DJ Krush - Stepping Stones: The Self-Remixed Best (Soundscapes)

In the pantheon of great ideas, this one falls somewhere between Google and the wheel: Pick a selection of DJ Krush's best songs and have them remixed by....DJ Krush. How can you go wrong when that's your jumping-off point?

This album is as good as the concept sounds, though to be clear I'm only reviewing the second disc of this 2 CD set. The first CD is comprised of remixes of tracks that Krush did with rappers, and I've never been a fan of Krush's work with lyricists; having a rapper over some of the best, most textured downtempo beats in the business just seems like an unnecessary distraction. Whether that makes me a heretic or a purist is up for debate, but I'd like to believe that I'm the latter.

The selection of songs is skewed fairly heavily toward his later stuff (lots of representation from Jaku, Zen and Kakusei), but the selections from his early work are stellar, notably Meiso's 'Duality' (with a classic guest performance from a pre-Endtroducing DJ Shadow) and Strictly Turntablized's 'Kemuri'; I'd be hard-pressed to think of a better song off each album. I would have loved to have seen at least one track from Ki-Oku, but for all I know that collaborative album is tied up in a rights battle.

For an album with songs covering such a long time period it feels surprisingly cohesive. I've seen Krush live a few times, and this record seems to really capture his live sound. While the songs are mostly downtempo, the methodical pacing and dense atmospherics give the collection a very unified vibe. Surprisingly, one of the highlights of the album is a song almost entirely without drums, the ultra-mellow 'Day's End (After-Dusk Mix)'. Though it originally appeared on Zen, the track's off-kilter trumpet work could have easily been from Toshinori Kondo's performances on Ki-Oku.

'Drum' and 'Duck Chase (Double-Up Mix)' are the album's only truly up-tempo songs, and while they're okay they detract from the overall moody vibe of the record; at least they're next to each other in the track listing and thus only disrupt the flow once. 'Kemuri (Untouchable Mix)' is frankly a bit of a letdown, but then again the original is one of Krush's best songs ever, so maybe improving it is too lofty a goal even for the Zen master himself.

Aside from 'Day's End (After-Dusk Mix)', the album's other standout track is clearly 'Duality (2006K Mix)'. The original, like 'Kemuri', is one of Krush's most classic moments, though to be brutally honest the 2nd half of the song (created by DJ Shadow) blows Krush's half out of the water. Thus, you've gotta give credit to Krush for recognizing greatness and highlighting the 2nd half of the song in the remix, getting to it quickly and letting its original brilliance shine with some added texture that never strays too far from the original track's intent.

At the end of the day I'd recommend this album to any DJ Krush fan and to any fan of downtempo music in general, though that recommendation is honestly based on the highlights of the album, as some of the filler tracks are skippers. You can buy the Soundscapes CD by itself as an import, but it's actually cheaper just to get the 2 CD set and throw the first disc in the trash can.

3.75/5 Stars

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