)
Version of Vision? Either way, this is the extended version that appears on the Midnight single and hasn't been released elsewhere.

18 Last Stop
A bonus beat of sorts for the original Hardcore Hip-Hop 12".

19 Handsome Boy Modeling School - The Runway Song Part 2 (Kid Koala & DJ Shadow Ready For Their Close-Ups)
This was initially listed for inclusion on the standard issue of Handsome Boy Modeling School's second album, White People, though it and another track showed up only on the instrumental version of the album. Another peculiar move on the part of Elektra to remove tracks which would have raised the visibility of the album or a decision by the group not to include fluffier pieces that would further dilute an album obviously less than superior to it's predecessor?

20 High Noon Outro
Again, from the High Noon EP.

Hollywood BASIC: BASIC beats sampler

If you're not familiar with Hollywood BASIC, lets take a moment to discuss this anomaly of the early nineties hip-hop scene. Generally recognized as the brainchild of Dave "Funken" Klein, a writer and purveyor of hip-hop culture, the label was home to Organized Konfusion, a young DJ Shadow, Digital Underground associates Raw Fusion, African hip-hop duo Zimbabwe Legit, rapper Charizma and his partner Peanut Butter Wolf, real-life convicts the Lifers Group and the South Central soundtrack.

Everyone should know who Organized Konfusion are, as well as DJ Shadow, and Raw Fusion, consisting of Money B and DJ Fuze, had a few moments in the spotlight, though it's understandable you might not be familiar with Lifers Group or Zimbabwe Legit. As for Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf, their only releases via BASIC were a flexi-disc given away with an issue of Bomb Hip-Hop magazine and a promotional cassette, both featuring a single track, although those tracks and much more eventually gained official releases years later on Stones Throw Records.

Hollywood BASIC was a sister label to Hollywood Records which was distributed by Elektra in the early nineties, so their distribution was pretty good all things considered and a lot of their singles got played on Yo! MTV Raps, but video play never necessarily translates into record sales and a lot of the label's releases slipped into obscurity. Now, if you're wondering how an early nineties hip-hop powerhouse like Elektra, what with it's major label distribution via Warner Bros., could fail at selling artists with easy cred like Organized Konfusion and Raw Fusion, it should be noted who the Hollywood labels owners were, and that would be an entertainment entity that while amazingly successful rarely sold much of anything with an edge, and when they attempted to do generally failed miserably, and that wonderous entity would be...

Disney

The people that signed the Insane Clown Posse without realizing how stupid an idea that was from the start, the people that canceled the Insane Clown Posse album after it had been sent to retail, the people that would sign any group as detestable as the Insane Clown Posse and drop them without at least imagining the amount of money they could have made despite having a track record for doing things of that sort to begin with, that's Hollywood Records and they're owned by Disney. They also signed a lot of interesting acts that had plenty of credibility and talent like the Butthole Surfers, Danzig, Indigo Girls, Sparta, Big Kenny of Big & Rich, The Dead Milkmen, Fishbone and Fastball among many others, although I bet most people had no idea any of these groups and artists had anything to do with this label which seems to be cursed by its association with its parent entity. Their biggest act was arguably Queen, for which they purchased their catalog rights and proceeded to reissue their albums in the US, often with bizarre practices like including vaguely altered remixes of album tracks as bonuses and funding countless producers to create stylistically divergent remixes, most of which have never seen the light of day with only a handful having been issued via promotional releases.

Anyway, Hollywood BASIC, apart from suffering the Disney curse, was dealt a death blow when Dave "Funken" Klein lost his battle with cancer, and the label disappeared completely in the mid nineties with several unreleased records in its archives including the unreleased Queen remix compilation, the hip-hop themed BASIC Bootlegs. The label truly had it's heart in the right place though, as is evident from the amazing BASIC beats sampler. Alongside tracks from all of the artists on the label's roster, barring Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf, you also get a cross section of bizarre interludes including angry messages from members of Lifers Group, Rick Rubin singing badly, someone getting really pissed off about Milli Vanilli and lots of other oddities. It reminds me of what is generally becoming a lost era of hip-hop, the crazy early nineties when bizarre interludes and general confusion was accepted and encouraged, making things very "interesting"!

If you love hip-hop, you'll love this. Seriously, just grab this and enjoy it, there isn't anything else that needs to be said!


Hollywood BASIC: BASIC beats sampler

01 You've Reached BASIC
02 Organized Konfusion - The Rough Side Of Town (South Side)
03 Niz-Nuts
04 Lifers Group - The Real Deal (Shadow Remix)
05 Women's Bathroom
06 Raw Fusion - Rockin' To The P.M. (Oaktown Homies Remix)
07 Rick Sings
08 Queen - We Will Rock You (Ruined by Rick Rubin)
09 Zimbabwe's In The House
10 Zimbabwe Legit - Rhymin' Wit The African Symphony
11 Bomba Fleur
12 Last Acustic Remains - untitled
13 Hank Love
14 Hello
15 Raw Fusion - Throw Your Hands In The Air
16 Ass Out The Bed
17 Lifers Group - Belly Of The Beast
18 Report The BASICs
19 Queen - Another One Bites The Dust (Long Dusted B-Boy Version)
20 Rockbarry
21 Organized Konfusion - Open Your Eyes
22 Money Back
23 Shadow - BASIC Mega-Mix


So, now that you've got this, anyone got a copy of that Queen BASIC Bootlegs album? From what I understand, it is circulating among Queen fans but is generally looked at as heresy since there are a lot of rappers making guest appearances. It's got production from DJ Muggs, Dave "Rave" Ogilvie, Trent Reznor, Rick Rubin, Mr. Mixx and appearances from Ice Cube and Money B. Apparently a David Cohen and Femi Jiya remix of The Miracle was also made for it but wouldn't have made the cut. You can see a little more about it here. So, anyone wanna have pity on me so I can share it with everyone else?



On a final note, there was yet another short-lived sister label of Hollywood Records, Hollywood METAL, their rock and, uh, metal label. Apart from promotional appearances by a few of that label's artists, there were no releases by the METAL label. Once again, how are you supposed to do business as a respectable label when the mouse is clearly holding the reigns?

DJ Shadow - Insight: Rarities

So a friend was telling me about a compilation he picked up in a record shop that sounded almost too good to be true, and upon further examination that sentiment was found to be accurate. That compilation, the Best Of Mo'Wax 12's: The DJ Shadow Collection, can be viewed at discogs and is a fully manufactured bootleg CD, and upon investigating the spectral data and tracks featured, several of them are clearly MP3 sourced and others have been edited, destroying the reason to include them in the first place. What would motivate someone to shorten a track on an unofficial compilation dedicated to compiling rare tracks? On top of that, there are lots of mislabeled cuts and even an early Lyrics Born track that has NOTHING to do with Shadow apart from being issued on one side of a split 12" with him. It's just bad bootlegging, and while it was released several years ago in 2007, it's still strange that someone poured the money into this when most people could get these tracks online. I suppose some people might want it on the premise that they're receiving the packaging and probably a mastered CD, but buying an accurately re-created bootleg of the Brainfreeze mix is different from picking up someone's idea of a rarities collection that isn't terribly rare or even accurate.

With all of this said, I told my friend that I could do a better compilation and make it lossless to boot, or at least openly acknowledge what tracks aren't lossless. My friend was intrigued so I put together a rough comp and, after getting all my tracks together, found myself with three CDs worth of tracks, two being purely lossless and one being MP3 sourced. I'm going to post all three here, but I'm not going to post the lossless versions until I've gotten to the third comp, the one that is lossy. For today though, I present the first one, a collection of tracks all sourced from lossless files, for your enjoyment. I'll either post the lossless versions at the end of the week or at some point next week all in one big post. Let me know if you have any questions about these tracks or their sources. Enjoy!


DJ Shadow - Insight

01 Depeche Mode - Painkiller (Kill The Pain Mix)
Shadow's remix for Depeche Mode. It was initially rejected for release due to sample clearance problems, but Shadow ended up issuing it on a 12" alongside the original edit of Cut Chemist's remix of The Number Song. Since then it has gained an official release in several places, though it's not clear whether any samples were removed or not.

02 In/Flux (Alternative Interlude '93 Version)
Despite the title, this sounds more like an early version of In/Flux than an alternative edit. Most of the vocals are missing and one of the samples from Best Foot Forward is featured prominently, whereas it isn't in the regular version. This appeared on the first Headz compilation.

03 Lifers Group - Real Deal (Shadow Remix)
One of Shadow's first tracks to ever receive an official release, this was issued on Hollywood BASIC, a hip-hop oriented subsidiary of Disney's Hollywood Records. One of Shadow's mentors, Dave Funken Klein, was responsible for getting him the work. It's worth noting that there is a lot of anti-homosexual vitriol being dispersed here, which is thoroughly politically incorrect these days, and even more shocking when you realize this was issued on a Disney subsidiary, though if you take into perspective that the Lifers Group consisted entirely of convicts serving time at the Rahway Prison, all with life sentences no less, and that they were trying to scare their listeners into staying out of prison, I guess it changes the perspective somewhat. I am in no way condoning the statements or opinions of the rappers on this track, but it's important to understand their perspectives and the environment they came from. On a related note, I have a lifelong friend who served about seven years for some white collar crimes that has said, despite having no ill will towards anyone based upon their sexuality, in prison it's truly an issue that rears its head far too frequently. In his words, "I can't watch Oz, it's way too real. Yeah, there is a lot of bullshit on that show, but everyday someone is getting propositioned or used, often against their will, and they got that part of the show totally accurate."

04 89.9 Megamix
This appeared on a split single with DJ Krush.

05 Devil's Advocate (Heaven v. Hell - Bonus Beat)
Weird track from the High Noon EP, featuring a preacher railing against rock music over a remix of High Noon. This is much more a legitimate track than a mere bonus beat.

06 Lesson 4
Shadow's tribute to Double Dee & Steinski's infamous Lesson tracks was his first recording issued strictly under his name, although it was credited simply to Shadow rather than DJ Shadow. This was issued on a promotional version of the Lifers Group 12" for Real Deal due to it being filled with expensive or unclearable samples and is extremely hard to find, at least as a non-bootleg. Shadow issued a slightly different version of this on one of his 4-Track Era compilations, although those are similarly difficult to find.

07 Lost and Found (S.F.L.)
Issued on another split single with DJ Krush, this is cut from the same vein as What Does Your Soul Look Like and Endtroducing. This has appeared on a Mo'Wax comp or two but is no longer available.

08 Shadow's Legitimate Mix
Often credited as a remix for Zimbabwe Legit, an African rap duo that was signed to Hollywood BASIC, this is actually an original Shadow track that did not feature the group. It appeared on their self-titled EP and later on one of the Headz comps. Like Lesson 4, a slightly different version of this also appeared on one of the 4-Track Era compilations.

09 BASIC Mega-Mix
A megamix of early Hollywood BASIC tracks, this appeared on that label's BASIC beats sampler, an excellent compilation featuring tracks from Organized Konfusion, Raw Fusion, Zimbabwe Legit, Lifers Group and two Queen remixes, one from Rick Rubin and the other by Phase 5. I'll have to post the whole thing soon because it's really exceptional. The Phase 5 remix of Queen's Another One Bites The Dust is incredible!


One more thing, I "borrowed" the image in this post from Napalm filled tires' flickr page. There is some really great photography there so go check it out!

The SoleSides Crew Presents: Radio Sole 1

For all the DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, Latyrx, Solesides/Quannum lovers out there, this one is for you.

SoleSides was a legitimately wonderful label. That's not meant to be taken as disrespectful towards Quannum, especially since it was essentially the same label with a larger roster, but Quannum's releases were a little more all-over-the-place and generally not as focused. Blackalicious never recorded another record as incredible as Melodica (though the A2G EP came close), Latyrx never recorded another album and most of the other Quannum releases were very "audience oriented", or more specifically, if you weren't into recordings of High School marching bands performing funk classics or other peculiar side-projects, Quannum just wasn't really for you. Lyrics Born did go on to become a great solo artist though, and most of the crew reunited for the Mighty Underdogs album, though that simply didn't live up to it's potential. Nonetheless, SoleSides had that boom-bap, Cali hip-hop going on and the Greatest Bumps compilation, while sadly incomplete, still does a great job of showing why the crew is fondly remembered.

Regarding that SoleSides Greatest Bumps comp, if you have a physical copy and have read the liner notes in detail you've probably noticed that Asia's Verse has an interesting story behind it. Specifically...

If you're one of the lucky 500 or so who have an original copy of Radio Sole, or one of the thousands that have a bootleg, you already know. If not, welcome to the madness. This is the long lost verse, back from the days when Lyrics was still Asia Born, that edited any cipher, and always brought down the house. Recorded during The Auditions sessions.

Those notes were a little misleading as the version of Asia's Verse that appeared on the Radio Sole comp was actually performed live, whereas the the version on Greatest Bumps was indeed a studio version, but it was enough detail to make me want to find out what else I was missing. What was missing was a lot, including freestyles, early demos, live performances and hidden funk classics. Of course, it wasn't easy to find a copy of Radio Sole, at least not initially. I found mine on a pressed bootleg CD, and while the sound quality was far from perfect I have to assume none of the original cassettes sounded all that hot either. But sound quality isn't the point, the Radio Sole tape is a document of SoleSides' early years, showcasing their raw talent and sheer audacity. For those reasons, it's essential.

There were 500 official tapes made of Radio Sole, all of which are assuredly impossible to find, but rips are around and here is one from that CD I purchased. Put this on and you'll surely be in heaven shortly thereafter, especially when hearing things like the demo of Blackalicious' Paragraph President from years before it was eventually re-recorded for release, the beat for Latyrx's Burnt Pride in an early form as Red Ants, Shadow cutting on the radio and much, much more! Go ahead, rock it like it's 1996 and Lateef's The Wreckoning was the coldest thing you'd heard in years! You know you want to!


The SoleSides Crew - Radio Sole 1

01 The Sound That Nobody Took Seriously
02 Lateef - The Wreckoning (Live At The DNA, San Francisco 9/95)
03 Shadow - Groove Robber #1 In The Act
04 Shadow - 90.9 Bonus Beat
05 From 90.3... (Radio Bullshit 91)
06 Asia's Gem
07 Gift Of Gab - Lyrical Anthem (Freestyle 9/95)
08 Blackalicious - Paragraph President (4 Track Demo 91)
09 Shadow's On The Air (Three 12"s and A 45)
10 Lyrics Born - "Stone" Cold Lyrics (Live At The Stone 2/93)
11 Zen's Bad Side
12 Make Way For The Originals (Word Of Mouth 85)
13 Huh? Hmmm. Now!
14 Chief's Pick: Lyrics Born - Red Ants (Instrumental)
15 Lateef, Gift Of Gab, Lyrics Born & Shadow - Live At Barony (Freestyles 6/94)
16 Shadow - Gangsta Jazz (Demo 91)
17 The Chief and Shadow's Xmas Present
18 Blackalicious, Lateef & Lyrics Born - 360 Degrees Back Home (Live In Sac 4/94)


Does anyone else find it funny that they named the tape Radio Sole 1 since there wasn't a follow-up?

January 2010 Mixtape: No Rights... (Side Two)

Side Two for your listening pleasure!


The Unheard Music January 2010 Mixtape: No Rights Given Or Implied (Side Two)


09 DJ Shadow - Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt
At the time of Endtroducing's release, DJ Shadow was said to have constructed an album of nothing but samples that sounded like it was performed by a full band. That description holds true today. Building Steam..., the album's first track after a brief introduction, builds the mood for the entire album, brimming with paranoia, mystery, sadness and depression, but remains gripping regardless, holding one captive until it's finale, then requiring countless re-examinations to study every bit of minutia in an attempt to understand how one could create something so captivating from so many completely unrelated parts.


10 The Timelords - Doctorin' The Tardis
Take the theme from Doctor Who, a classic sports anthem, tons of samples from the aforementioned show, a club beat and an old police car named Ford Timelord, put them all together and you have a giant hit record from The Timelords, aka The KLF, aka The JAMMS, aka 2K, aka two guys with more aliases than you can count. Not containing their deepest collection of samples but definitely one of their biggest hits, Doctorin' The Tardis is a great example of The KLF's ability to take whatever they enjoy and make it their own. For a more detailed example of this, check out their debut album, 1987 (What The Fuck Is Going On?), which was deleted for containing tons of samples, none of which were cleared. Actually, all of their albums have been deleted, all by their own hands when they left the music industry in the early nineties. You can download a large collection of their now no-longer available tracks here, here, here, and here, all at The Unheard Music.


11 Girl Talk - Smash Your Head
Gregg Gillis gets far too much credit for being a sampling genius, but what he understands better than most is how the right records can work together like jigsaw pieces in a puzzle. No, he is definitely not the next Steinski, but there isn't another Girl Talk to be certain, no matter how many extended mash-ups someone with a facebook page might create. Most of Smash Your Head isn't groundbreaking, but the combination of Elton John's Tiny Dancer with the rap from The Notorious B.I.G.'s Juicy is brilliant, and there is plenty of that brilliance to go around throughout Night Ripper and Feed The Animals, both of which are available for free download and purchase at illegal art's website. It's not for everybody, but if you're looking for an instant party, look no further than Girl Talk!


12 John Oswald - Brown
John Oswald doesn't consider what he does sampling, he instead calls it "plunderphonics", which is to use a recognizable source in an altered fashion, as long as it remains recognizable. Kind of complicated, yes, but what Mr. Oswald does is simply mind-bending. Take for instance this track, Brown, a survey of James Brown's career and some of the works that sample his recordings. At a breakneck pace, Mr. Oswald examines the horns, the shouts, the beats and their various mutations, not making a song to dance to but something that will grab you by the balls for certain. You should definitely visit his wikipedia reference for more information on Mr. Oswald's career and releases. His career-spanning compilation, Plunderphonics 69/96 is available for download via iTunes and Amazon and I would suggest it's purchase to anyone who wants a detailed survey of his works. You can also download the original version of his plunderphonic album right here at this site.


13 Danger Mouse - Dirt Off Your Shoulder
Danger Mouse's initial claim to major fame is his mash-up of Jay-Z and The Beatles, better known as The Grey Album. I'm sure most people know all about it so I'm not going into detail, but you can read more about it here and if you haven't heard it yet, do a google search and download it with the quickness. As for Dirt Off Your Shoulder, it is, in my humble opinion, the stand-out in a collection of stand-outs, with DM taking The Beatles' soft and loving Julia and chopping it into a Timbaland worthy club banger.

Despite it's online availability, most copies of The Grey Album in circulation aren't from terribly high quality sources. With that in mind, I will eventually be posting a very high quality rip here from an original disc sold briefly through DM's website. In case you're wondering, this track is taken from that superior quality copy.


14 The Avalanches - Tonight May Have To Last Me All My Life
The Avalanches are an Australian hip-hop crew known for their intensely dense mash-ups. Unlike Girl Talk though, their attitude is less jigsaw and more kitchen sink, finding interesting ways to combine just about any record they find. Some may argue that there are better tracks to display their talents with, and they would probably be right, but Tonight... is an excellent example of their more subtle moods, something which isn't often displayed in sample-based music.

Precious little has been heard from The Avalanches since the release of their sole full-length, Since I Left You, in 1999, but rumors abound that 2010 is the year The Avalanches will return with their long-awaited follow-up, supposedly finished and awaiting final sample clearances. Until then, you can visit their official site, get Since I Left You if you haven't heard it yet, and grab their amazing Gimix mixtape which is featured at their site as well as here.


15 Cassetteboy - Fly Me To New York (feat. DJ Rubbish)
Br forewarned, this track may offend many, but it's a joke and one of many that the relentlessly merciless Cassetteboy make at the expense of anyone that enters into their worldview. That said, how many people can make a 9/11 joke by sampling Frank Sinatra's catalogue? Bitingly hilarious, to the point that you may be angry with yourself while laughing. For more, check out their amazing The Parker Tapes (which just so happens to be available here at this site! sometimes I feel like a whore) and just about anything else in their discography

By the way, just in case anyone would make any ridiculous claims, the views held in Cassetteboy's Fly Me To New York are not held by the author of this website. That said, the track is meant to be a joke, albeit a dark one, so don't get too bent out of shape.


16 Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five - The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel
Not much needs to be said about Grandmaster Flash or his Adventures, other than this track is the impetus for much of what has become the turntablism scene and was recorded live on three turntables. Kick ass!


17 Concept 1 - 01:02 VR
Richie Hawtin isn't known for sampling, although that isn't to say he doesn't experiment with it from time to time, although the credit for this track goes primarily to Thomas Brinkmann.

In 1996, Richie Hawtin started a mail-order program where subscribers would receive limited edition 12"s each month of new Hawtin recordings under the name Concept 1. The style of the recordings was minimal techno and their limited issue made them very collectible, leading to their eventual reissue, sometimes in truncated form, on the commercially available 96:CD compilation. Alongside that disc's release though, Mr. Hawtin issued 96:VR, a collection of re-workings courtesy of Thomas Brinkmann and his dual-arm turntable system. With the tracks being played with two needles at the same time, new rhythms and patterns emerged, creating much deeper tracks.

While this isn't sampling in the traditional sense, I feel this track and the whole of the 96:VR compilation is a great example of creative recontexualization and definitely uses pre-existing content in an altered sense to bring about a new work. If you enjoy this, hunt down a copy of 96:VR and it's source versions, 96:CD, and prepare to be taken aback by the beauty in the hard, dark and cold minimalism of it's amazing tracks. Kudos to Mr. Hawtin and Mr. Brinkmann.