Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants

Short compositions made from combining old funk, soul, and jazz samples with hip hop beats and live instrumentation. Tons of instruments, representing a plethora of geographic regions. Possible comparisons could be drawn to DJ Shadow’s Entroducing…, but with this album there’s far less turntablism, and the emphasis is more on instrumentation than rhythm. So it’s more like The Avalanches, J Dilla, or the Beat Junkies. But you get the point. For a concept that is perhaps a wee bit dated, this album is really quite good. When it was released it blew up the CMJ charts and made numerous year-end lists. Personally, I love it in its entirety, but you’ve got to see for yourself. Play it or die wondering.

FCC: 1 TRY: 2,13,19,10,16,18,8,7

1. (FCC: fuck) Interesting combination of smooth jazz lines, female crooning, and xylophones
*2. Gentle piano intro leads into complex rhythmic patterns seasoned with strings and excellent R&B samples. Great jazz bits also.
3. Electro-tinged drum bombs, vocal samples, a slightly darker tone.
4. Drum and Bass line, haunting vocals, echoing guitar lines, bongos. Quick upbeat pace.
5. Deep, thumpin’ strummy bassline beats. Old movie conversation sample layered on top.
6. Tinkle piano intro into some straightforward cut-time drumming peppered with heavily distorted soul samples and strings.
*7. Funky-fresh 70’s feel. Choppy beat. Not as many layers of instrumentation, but still keeps it interesting.
*8. Old piano, echo effects and smooth vocals, haunting atmosphere.
9. One minute mix of mashup funk lines, bass drum bombs strange vox
*10. Great guitar strumming, steady drumming, vocal samples, even some live horns. Mellow.
11. Strong cello performances, funk, chopped up vocals, good breaks.
12. Steady drumming and gentle flutes. Halfway through the song the tempo dramatically increases and gets a little dancier.
*13. Syncopated beat, guitar effects, jangly percussion. Beautiful, airy vocals.
14. Spacey guitars, quick-tempo drumming.
15. 30-second track containing samples from a conversation about demo tape responses. I wouldn’t recommend it.
*16. Interesting string instruments, steady drumming, tempo changes, backwards tape loops, very varied and exciting.
17. Bubbling synth lines, xylophone, clanging drumming, bongos.
*18. synth lines, bongos, repeated sample of a very gravely “I feel good.” Sounds a little strange at first, but give it a chance. Tons of live horns, strings, percussion, etc.
*19. Slow 80’s sounding synth lines, brings Moby’s Last Night to mind. Sounds just like the track title: “Love and Loss,” with a heavy emphasis on the Loss. Breathy lyrics about yearning and missing past lovers. Awesome.