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Album Review: Deadringer

RJD2's debut unveils a signature sound

by Douglas Passion | 2002.10.19

The erstwhile indie flag-wavers at Def Jux have earned a reputation for gritty industrial production and head-scratching lyricism. The fledgling label's latest release, RJD2's Deadringer, marks somewhat of a departure from the camp's typical esoteric grunge.

Not to say that The Cold Vein and Fantastic Damage don't have their musical charms, but RJD2's sound is certainly more overtly rooted in traditional funk, soul and hiphop than the two aforementioned albums. A skilled DJ and beat-digger cut from the same cloth as DJ Shadow or Madlib, RJD2's debut effort is a seamless blend of recycled drums, dusty vocal samples, electric pianos, baleful guitars and triumphant Blaxploitation-era horns. If all is right in the world, this album will soon be mentioned alongside Shadow's Endtroducing as a shining example of the ever-expanding possibilities of sampling.

Only three tracks on Deadringerfeature rapping, but this is nonetheless a hiphop album. Fear not, electronica-heads, such a description shouldn't be taken as an indictment of the LP as just some old boom-bap - rather, it is a testament to the hiphop sensibilities at the heart of RJD2's sample butchery. His production techniques are distinctively rooted in the window box seeded by Pete and Primo, but the resulting music defies easy description.

Most of the album's tracks are essentially instrumentals, but the intricate song compositions and interwoven samples insure the album never sounds lacking without vocals. As far as the minimal rapping goes, RJD2's MHz cronies, Blueprint, Jakki and Copywrite each appear on a track. The guests pretty much rap about rapping, but the appearances are nonetheless worthwhile. Of the three, Jakki's "F.H.H." is the most impressive, as he delivers one of the more truthful state-of-the-underground addresses in recent memory. "So what the fuck is your definition of underground," he asks, "depressing beats and bleak cats who love the sound?/ well, I ain't part of that."

The album begins with "The Horror", an electric keyboard-driven track that pulsates with the frantic energy of a freeway car chase. With a bridge of delicate harpsichord plucking and Moog organs, this is music that would sound at home next to "Scorpio's Theme" on the Dirty Harry movie score.

The beauty of Deadringeris the emotional depth of the production. As sappy as it may sound, the songs are constructed not only by musical guidelines, but also by feeling. "Ghostwriter", which begins with guitars, a simple drum and soulful humming, swells into dramatic horns that eventually subside into sorrowful violins and a drum-machine "solo". RJD2 slides in half a crate's worth of records without losing the song's mellow vibe or allowing any of the track's myriad progressions to sound awkward or forced. This is the talent that makes Deadringersuch a joy.

"Cut Out To FL" derives its name from an audio snippet in which an accused criminal discusses fleeing for the Sunshine State. After showcasing some skillful yet low-profile scratches over bouncy trumpets, RJD2 brings back the fugitive for the bridge where the outlaw talks of "sleeping on the beaches down there". While there is nothing innately interconnected between old movie clips, flare scratches and reverbed horns, the combination creates a song so unified that it could almost be considered topical.

The only possible gripe about this album is that a few of the tracks are similar to each other. But after a few listens, differentiating subtleties begin to emerge. In fact, it is the project's cohesion that makes Deadringersuch a treat - this isn't just a collection of beats, this is the birth of a signature sound.

For better or worse, most Def Jux releases threaten to burst free from the established boundaries of hiphop. Rather than making a concerted effort to avoid the traditional hiphop sound, RJD2 succeeds in making a genre-bending album by returning to the primordial ooze of funk and soul from which the music originally crawled.

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