Taking sides - Dust Brothers Vs DJ Shadow

before both of these records come out, i've got to give the edge to shadow simply because he can do the work without having to have people add something to the mix to make it fantastic (ie vocals on paul's boutique). they're soundtrack to fight club was good, but not as good as endtroducing, which i think is a fairer comparision than one might see, since endtroducing could easily score a film, if it had to. it has a very cinematic quality to it.

While the technique is similar, the music is so very different. I don't think DJ Shadow could make something as funky and pop as Ton Loc's "Wild Thing" if he tried (come to think of it, when is DJ Shadow ever funky in any kind of danceable sense? “The Numbers Song?” Nah.), and likewise the Dust Brothers would probably look stupid doing something as epic as "What Does Your Soul Look Like." Until I hear DJ Shadow do something silly and fun, I daresay the Dust Brothers have more emotional range. Still, I’d rather listen to DJ Shadow than a Dust Brothers production these days (though I rarely put on either, lately.)

At this point, I have zero interest in a Dust Brother solo album. If it held a candle to the Avalanches, I would eat the damn thing with a fork and knife.

Shadow's work with Uncle was pretty memorable, had a great amount of emotional range, and for "silly and fun" try the shadow vs. cut chemist track on Future Primitive Sound's "Urban Revolutions" comp. where they're messing around with a slurpee commercial and classic funk breaks. Shadow's work with the Quannum/Solesides hiphop crew are dance-friendly in addition to staying true to an oldskool hiphop ethos.

DB's have gone pop, or were they ever anything else? Their full-length if it ever materializes will in all likelyhood be indistinguishable from a new Fatboy Slim or Crystal Method album--- and though it's not their fault that their style's been bitten off for more than a decade, but they either need to explore a bit or get off the pot.

-L5

Listening to the Fight Club OST... I agree that it's not the best out there, but it's pretty different from the older stuff. I feel it constitutes some form of creative exploration. When the album comes, I'll definitely give it a listen.

Shadow's production work for Quannum/Solesides is funky enough for me...altho give me his abstract masterworks first anyday.

The Dust Brothers - bit over-rated i always thought - Paul's Boutique owes as much to the Beastie Boys' own creative flow at the time as it does to the DB's studio control. And that Fight Club thing was bollocks!

The Dust Brothers produced "Mmmbop" by Hanson, so they win.

The Dust Brothers produced "Anybody Seen My Baby?" by the Rolling Stones, so they lose.

The Dust Brothers were all right, but they didn't do anything particularly left-field with Paul's Boutique (except "Johnny Ryall", which sounds a bit ahead of its time, and "The Sounds of Science", which doesn't), and I don't think they had anything to do with "Lord Only Knows", which is probably the best track on Odelay. Fight Club worked pretty well as a film score and is okay as a record, but their post-Beck track record seems kind of spotty to me.

DJ Shadow's new album is the shit, so he wins.

(OK, so maybe the second half of "The Sounds Of Science" is sort of proto-big-beat but still.)