Friday, November 16, 2007

DJ Shadow - Funky Skunk


DJ Shadow – Funky Skunk

Though many of his earlier albums featured a flawless blending of instrumental breakbeats from numerous sources of inspiration – rock, funk, hip-hop – into one fantastic journey, Shadow’s last album, Outsider, left a few people cold as his focus seemed bent away from the experimental sound palette and more toward a straight forward commercial beat-making production. On Funky Skunk, a pure mix-tape, fans can have the best of both worlds. Filled with the Bay Area sounds of Hyphy, his catacomb deep selection of funk and rare grooves, numerous bits of odd ball novelty recordings, and various styles of regional hip-hop (grime, crunk, Miami bass, gangsta), DJ Shadow offers up a CD that is the equivalent of diplomat hip-hop fashion, taking variant gems and constructing them into a brilliant new ostentatious piece of bling. The album never lets up, and since it’s recorded as one long track, you can feel exhausted by its 66 minute length. But you’ll definitely get your moneys worth.

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