DJ Krush — Shinso - Message at the depth
Still packed with guests, it marks a return to the style of its older albums. The last one, Zen, was a much more straightforward hiphop / R&B album than anything Krush had ever released and if you except Candle Chant (a tribute) which featured Boss the MC from Tha Blue Herb, it is fair to say that it was a less than thrilling record. Thank the Lord (or whoever responsible for this), Krush picked himself up and put his best in his new CD. As it is now usual with him, this album centres around a single thema: truth. As put on his website: ""TRUTH" that exists around us, in our hearts… and out there, in this big world called the earth. What is wrong and what is right? By raising this theme upon himself and the guest artist, respective "TRUTH" is expressed in a form of music." Now don't ask me if he managed to express truth in music, as you know, each of us has its own vision of what is true...
However it is certain that, musically speaking, Krush has accomplished a great work. The first track, Trihedron, is a classic Krush track, with his usual beats pattern and all the little sonic elements flying around - I should say "swimming around" since this song has some kind of "aquatic" feeling. Taki no tabiji (Journey of time) features Inden, meant to be one of the three best japanese mc's, together with Boss the MC and Shing02 and sounds pretty much like the first song. The first notorious guests come in on the fourth track in the form of vocals performed by Antipop Consortium. Probably the last APC recording, Supreme Team is a surprising and refreshing combination of trademarks elements from both Krush and the NYC crew. Song for John Walker is pobably the best track and features the whole Anticon crew. A production collaboration between Jel (Themselves, Deep Puddle Dynamics), it starts with a beat coming straight from the '80's before turning gradually in a much more progressive "affair". Among the 6 MC's, it's Dose One (Themselves, cLOuDDEAD a.o) and Alias who make the best impressions in this song about John Walker, the american taliban. On Alethevo, you get the now compulsory R&B track which, surprisingly, is much better than the one on Zen. After that, there is also some kind of dub track and a dancey almost-house free jazzy song (But the world moves on). The CD finishes with a reggae tune, featuring Abijah, which, while not being bad, is certainly the downpoint of this album.
As a young DJ in Tokyo, Krush once met Keith Haring in Yoyogi Park. He was mixing some old-school hiphop and Haring started drawing on the concrete. After a few minutes, the painter turned towards the DJ and said "I dig what you do". This left a huge impression on Krush, who went back to the park for the next two days, watching the drawing disappearing because of the rain... Hiphop has changed a lot since Haring days, and Krush is one of those who contibuted to its evolution. Would he still be alive today, I'm sure Haring would appreciate...
Being one of the best pioneers in hiphop, DJ Krush deserves all our respect. While he still hasn't produced his definitive album, this rank amongst his best efforts and features a few outstanding tracks.