Search - Various Artists :: Pure Abstrakt: Adventures in Dub

The label that first brought DJ Krush to U.S. attention, New York's Shadow Records intends to "push the envelope of the indie sound past the place where hip-hop, abstrakt, ambient, alternative, and electronica collide." This 14-track compilation meets that criterion with groovable enigmas: DJ Cam's scary-pretty Hindu-hop cut "Lost Kingdom," Diferenz's jazz-hop swirl on "Poppin' Ya Head," Da Germ's piano-and-turntable collage "Physical Chemistry," and Sharpshooters' fey Euro-rap on "Spirits Unseen." The American arm of Britain's progressive Ninja Tune label, Shadow lacks a single artist as visionary as Ninja's Amon Tobin or DJ Vadim, but its organic trip-hop aesthetic--part slacker, part beatnik, part B-Boy--comes through with all the clarity of a Miles Davis horn blast on this cool collection. --James Rotondi