Rating:
Genre:
Rap
Release Date: 04/19/2005
Live,
DJ Z-Trip infringes copyrights like nobody's business. He's won over
turntable heads and
jam band fans with his genre-jumping mash-ups, and his most influential moments have come in the form of MP3s that are traded well below the RIAA's radar. So how does a swashbuckling bootlegger of a DJ release an album on a major label? By declaring himself a "producer" and brewing up new tracks. But
Z-Trip has a secret up his sleeve -- he's a great producer and able to celebrate the music he usually bites by capturing the spirit rather than just copying it.
Shifting Gears is a reminiscing album that is in love with a time when breakdancers and b-boys ruled and living without your Adidas was just impossible. There's plenty of breakbeats, vocoders, and "to the beat y'all"s, but there's also a bunch of up-to-date rapping from the
alternative rappers and a wealth of furious scratching that is more concerned with tearing it up than nostalgia.
Z-Trip is a monster behind the decks, so much so that it's easy to ignore
Shifting Gears' rock-solid base. Firm infectious beats fill the album, supporting both the DJ's own scratch-fests and complementing the style of every rapper who stops by. A phat, quirky beat supports
Murs' uplifting and innocent ode to Saturday morning cartoons and sugary cereals, while
Lyrics Born gets some tasty bongo loops and
Gap Band-style synth to anchor down his party chant. Giving
Chuck D a
Rick Rubin-y crunch behind him seems like a cop-out, but it's still a serviceable track. On the other hand,
Z-Trip's team-up with
Linkin Park frontman
Chester Bennington falls flat with forced angst from the vocalist and surprisingly drab, faux-noir backing from
the Z man. Of course, one monkey don't stop no show, and the rest of
Shifting Gears is more than you'd expect from a
turntablist full-length and a great argument for
Z-Trip as producer.
~David Jeffries, All Music Guide
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