DJ Shadow’s third album takes a new direction and goes back to his hip-hop roots. While this might be dismaying for fans of ‘Entroducing’, this is far more than just a straight, cliche-ridden piece of work – Josh Davis’ creative mind is still at work, that’s for sure. There’s enough guest rappers to field a football team but the record hangs together well, with particularly searching collaborations with Phonte Coleman (‘Backstage Girl’) and Chris James, who contributes to two tracks. Even half of Kasabian get a look in! What matters here though is that DJ Shadow comes through with an extrovert extension to his musical personality, finding a new directness to his style. Trip hop it ain’t!
5 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: Ben Hogwood
