is the third

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Japanese hip hop producer

DJ Krush , better known by his stage name DJ Krush, is a record producer and DJ. He is known for his atmospheric instrumental production which incorporates sound elements from nature and extensive use of jazz and soul samples. Early life Ishi was born i ...

. It was released on July 21, 1995 in Japan by

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

. ''Meiso'' was issued in the United Kingdom on October 30, 1995 by the label

Mo' Wax Mo' Wax was a British record label founded by James Lavelle in 1992. The label was not co-founded by Tim Goldsworthy, as is often reported. Steve Finan became co-owner shortly after. Mo' Wax came to recognition for being at the forefront of t ...

, peaking at number 64 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

. It was released in the United States on April 9, 1996 by Mo' Wax and

FFRR Records FFRR Records (sometimes credited as Full Frequency Range Recordings) is a dance music label previously run and founded by English DJ Pete Tong. Originally the dance music label of London Records, FFRR is currently a sublabel of Parlophone, ...

. The album produced the singles "Meiso" and "Only the Strong Survive", which reached numbers 52 and 71 respectively on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Composition

Fact A fact is a datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance, which, if accepted as true and proven true, allows a logical conclusion to be reached on a true–false evaluation. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scient ...

'' described ''Meiso'' as an album of

sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of s ...

-based

trip hop Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with "downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop ...

music.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

critic Ned Raggett said that the music continued in the vein of DJ Krush's past work, incorporating "mid- to slow-tempo grooves and

breaks Break or Breaks or The Break may refer to: Time off from duties * Recess (break), time in which a group of people is temporarily dismissed from its duties * Break (work), time off during a shift/recess ** Coffee break, a short mid-morning rest ...

" and exploring "everything from

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

to experimental ambient production." The album features guest performances from several American rappers:

CL Smooth Corey Brent Penn, Sr. (born October 8, 1968, New Rochelle, New York), known by his stage name CL Smooth, is an American rapper. He is best known as the vocal half of the hip-hop duo Pete Rock & CL Smooth. Career After the duo Pete Rock & CL S ...

on "Only the Strong Survive",

Roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...

members

Black Thought Tariq Luqmaan Trotter (born October 3, 1973), better known as Black Thought, is an American rapper, actor and the lead MC of the Philadelphia-based hip hop group the Roots, which he co-founded with drummer Questlove (Ahmir Thompson). Regarded ...

and

Malik B. Malik Abdul-Basit Smart (November 14, 1972 – July 29, 2020), better known by his stage name Malik B., was an American rapper and singer who was a founding member of the Roots.Davis, Kimberly (2003)The Roots Redefine Hip-Hop's Past, ''Ebony'', J ...

on "Meiso", Deflon Sallahr on "Ground", and

Guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...

and Big Shug on "Most Wanted Man". "Make no mistake", ''

Muzik ''Muzik'' was a British dance music magazine published by IPC Media from June 1995 to August 2003. ''Muzik'' was created by two former ''Melody Maker'' journalists, Push and Ben Turner. Push was the editor of ''Muzik'' from its launch until he ...

''s

Will Ashon Will Ashon (born 1969) is an English writer and novelist, former music journalist and founder of the Big Dada imprint of Ninja Tune records. Ashon was educated at Countesthorpe Community College and Balliol College, Oxford. In the mid-1990s he w ...

wrote of ''Meiso'', "this is a hip hop album".

Critical reception

Dan Glaister of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' found ''Meiso'' more accessible than DJ Krush's previous releases, attributing this partly to the more prominent rapping on the album. Glaister praised the record as an effective "blend of the upbeat with contemplative and downright mysterious instrumentals". Writing for ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'',

Mark Kemp Mark Kemp (born April 10, 1960) is an American music journalist and author. A graduate of East Carolina University, he has served as music editor for ''Rolling Stone'' and vice president of music editorial for MTV Networks. In 1997 he received ...

said that it pointed toward "further fascinating intercultural exploration of the space between foursquare hip-hop and floating

ambient techno Ambient techno is a subgenre of techno that incorporates the atmospheric textures of ambient music with the rhythmic elements and production of techno. It was pioneered by 1990s electronic artists such as Aphex Twin, Carl Craig, the Black Dog, Pe ...

." In 2015, ''Fact'' ranked ''Meiso'' at number 12 on its list of the best trip hop albums of all time.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. Musicians * DJ Krush – beats,

scratching Scratching, sometimes referred to as scrubbing, is a DJ and turntablist technique of moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable to produce percussive or rhythmic sounds. A crossfader on a DJ mixer may be used to fade between two record ...

, drum programming on "Duality", abstract programming on "Bypath – Would You Take It?" * Big Shug – vocals on "Most Wanted Man" *

– vocals on "Meiso" * DJ Hide – scratching on "Anticipation" *

DJ Shadow Joshua Paul Davis (born June 29, 1972), better known by his stage name DJ Shadow, is an American DJ, songwriter and record producer. His debut studio album, '' Endtroducing.....'' was released in 1996. Biography Early years (1989–1995) DJ Sha ...

– beats, scratching, and drum programming on "Duality" *

– vocals on "Most Wanted Man" *

– vocals on "Meiso" * Deflon Sallahr – vocals on "Ground" *

– vocals on "Only the Strong Survive" Production * DJ Krush –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

, mixing * Noriko Asano – executive production * Toshiya Horiuchi – mastering *

Ken Duro Ifill Ken "Duro" Ifill is the American CEO of Desert Storm Records and a record producer. Career Early career In the mid-1990s, Duro served as an intern engineer for Q-Tip during the recording of Mobb Deep's ''The Infamous'' album.recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

* Tetsuo Kato – executive production * Koichi "Oppenheimer" Matsuki – recording * Yoko Yamanaka – recording (assistant) Design * Mami Ikeda –

translation Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

* Sachiko Kishi – translation *

Masato Nakamura is a Japanese musician, bass guitarist, and record producer. He is a member of the J-pop band Dreams Come True, which was formed in 1988 and went on to sell over 50million CDs. He also composed the soundtracks for the video games ''Sonic the H ...

– photography * Sakaguchi Ken Factory –

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

, design

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1995 albums DJ Krush albums Sony Music Entertainment Japan albums FFRR Records albums Mo' Wax albums