6/11/2002 02:05:00 PM|W|P|Danny Eagle|W|P| The Private Press comes at a time when DJ Shadow is finally getting the respect he deserves. Appearing in the DJ documentary Scratch, he was portrayed as the undertaker of forgotten sounds, digging deep within the basements of used record stores, enduring days of mildew stink to find the perfect sounds for his work. His samples had new life, but retained their ghostly quality, like the echoing of long dead jazz vocalists. His style is emotional to say the least. It's sometimes haunting, and sometimes up beat, but always the antithesis of ordinary hip-hop. Shadow has honed his legendary digging skills over the last few years dredging up some of the strangest but oddly appealing sounds from the dusty bins. In the tradition of great hip-hop, The Private Press draws from, but does not duplicate older works, recreating and re-assigning original sounds with new emotion. It's the first time I've heard 80's pop music re-built into new and relevant music. This will happen again and again in the next few years as James Brown and Barry White samples are mined out of existence but I really can't believe that anyone will be able to pull it off like Shadow has on this record. The Private Press has most of the vibe of his older releases, but sounds much more carefully crafted. You can almost hear Shadow's brain growing on the album; his old sound and technique has been revisited and vastly improved upon. Having been given full creative control over the album, Shadow has cut no artistic corners and taken some gambles. Most of the risks he takes work out for the best, maybe getting a pass on the first listen, but slowly accumulating points with each additional play. A face paced, drum n' bass tempoed Mashin' on the Motorway sounds like beatnik poetry over hard drums and carefully placed samples (play while driving for best results). Dark and dirty beats are thrown down off the bat on Walkie Talkie sounding like a call to action for his original hip-hop fans. The true masterpiece of The Private Press comes on the track Six Days, a crackling old refrain from a long-forgotten 50s song remixed over a true-to-form Shadow beat. It will make you reflect on your life, I kid you not. This is powerful stuff folks. His only mistake came on Blood on the Motorway and sounded like a Moby remix attempt on a crappy Air Supply song. I've settled on telling myself that maybe I'm just not progressive enough to enjoy this song, but my intuition tells me it's not so great. Aside from that, The Private Press is a good investment. It has enough range to interest anyone with a little imagination and is great for it's pure range of sounds, it's ability squeeze great music from remnants of old music, and the legendary production that DJ Shadow is famous for.|W|P|85161967|W|P|DJ Shadow | The Private Press|W|P|scottlmoe@gmail.com6/04/2002 09:50:00 AM|W|P|Danny Eagle|W|P| I'm currently suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from this game. My hands hurt, I'm jumpy, and when I close my eyes I see Nazis throwing grenades at me. The sound is ridiculously real as are the graphics, and believe it or not, it's historically accurate. Take it from a loser that will watch anything on TV that is both black and white and has explosions in it. This may have dethroned Grand Theft Auto 3; handle with care.|W|P|85141887|W|P|PS2 | Medal of Honor|W|P|scottlmoe@gmail.com