Meiso

Japanese hip hop evangelist and turntablism specialist DJ Krush dropped Meiso, his fourth studio album, in 1995. It’s a mix of vocal hip hop tracks — C.L. Smooth, Malik B, Deflon Sallahr and Big Shug all make guest appearances — and instrumentals. The feel is reflective and inward-looking, the sound palette is pure, distilled underground hip hop. The sampled and reprogrammed drum beats pop out of the mix, having clearly been the subject of much attention in the studio, the cut and thrust of the kick-snare combo fetishised and moved to centre stage. Simple, foreboding bass tones sit under the beats while slices of sampled audio and vinyl scratches drop in and out on top, always tastefully placed, everything arranged in neat order. Stand-out track is the collaboration with DJ Shadow Duality, a nearly 9-minute epic of brooding beatology, turntablism, studio beat juggling and abstract audio. Cool, clean, minimal underground hip hop.