Ground-Zero
革命京劇 (Revolutionary Pekinese Opera) Ver.1.28 [Kakumeikyōgeki]
★★★½
"Why Hip Hop Sucks in '96" is really quite the statement from DJ Shadow on his seminal debut album, Endtroducing... During this time DJ Shadow had created the so-called first ever album that was created just from samples. And to be honest, it's one of my favorite albums. But after listening to this, I realize that Shadow was not so alone in his sampling game, and he definitely didn't take it to the extremes. Released in the same year, this album really embodies some of the new musical concepts of the time, and how they were incorporated into the Japanese avant-garde.
This could fit perfectly on a Zorn album, or a release by the Tzadik label. But it's not and if it was it would be one of the most ambitious and confusing albums in their discography. There’s certainly some elements of jazz and perhaps acid or mathy rock. Those sections are particularly fun to listen to, with some great drumming that gets your foot tapping immediately. But let’s not forget, this album is a clear sampling and remix of an opera. And that opera has been grinded, juiced, chopped, grilled, stuffed and everything in between. It’s definitely not an opera you’d recognize immediately and that distortion and disorientation that follows seems to be their agenda.
They sample from other audio sources too; political speeches and music ranging from marching band to what can perhaps be hip hop. There are moments that are intensely furious but at a second’s notice can become ominously tranquil. It all seems like a mind game that can make you feel like you have suddenly come down with vertigo. The vocals are strangely addicting to listen to and it really transports you to another place and time. One that has been irreversibly changed by your own experience. It’s as if you were to go back in time and change what you did, but of course your mentality was different from what it is now.
Maybe I’m getting too abstract with it all, but that’s just what I was thinking about when listening. It’s a fairly rewarding listen once it clicks, but after that initial moment of understanding it becomes even stranger than you once thought. It’s a mess of an album and trying to make sense of it or “decode” it would take time that I don’t have right now. Maybe I’ll come back to it. The eeriness of it is potent, whether it be from the recording quality or the dashes of no wave and drone. This album has it all and if you’re a fan of any “experimental” music there’s definitely something for you here.
Favorite Song: Consume Mao
They sample from other audio sources too; political speeches and music ranging from marching band to what can perhaps be hip hop. There are moments that are intensely furious but at a second’s notice can become ominously tranquil. It all seems like a mind game that can make you feel like you have suddenly come down with vertigo. The vocals are strangely addicting to listen to and it really transports you to another place and time. One that has been irreversibly changed by your own experience. It’s as if you were to go back in time and change what you did, but of course your mentality was different from what it is now.
Maybe I’m getting too abstract with it all, but that’s just what I was thinking about when listening. It’s a fairly rewarding listen once it clicks, but after that initial moment of understanding it becomes even stranger than you once thought. It’s a mess of an album and trying to make sense of it or “decode” it would take time that I don’t have right now. Maybe I’ll come back to it. The eeriness of it is potent, whether it be from the recording quality or the dashes of no wave and drone. This album has it all and if you’re a fan of any “experimental” music there’s definitely something for you here.
Favorite Song: Consume Mao
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