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DJ Shadow – The Less You Know, The Better
“I’m back,” says a man proudly booming out of the speakers introducing the opening track to DJ Shadow’s latest endeavour. Mr Shadow is indeed back, and with a serious kick to the unmentionables. The Less You Know, the Better is the musical equivalent of someone with bipolar. In a good way. It begins on a high, becoming progressively introspective, concluding with the down-tempo bonus track ‘(Not So) Sad and Lonely’. Josh Davis – as Shadow’s passport will attest – achieves this by mixing hip hop (in his inimitable way) with metal with rock; blues with pop; and folk with jazz. And it works.
While this album maintains DJ Shadow’s characteristic sampling style (opener ‘Back to Front’ would not have been incongruous on The Private Press, while album highlight ‘I’ve Been Trying’ is ‘Six Days’ long-lost, mature brother), his sound has definitely evolved. Disparate cameos from artists like rapper Talib Kweli on ‘Stay the Course’ and Tom Vek for rock-dance anthem ‘Warning Call’ are testament to this.
‘Border Crossing’ should be used to accompany a heavyweight wrestler to the ring, it’s 80s-style metal guitar riff and epic drum set doing a great job of achieving the proverbial hyping up of oneself. ‘Run for Your Life’ is another track full of so much energy, there’s nothing else for it but to do just that. And, if you listen closely, you can almost hear Kanye West throwing a tantrum for being pipped to the sampling post on this one.
The darkest moment of the album comes from the psychotic ‘Give Me the Nights’, under no circumstances to be confused with George Benson’s funky 80s hit. DJ Shadow’s ‘Night’ – featuring what sounds like someone reading a poem – contains a constant sense of foreboding, with a bass to erect the hairs on the back of your neck, not to mention a blood-curdling howl from said poet pleading with nothing in particular to “Bring me back the LONG, CRUEL, ENDLESS NIGHT”.
Although hip hop and rock pervade the album, it also contains much softer sounds, provided beautifully with standout track ‘Scale It Back’, featuring the Bourbon-smooth tones of Little Dragon. ‘Redeemed’ is another slow track. You imagine Janis Joplin would have sung on this with the Shadow were she still alive; it has that Woodstock-meets-2011 feel to it.
To simply say “It’s brilliant” would be a cop-out; but would that be so wrong? As said in the album’s interval ‘Going Nowhere’: “More and more, I have the feeling that we are getting nowhere. And that is a pleasure.”
Rating: 9.5/10
Copy by Sarah Allen
The Duke Spirit – Bruiser
They suck you in from the first second of Bruiser; doubts that their latest efforts won’t match up to the magnitude of Neptune are obliterated like birthday cakes at a Black Sabbath reunion. It’s almost impossible not to smile at the realisation The Duke Spirit have still got it. And, with Bruiser, they will hurt you. “Disorder is in order,” sings front-goddess Liela Moss in ‘Sweet Bitter Sweet’, and I couldn’t agree more. These guys are back and shaking things up as only they know how.
Opener ‘Cherry Tree’ quenches your thirst for that classic Spirit, harking back to Cuts Across the Land. The bass; the drums; the guitars; that voice. This track has all the brawn and muscle necessary to make a heavyweight foot-stomping, fist-pumping anthem. ‘Surrender’ is another thumper of a track which demands the listener do as they are told. Things could get beautifully messy in the crowd during a live performance, and this makes me smile. It has all the presence of an epic album finale, although it is much closer to the beginning in terms of tracklisting. Listen out for the brief guitar solo during the final chorus. I dare your eyes not to roll back into your head at this point.
The album offers great variety. The dark ‘Bodies’ has a bass to rival that of any vintage Queens of the Stone Age track. Chart-friendly highlight ‘Don’t Wait’ reminds me of a track that might be used to advertise a teenybopper soap on ITV2 while waiting for Judge Judy to berate you through the screen. Nevertheless, it’s a great track, perhaps saved by the compelling bounce-worthy bridge, with Liela requesting the listener “Ride on, until you feel you belong. Ride on, and on, and on.” Spoiler alert! The intro to ‘De Lux’ sounds a bit like ‘Bad Romance’, unless I’m just going Gaga. Although it includes beautiful harmonising and a great guitar riff, which no Lady Gaga presentation could muster.
The album’s orgasm comes courtesy of ‘Everybody’s Under Your Spell’. It would be challenging work to grow weary of this track. (Believe me, I’ve tried, thankfully to no avail.) The stalking intro; the urgency of the chorus; the erratic violence of the bridge makes you want to stay under this spell for a while. Brilliant drummer Olly Betts really stands out on ‘Northbound’ and definitely makes the already superb track even better. He’s also just really lovely. (I met him once with a girlfriend at a QOTSA gig and he was adorably sweet and humble as we gushed at him like teenagers.)
Although heavy guitars and catchy drums are a recurring feature in the album, there’s still room for the group’s signature piano riffs. And what better way to do this than by using instruments employed by musical legends. Goddess Moss told Time Out magazine she used the same piano as Axl Rose tinkered on in ‘November Rain’ for ‘Villain’ (a beautiful, biting love song), and that of Freddie Mercury from ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ on ‘Sweet Bitter Sweet’ (which is to the album what Scrappy Doo is to Scooby: the sweet, little track ready to kick some serious backside).
Clearly, the album is marvellous. Almost perfect. My only criticism is that I wish more of it was like ‘Cherry Tree’ and ‘Spell’. But then again, one could argue: “If everybody looked the same, we’d get tired of looking at each other,” right?
This band is an enduring one which has satisfied the expectations – with consistently strong albums like debut Cuts, 2008’s Neptune and now Bruiser, as well as their countless EPs – that they will be around for a long time. As Moss sings: “Missed you much, oh, would you bet,” in ‘Spell’, I reply to my speakers: “Liela, you guys have no idea!”
Rating: 9/10
Copy by Sarah Allen
Sarah Allen 