Andy Smith is lost in time and in space, he is nowhere and nowhen and of anomalous taste, a new highlight of postmodern eccentricity. Fortunately, he's also a helluva good deejay, an incessant crate-digger, and a bullishly confident rhythmic collage-artist. So, after a five-year break, the second installment of Portishead deejay Smith's The Document -- a mix of beat-matching ideas as bizarre as they are juuust riiight -- makes you wanna dance, listen, scratch your head even without any noticeably supreme DMC strategies.
Alt-pop diva Kate Bush and hip-hop progenitors Eric B. & Rakim; funky-drummer soulsters Sugarman 3 and undaground hip-hop lord Mr. Lif -- they all come under Smith's gaze, one that seems ultimately able to tame rhythms and musical styles with his own hypnotic command. Smith uses certain mood-setting records, such as funky classic "No Omega," with Rakim's deadly deadpan, to rewire the brain to misunderstand others, like mod-jazz keyboardist Georgie Fame's "Music Talk" or Smith's funky-drummer reassignment of Jack Jones's "I'll Never Fall In Love Again."
Rather than just cutting up or seamlessly mixing tracks, Smith's bizarro-world take on hip hop, funk, soul, even classic rock (Three Dog Night's "I Can Hear You Calling") makes this music his own, at least for the duration of the disc. And it's hard to stop listening.
