Critics tend to be very hard on instrumental hip-hop producers. Every review I read suggests that it’s a difficult genre in which to succeed and that all producers must live in the shadow of… ahem… Dj Shadow. I believe the critics can be a bit unfair to artists in an admittedly new genre. They tend only give praise to overhyped - not necessarily exceptional (consider DJ Shadow’s “Entroducing”) - albums. RJD2’s last record, “Deadringer” was one of those. It got good reviews. The new album, “Since We Last Spoke,” has been approached with quite a bit less critical passion, but I find it to be a more original and enjoyable work than the previous. Less hype, less promotion, now equates with less critical fervor. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. My act of rebellion against established (ahem… read pandering) music criticism is to post what I feel to be the standout track (albeit short) from “Since We Last Spoke.” Here’s “1976,” which - to my great pleasure - happens to the most recent single from the LP… Remixes, hooray!

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