Fnord Incorporated

RJD2 - Third Hand (2007) - I have mixed feelings

The new Rjd2 album Third Hand:

This album is an excellent example of when it would be good to release something a side project. This is not RJD2. Instead, this falls into the same system as XTC releasing an album of phychedelic sounding 60’s rock under the name “The Dukes of Stratosphere”. We know who the artists are, but we DO NOT expect the same work. Rjd2 was one of “the best” DJ/Hip-Hop artists for Definitive Jux (i think he recently signed elsewhere).. I dont hear anything like that in this line up. Marketing this under the well known name Rjd2 instead of as “a Rjd2 sideproject” is just a way to take advantage of fans who will buy the work unheard and give it a try. this is pretty underhanded with out forwarning fans about the changes they should expect.

I will not say DON’T buy this album, but what i will suggest is downloading it and deciding if it fits what you are into with his work. Don’t think of it as piracy, think of it as fair play. If you like it, THEN buy it.

Marketed under Rjd2 it is misleading and foretells a sound that people are familiar with, thus instilling confidence in the fan/consumer. This sound extends itself in some places but is mainly not present.

Alternatively, if it had been marketed as “Third Hand, another project frontlined by Rjd2″, a fair warning would have been given to us consumers. It would have let us know that this may not be what we would normally expect from Rjd2.. As a side project, I could get into a lot here.

OUCH! :
So far as albums go, there are a couple really great tracks here: “Get It” and “Bad Penny” a prime examples. I was pretty impressed with “Rules for normal living” and “Have Mercy” is filled with some fantastic guitar/bass work and the melody for vocals is excellent. “Sweet Piece” is in the same boat. One example of where I couldnt enjoy was “someday”. What happened to the rest of the album? We know Rj was starting to break out his singing voice. We heard that on “Since we last spoke” back in 2004.. A lot of the mixing here is good, and often I can hear what appears to be live instruments as opposed to samples.. Hell, it often seems that there are more instruments than samples.

There was a fair amount to enjoy on this album, but a lot that will take some getting used to, if i can get used to it. Unfortunately, even the “great” tracks seems to be slightly overshadowed with some very explicit post production errors. One major flaw in the album is extreme left and right channels. I am still dizzy from listening to “Work it out”.. it is off balance so drastically in the right and left channels that it was sometimes physically painful to listen to. The track itself, when i pipe it through a mono output, is listenable for about 70% of the song. Whether mono or stereo, the layering on this track is so poorly done that absolutely none of the side channel vocals are audible, instead, they just filter in like noise and make the stomach churn a bit. On the whole, these are common issues on this album. I would not be surprised in the slightest if it were rereleased with a different studio mix in the next 3 months.

One fear I have when listening to this Rjd2 ending up another MOBY. If he is marketing this album under Rj and producing a full album using nothing but his own viocals, it shows the beginning of this previously seen trend. It would be terrible if his core audience gets left behind for mainstream “pop” success. Chances are we would LET him leave us behind… Artists have every right to expand and better themselves, but it doesnt mean we have to follow where they grow/go.

RJD2 will be at the wonderballroom here in PDX on May 17th, Not sure if i will be going this time around.. depends on if i want to chance old music being the core setlist vs new….