Action Adventure by DJ Shadow

Today will forever be known as the day I learned that DJ Shadow’s 1996 top-100 all-time masterpiece Endtroducing… is the Guinness World Records’ holder for “the first album to be recorded using only sampled sounds.” This feels somehow dubious / impossible, but I suppose someone had to be first, and it only adds to the greatness that is DJ Shadow’s debut. But that album is not what I’m here to talk about.

Action Adventure is DJ Shadow’s fantastic 7th studio album (his 6th album, Our Pathetic Age was #21 in 2019, and his 5th, The Mountain Will Fall, #9 in 2016). Where those two previous albums featured big-name guest vocals from the likes of Run the Jewels, Raekwon, and De La Soul, Action is almost entirely instrumental. Aside from the random vocal sample, (such as the lovely sample “All my records are tapes” repeated throughout “All My”), only “You Played Me” feels like a standalone pop song (see the video above). That vocal track, sampled from Jan Jerome’s 1990 R&B B-side “Baby, Got Me Goin,” gives the song an 80s throw-back vibe that will have you bouncing in your seat.

Lacking vocals, the rest of the album feels like it could be the soundtrack to one amazing late 20th Century movie, or perhaps the collected instrumental versions of an album that was originally released with rapping and singing on top. That’s not to say the album is not good — it is great, at being the background to your day as you go about cleaning the house, or hosting a party, or perhaps even on a run. Instead of being the soundtrack to an older movie, it can be the soundtrack to your life today. Watch the video for and listen to “Ozone Scraper,” and you’ll see exactly what I mean.

With a career nearly 30 years in length, DJ Shadow — aka Josh Davis — still has an amazing ability to tap into samples and sounds from the past and make them sound entirely new. Action Adventure fits right in with the work he did on the first U.N.K.L.E. album, 1998’s Psyence Fiction, and his 2006 album The Outsider. He remains a magician at creating beats and blending sounds, and is showing no signs of slowing down.

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Not Art by Big Scary

Merry Christmas, everybody! Coming in at #7 is Australian band Big Scary, whose album Not Art, their second, actually came out last year but didn’t make it stateside until earlier this year. This album is hard for me to define; each song sounds derivative of another band.

The above video, for the song “Luck Now,” reminds me of Jeff Buckley, the way Iansek uses his falsetto to great effect. The song “Twin Rivers” (as seen here) has a dissonant-chord chorus and pervasive piano that reminds me of Grizzly Bear. And “Invest,” which can be seen here, has a drum break that makes me think of U.N.K.L.E. (back when DJ Shadow was with the band).

In addition to the above, you can hear Radiohead, Velvet Underground, and many many other references throughout the album, which, on the surface might appear to be a damning quality for the album to evoke. But it’s not, at all. This album is an absolute joy to listen to. It’s solid, through and through.

The band is a duo, Tom Iansek and Joanna Syme, and they started performing as Big Scary back in 2006. In addition to their two albums, they’ve released a number of EPs. Not Art is the first album of theirs to hit my radar, and I’m so glad it did. I found myself continually drawn back to it over the length of the year. You should give it a listen, too. It will stick with you.

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8. The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett by Eels
9. Owl John by Owl John
10. LP1 by FKA Twigs
11. Black Hours by Hamilton Leithauser
12. Give the People What They Want by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
13. Lost in the Dream by The War On Drugs
14. Warpaint by Warpaint
15. Heal by Strand of Oaks
16. Stay Gold by First Aid Kit
17. This is All Yours by ∆
18. Brill Bruisers by The New Pornographers
19. Only Run by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
20. Augustines by Augustines
21. El Pintor by Interpol
22. I Never Learn by Lykke Li
23. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes by Thom Yorke
24. The Voyager by Jenny Lewis
25. Voices by Phantogram
26. Morning Phase by Beck
27. Hungry Ghosts by OK Go
28. Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels
29. Cosmos by Yellow Ostrich
30. Teeth Dreams by The Hold Steady
31. With Light & With Love by Woods

2009-2013 Top 31s

#23 on the 2023 Bacon Top 31 — DJ Shadow

#7 on the 2014 Bacon Top 31