DJ DNA 12" single When Day Breaks, Night Falls
Artist: DJ DNA
Title: When Days Breaks, Nights Falls
Label: Bomb Hip-Hop
Catalog Number: BHH2064
Configuration: 12" single
Release Date: in stores now!
File Under: Hip-Hop "D"
Side Day
01. When Day Breaks, Night Falls
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click here for the free MP3
02. Electrocution Behind A Feeling
Side Night
01. Re-Balance
02. Odyssey
What so many producers don't take into consideration when they are working on
an instrumental project, is that no one is going to rap over the tracks. So the
beats need to be thick enough and they need to be able to tell a story themselves.
It's such a simple rule and fact, it's quite surprising how few producers actually
accomplish such. DJ DNA really took this first rule of making an instrumental
project into consideration when he put together this four song 12" single
"When Day Breaks, Night Falls". Taken from the forthcoming full length
album Impressionism.
Some records are meant for the dimly lit lounges of beat freaks all over the world.
This is one of them. "When Day Breaks, Night Falls" brings you back
to the revolutionary and exciting days of the Skratch Piklz, the peak of DJ Shadow’s
Entroducing, and the excitement felt by the reinvention of the art of turntablism…
the ingenuity and unabashed creativity required in the craft of piecing together
drastically varying influences into a single cohesive entity.
DJ DNA's ability to set a mood is paralell to none in this fast growing market
of sample based music made popular by DJ Shadow, DJ Krush, Kid Koala, and Dan
the Automator. Nevertheless DJ DNA hold's his own as he truly stands out as a
dope reconstructor of breaks and outlandish samples. The songs on this record
are never stagnant, always changing and always interesting. This is the kind of
music that allows your mind to travel. With the journey ranging from b-boy summit
anthems to emotional travels deep within the soul, "When Day Breaks..."
marks DJ DNA as a skillful engineer of tone, bringing feeling back into music.
"I wanted to make this release to basically reminisce on where I've been,
kind of question where I am at, and explore where I am going. Not just musically,
but spiritually and socially as well," explains DJ DNA .
On the lead song "When Day Breaks, Night Falls" we're urged to get our
shelltoe Adidas out and see what kinds of twists and turns our bodies are able
to do on a cardboard. This track is for the b-boys and b-girls and contain well
known vocal samples like the 'let's dance' chant and Kurtis Blows 'these are the
breaks' saying in the background. The song results in a motivational track for
the dancers, while the first and concluding part of the song also make sense in
your headphones. The vibe changes on "Electrocution Behind A Feeling",
an enormously atmospheric track that does not shy away from changing halfway through
turning from 'at peace' to in panic' within a few seconds. "Re-Balance"
kicks off side B of this piece of wax. Using a lot of blues instrumentation this
track gives off the vibe of getting up and getting down complete with DNA lacing
the track with scratching through a wah-wah pedal. At least until everything comes
crashing down and DNA breaks the beat down. This four song piece of wax rounds
out with "Odyssey," a melodic song in which 90% of the samples were
not played on the MPC but with a turntable.
"In
the family of cut 'n' paste party rockers such as Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow (the
obvious comparisons), Sacramento's DJ DNA nonetheless manages to surprise and
raise an eyebrow with his unexpected twists and fresh samples. "Re-Balance"
is the prime example here, a clear student of the John Hillard School of Rock-45
Digging." - XLR8R
"Bomb Hip-Hop presents the impressive debut 12" from Justin Adams, aka
DJ DNA. The Sacramento native crafts moody instrumentals thick enough to stand
on their own and so expressive that they don't need an MC to complete them. DNA's
vibey mixture of crashing beats, far out samples and top-shelf turntablist flourishes
gives discerning heads-on-the-go something truly fresh to bump on their headphones."
- SF Examiner