Raycevick's Recommendations: Our Pathetic Age by DJ Shadow
Added 2020-03-23 13:01:01 +0000 UTCTruly, I'm not recommending one album, but two albums.
The introduction is very Entroducing... Instrumentals utilizing a wide variety of samples tied together with drum machines. But the familiarity doesn't mean DJ Shadow's learned nothing in production since his 90's breakout. Our Pathetic Age has superb quality across the board with its sound-design, and instrumentation. There's certainly a lean in this record towards ambiance, but not only is it excellent, it's meant to contrast the 2nd Disk.
This other half is where modern Shadow comes in. Top notch Hip-Hop tracks with production that's only rivaled by El-P, and a multitude of guests who are seemingly handpicked per-track. Don't let this give the impression that it's all arena bangers. There's real pacing here, even with an interlude, to separate the high energy of Rain on Snow and Rocket Fuel, to JoJo's Word & the title track, Our Pathetic Age.
I can't give an input to DJ Shadow's The Mountain Will Fall, but in regards to this record, no matter which of this artists work you've previously enjoyed, or if you've never listened to him at all, there should be a set of songs you enjoy.
