so i suppose the instrumental hip hop wasn't really his thing after all, rigth?

"deadringer" was sort of a hit record. people were calling rj the new dj shadow and whatnot. he changed the style a bit for the second album. some more songwriting. but the album kind of sucked. other than 3-4 straight up instrumental tracks.

haven't listened to the new one, but people are saying it's even worse than "since we last spoke".

what was the point of following a style that didn't really work out for him instead of going back to "deadringer" style?

what was so good about deadringer??

honestly since we last spoke is the album that got me into him, heard dearinger shortly thereafter and was disappointed by its length and non-catchiness. too me rjd2 is a good producer who needs to find the right people to work with, aceylone is not it. his beats are a cross between mid60's soul and late70's funk, i think r&b would better suit him, but what do i know?

i'm no expert on this guy, but i liked deadringer, and god, this new album is all kinds of shit. i have no idea what happened.

i bought a compilation at his show of the individual tracks he produced and remixed, and they were all really good. but whenever he was more involved with certain artists like with blueprint, that i didn't like at all.

what was good about the deadringer?
samples. beats. some amazing bass lines. there were a few tracks i'd get rid of, and i think rjd2 himself said that silver fox (if i remember the name of the track correctly) was out of place on the album. and that the album should've been a bit shorter.

i've probably overplayed it when i bought it. and then when i gave it to my friends they overplayed it on me even more. so the last time i listened to it, i wasn't feeling it as much as i did when it came out. but it's a good album. one to keep for this decade for sure. even if at the very bottom.

Really liked the first two albums, both pretty good in different ways. Thought he had a nice dj set when I saw him. Heard one of the new songs on his myspace and wondered what the hell is wrong with him.

Seriously, did he want to make two good records so people would take notice and then start making generic bullshit that everyone else is doing? I guess I'll hold off on final judgement till I hear other songs, but man, I have no faith in this.

rap heads who turn to indie are the worst

Its always on some 'real music' rockistpalooza but then they find the most bland, generic representation of it. If yr gonna go bland at least go Coldplay

"Good Times Roll, Pt. 2" isn't catchy?

This new one pairs bland, horrible instrumentation with terrible singing.

I have no idea who he's trying to appeal to with this.

Ya. I didn't have any expectations anyway, since the song on his Myspace awhile ago indicated a singer-songwriter approach.

Uhm. Ya. I heard 3 songs and turned it off. Usually I try to give everything at least one listen through before hating it, but I think this is an exception.

Hmm, I thought "Since We Last Spoke" was much, much better than "Deadringer." True, the strongest tracks on "Deadringer" are probably his best, but sooo much of that record is clogged up with generic sounding "indie" rap.

I heard one of his new tracks on Pitchfork the other day and rather liked it...must be the only good thing coming, huh?

It's been forever since I've listened to it, but I remember the rap portions of it being pretty decent, and there were only 3 or 4 "rap" songs on it at most. Also, that was back when RJD2+Bluepint=awesome. Not so much these days, though.

I didn't think I could lose interest in any artist faster than I did with DJ Shadow last year, and yet, here we are again.

For me, the rap songs on Deadringer weren't as good. I guess they were decent enough but they interfered with the flow of the album enough so that I burned an instrumental-only copy. Since We Last Spoke had some good moments but it never sat well with me. Maybe it was because I wanted to hear Ring out the Dead, but still.... nothing could prepare me for this new direction.

He realized he was a DJ Shadow clone and retired his sampler.

this new album is honestly the worst piece of crap i've heard in a long. worse than shadow's newest.

even worse than Billy Corgan's solo album which was many kinds of death

i'm sort of with undo on the rapping on the "deadringer". never bothered me. there's not that much of it on the album. doesn't disrupt the flow for me either.

undo otm.
rjd2 was a real underrated rap producer and he should have stuck with that shit.

SEEK OUT - however, instrumental track called "True Confessions" off this random chocolate industries comp, best instrumental song he ever did, maybe

am i the only one who likes this new album? it sounds like late beta band mixed with sufjan/asthmatic kitty-ish indie, mixed with well, rjd2. his singing isn't phenomenal, but his lyrics are quite ok, the album flows relatively well, and it's pleasant people. he doesn't need to rely on soul samples and sirens for his entire career.

it just isn't that bad. quite nice actually. i'll take heartfelt over retread anyday.

and if anyone else here likes this, and is looking for something along the same lines, find some psapp. they're awesome.

To All of You.
1976.
and the one that sounds like sly stone are all classic tracks from the 2003/04 era at least in my book.
I swear I heard 1976 at parties more than I heard anything off of deadringer.

Now that thats out of the way, I dont really like rjd2. His productions arent full enough and his music isnt that catchy/memorable. I could do without his personality and he kinda rocks a party... but plays way too many of his own tracks. Saw him on new years a couple years ago and was really disappointed by the nearly identical set that I heard from him only a month or so earlier. All in all I think both albums have good tracks that could be compiled onto a pretty good, if unevenly mixed, album. His productions with others im not as familiar with, heard a little of the new soul position and was not impressed and heard scatterings of his newest thing with aceylone which was meh. From what people are saying, this album will likely ruin any chances of a further solo career.