Danger Mouse: The Early Years - 2001-2003 Vinyl 12"

Before dropping the Grey Album and making every critic's year-end list, DJ Danger Mouse released three remix EPs that we carried for a little while. I say "little while" because whenever they were restocked, they immediately sold out like Pure Hot Fire. Much like that damn Amerie single (PHF of right now), people would constantly call or come in the store, pestering us for more Danger Mouse, and someone finally saw fit to respond to the overwhelming demand by releasing a kind of "Best Of" from those three EPs. While I'm currently of the "Mash Up Needs To Get Shot Out of a Canon" mentality, I must admit that the Nas/Portishead and the Audio Two/Air remixes are two of the finer moments the genre has offered so far, and still sound remarkably well put together four years after the fact. Pick it up now, late-comers. Other mashes include "Tom's Diner" over "In Da Club," Outkast's "Whole World" over Funkadelic, and Xzibit over Radiohead's "Karma Police."

reviewed by the Woodman 05/2005