Music is often blessed by revolutionary collaborations. Nico and the Velvet Underground teamed up to blaze indie trails in the '60s, and Aerosmith and Run-DMC brought rock and rap together in a way that makes Limp Bizkit, er, limp by comparison.
Unfortunately, you can hear all the revolutionary moments on DJ Spooky and Scanner's new collaboration, The Quick and the Dead, in about the time it takes to say, "Hootie and the Blowfish." A lot of great potential goes to waste in this disappointing project.
The sound of New York City-based musician/author/intellectual DJ Spooky clearly dominates the record. Spooky, whose urban-flavored ambient beats combine the progressive turntable action of Grandmaster Flash with today's post-rock, made a splash in the art-music scene with his 1998 solo release, Riddim Warfare.
Riddim Warfare was loaded with sounds from downtown New York molded into a fun but serious musical experiment. Spooky's experimentalism is intentional-he majored in French and philosophy in college and still logs time writing for hip New York magazines like The Village Voice.
Scanner, who hails from Europe, gained notoriety several years back by playing recorded telephone conversations over creepy background music.
The combination of these two sounds on The Quick and the Dead mixes about as well as interracial couples on the Bob Jones University campus. Too often, the DJs seem to take turns, keeping the album from ever developing a solid theme.
The album begins solidly enough with the trippy beats of "Journey." Here, the artists succeed in creating a sophisticated urban soundscape that invites listeners into the album. After the throwaway track, "Edison," Spooky and Scanner break it down old skool with "Uncanny," a track that pays homage to progressive turntablists of the past.
The highlight of The Quick and the Dead is the eastern-tinged "Guanxi", which incorporates Indian sounds as well as introduces the concept of songs without beginnings or ends.
Unfortunately, the rest of the album dwells in either careless noodlings or pretentious jams that seem determined to turn off even the most interested listener. DJ Spooky is often criticized for overintellectualism, and he does nothing here to shed that reputation.
The most fascinating aspect of The Quick and the Dead lies in its potential. These artists seem to believe that their music is the future, and they certainly have a point. A track like "Heterotopian" really does challenge the conventional ideas of a song, especially one marketed to a mass audience. Hearing the loosely organized sounds and fuzzy synth noises hum above a structured drum loop, it's hard not to become entranced by the song.
When Spooky and Scanner get too pretentious, when they try too hard to break the rules, they often break that trance. The Quick and the Dead is more interesting than many other experimental-ambient works. It has some danceable numbers and a witty, urban edge. Overall, the album's outstanding tracks detract from the rest of the CD by reminding us of how good it could have been.
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