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Rating: After the masterpiece Life From The Other Side, it seemed difficult, almost impossible, for DJ Vadim to create an album on the same level as its predecessor. In 2002, three years after Life From The Other Side, the dark and schizoid Anglo-Russian DJ presents us with his third work, The Art Of Listening, released by the legendary Ninja Tune, a cult label for all enthusiasts of alternative and experimental sounds.
The Art Of Listening is a less markedly hip hop (and underground) album than its predecessor, where Vadim's ingenious soundscapes are enriched with soul vocals, jazz echoes, reverberations, and syncopated rhythms, intertwining to form something incredibly innovative and light-years away from the usual stereotypes of the genre. Tracks like the initial and minimal "Till Suns In Your Eye" with Motion Man are undoubtedly noteworthy, the splendid single "It's On," where a soul-infused beat accompanies the rhymes of the genius Vakill (highly recommended is his album The Darkest Cloud, listen to it and you won't be disappointed), "Combustible" with the always great Gift Of Gab (his rhymes are veritable tongue twisters!), passing through "Revelations Well Expounded" and its brilliant fusion between Vadim's sampler and the vocal modulations and beatbox of Kela & Ulzula Dudziak, the amusing "Who Me" with Demolition Man, with ragga influences, then arriving at the wonderful "That Which Is Coming," a brilliant and bizarre mix of hip hop, blues, and electronics, where the splendid voice of Revd Clevie Brown shines, seeming almost to come from some secluded piano bar in Louisiana. Unfortunately, at some moments (the long and almost ethnic "Too Fun Aiye," the challenging "L'art d'Ecoutier," "Edie Brickell" with Slug, a bit out of place...), the overall level drops, but not dramatically.
The Art Of Listening, ultimately, is a good album that, while not reaching the levels of Life From The Other Side, represents a worthy successor. Certainly, as usual, the purist will turn up their nose, the trendy b-boy won't get it, but those seeking something original and innovative will certainly become masters of this "art of listening" that DJ Vadim tries to teach us. Rating: 3.5/4
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