33 1/3 ENTRODUCING… by Eliot WIlder
There's just something about a well researched music interview/documentary that makes it compulsive for me, even its a band who's work I don't have a huge knowledge off (like the VH1 documentary on Megadeth with its brilliant voice overs at moments describing the bands drug binges). Anyhows this book by Eliot Wilder is a series of conversations with Josh Davis aka DJ Shadow, starting from his formative musical experience and onwards to the completion of the album Entroducing and where he has gone from there. It's cool to see someone who is a child of the sixties enthuse over Shadow's ninties sample driven opus, placing it on the same level as the Beatles' White Album. Wilder decribes sample culture as an integral part of 20th century music through the “cannibalism” and reinterpretation of riffs and melodies. He points out how most music reviews compare a song to other songs, identifying the various componants making up this new body of work. Anyhows it's a very enjoyable read indeed…