Ever since he produced
UNKLE's
Psyence Fiction in 1998,
DJ Shadow has made eclectic, collaboration-heavy studio albums that generally bear little resemblance to the instrumental hip-hop he helped define with his work for
Mo Wax during the '90s. His 2023 effort
Action Adventure features no guests or co-producers, and is meant to conjure memories of browsing through video stores, not unlike the way his classic debut album,
Endtroducing....., was a love letter to cratedigging. This time, obscure soul and acid rock LPs share space with low-budget car chase thrillers and forgotten fantasy epics. Opening track "Ozone Scraper" is a surprising pivot to synthwave, with racing drums and a dramatic title-sequence melody that wastes no time getting stuck in your head. "All My" cuts up a sample of
Loudon Wainwright III singing "All my records and tapes" over stuttering, footwork-style kick drums and trap hi-hats, making one of the album's clearest (and most successful) nods to contemporary music. Trap beats resurface on several other selections, but
Shadow seems interested in updating '80s electro on many others, including the eight-minute "Time and Space," which incorporates orchestra stabs near the end. "You Played Me" is even more of a retro exercise, slowing down the vocals from an obscure new jack swing single from 1990 ("Baby, Got Me Goin" by
Jan Jerome) and improving it with a tough, punchy '80s-style R&B rhythm. "Free for All" is the album's wildest diversion, chopping up a rockabilly-inspired guitar riff from a record by
Marky Ramone's early-'70s hard rock band
Dust, and plunking trap beats and silly sound effects (breaking glass, a crowing rooster) on top. "A Narrow Escape" is a decent drum'n'bass chase scene, and "Friend or Foe" has some intriguing interplay between the tripping beats and starry synth melodies.
Action Adventure doesn't sound like
DJ Shadow's other records, but it's exactly the type of expectation-bucking album he would make. ~ Paul Simpson
