Bloody heck, where’d that come from? Out of nowhere swings DJ Shadow’s The Mountain Has Fallen, and true to the manner in which it’s arrived, it’s an abrupt, no-nonsense burst of everything you love about the sample-master’s reign.
Unlike 2016’s The Mountain Will Fall, it’s not an intricately fleshed-out beast in its own right – nuanced, tailored and carefully assembled to infiltrate the brain’s groove centre. Nor can you separate it thematically from its predecessor – it’s unmistakably born from the same vigour as something like Nobody Speaks. It is, however, a fantastic supplement – an exciting component that effortlessly clips onto the preexisting product, giving it all a punch of additional dazzle.
There’s a pulsating energy on each track that’s impossible not to bop along with, be it classic Shadow-flavoured funk cut Systematic orglitchy mind-melt Horror Show (featuring a top-notch Nas and Danny Brown, respectively). Good News sends shuddering charges of electronic waves crashing into you and Corridors (with Academy-Award-winning composer for Gravity, Steven Price, of all people) delivers a robust, deservedly-theatrical crescendo.
The Mountain Has Fallen is a great afterparty. Perhaps slightly less ambitious than the clarity of what came before, but it’s accessible, kinetic and a straight-up damn good time.
