Building Steam with a Grain of Salt ~ Hip Hop ~ Freshout Media : Spread the Word

Building Steam with a Grain of Salt

By Transmute

Published: April 16th, 2006

Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt

If God were an instrumentalist and hip-hop DJ, his name would be DJ Shadow. The production genius creates soundscapes that equate to the divine awesomeness of the creation story found in Genesis. When Shadow brings sound together, it does not become music or a song, but rather a sonic painting that depicts the world. The mind-boggling combination of sounds in his soundscape provides a gripping ambiance that overtakes the listener.

This is not the type of music that you should listen to as background music. His first official release was punningly called Endtroducing ….. DJ Shadow, and was released on the Mo Wax imprint in 1996. The title implies that his style of “music” on this album not only introduces him as a musical artist, but also ends the way of approaching musical production that was prevalent at the time.

The second track on the album, “Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt,” is an excellent example of the genius of DJ Shadow. The song opens up with a thematic and suspenseful piano piece that acts as the main element of the song. Soon, an old vinyl is scratched in and an explanatory voice abstractly describes and annouces not only the sonic adventure that will be experienced when listening to this particular track, but also introduces the musical style that DJ Shadow would eventually become highly acclaimed for. Accompanied by a sinister piano chord, the drum track jumps in setting the rhythmic backbone of this piece. Adding to the eeriness of the track, a chorus sample, heavy bass line, and a guitar are overlaid onto the soundscape. Another explanatory voice is implemented into the track, describing it more specifically. Eventually, there is a mind-boggling drum solo, followed by a funky guitar solo. The aura of the song then becomes less eerie and more cheerful as the combination of the funky guitar and a bell-like instrument sample lift the mood. This uplifting jam segment continues until an off the wall drum piece gives way to another mood switch, resulting in an ethereal and triumphant sound. The song finally ends with yet another vocal sample, which aptly brings a close to the song while introducing DJ Shadow as a musical artist. The song ends the way it began, with the same piano piece, bringing the song around to a complete circle.

Shadow exhibits his musical divinity throughout “Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt,” and through his subsequent works. In his genius, Shadow shows how music can be poetic without the use of words (that is, without the deliberate use of lyrics in the form of singing and rapping, though the proper use of sampled words can, and do, add to the poetics). DJ Shadow is the divine producer and musical prodigy.

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For More Information on DJ Shadow - http://www.djshadow.com/

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One Response to “Building Steam with a Grain of Salt”

mattbyne Says:
November 18th, 2008 at 9:58 am
whos voice was the drummer sample? anyone know?

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Transmute
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The imperial emcee and devout Hip-Hop head Transmute ANS, or Tr. ANS, reps for the state of Connecticut, but chills in the Illadelph for the time being. Not one to divulge much information about himself, this is what should be known. People think he’s nice on the mic, he says different; until he is heard the question is: “is he ill?” or is he what an emcee is supposed to be? Whatever the answer is, Tr. ANS does have too many aliases, multiple personalities to go with them, and too many crews/groups that he is associated with (hence his love for Madlib and MF DOOM). As a Hip-Hop head, Tr. ANS’ mind is that of a Hip-Hop DJ, in that Hip-Hop music is not just rap music, but encompasses every genre that has influenced the culture’s music. Therefore, for Freshout, Transmute handles rap (which is called Hip-Hop on the site), funk, jazz, soul, and reggae (Kool DJ Herc baby! Respect!). Hip-Hop is such a large part of his life that he has dedicated his life to the study and development of Hip-Hop Architecture (the man has a Bachelors of Architecture degree). (It should be noted that Transmute did not make this discipline up, there are others who have dedicated time to this study.) Also, Transmutist is a music junkie. The man downloads and buys music so much that he make a crackhead look clam next to his dealer. His knowledge of music is fairly good and if he does have a particular that someone is looking for (Hip-Hop of course), he will look for it. As a Fresh Out writer, Transmute puts his “stamp of approval on every artist that he writes about, so check out his posts and the artists that he is listening to, hit him up if you want and remember to spell the man’s name right— capital “T”, lower case “r”, “dot”, “space”, capital “A”, capital “N”, capital “S”; the hardest name to spell in Hip-Hop— Tr. ANS. Casper.