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The overall effect is less grand than that of Endtroducing six years ago, popper and rocker and r&ber. But an overall effect there is, grounded in Shadow's trademark-tremendous bass 'n' drum.
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Few approach this style of record making with as much playfulness and gravity.
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The depth of his production sense and the breadth of his stylistic palette prove just as astonishing the second time out.
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MojoWith The Private Press DJ Shadow ups even his own considerable ante. [May 2002, p.96]
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The Private Press is a more diverse collection of styles and sounds, and still surpasses anything else out there.
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The Private Press does not break ground like Endtroducing... did, but it showcases a wiser, more versatile Shadow, and in many ways it is a better record than its predecessor.
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In essence, it's a younger, fitter and infinitely hipper version of what Moby is doing.
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MixerBy using his hip-hop chops to express some next school emotions, Shadow comes up with something that doesn't just sound new, it feels new. [Jun 2002, p.86]
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UncutThis is much more than the usual retro-action.... DJ Shadow remains elusive to the end. [Jun 2002, p.127]
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The Private Press is not only more ambitious, but simply more all over the place as well (which makes for brilliant moments as well as some inconsistent ones).
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It's less rootsy than its predecessor, as Shadow moves from the bohemian, jazzy hip-hop he's come to be associated with to more synthetic sounds like electro and synth pop.
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The Private Press is full of rollicking beats, spectral tone colors, and enough subtle textures and supple surfaces to fill a textile warehouse.
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The record sounds like it came a year or so after Endtroducing--which is to say, it goes a little deeper in summoning Gothic textures and awesome drum samples, and arrives as a delayed, well-fitting follow-up to a landmark.
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It's all good folks but let's be clear. IT'S NOT GENIUS.
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BlenderTwo long, draggy pieces near the end of The Private Press are its only intimations of mortality. [Jun/Jul 2002, p.102]
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An aurally hypnotizing collection that is comparable to, if not better than, Endtroducing.
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At first, The Private Press plays like a bland kiss-off to followers expecting a big-time event record. But once its blood has time to flow, the album swells from a strained capillary to a coursing vein.
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It feels like the work of a man groping his way, fastidiously but uncertainly, towards the next level.
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The Private Press is more solid an album than anyone dared expect from an older, wiser DJ Shadow, and though it won't be televising another revolution, I'd be lying if I said its celebratory pleasure centers didn't communicate directly with my own.
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The Private Press is a moody, murky album, by definition not as groundbreaking or epochal as Endtroducing . . . but fascinating enough in its own right.
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An intentionally loose-strung concept of hip-hop and psychedelia, which at times loses focus.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 26 out of 29
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Mixed: 2 out of 29
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Negative: 1 out of 29
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May 7, 2011
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Jul 12, 2018
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ericmAug 28, 2005just get it.