It’s Alive!

Reanimator: This is Much More Than Your Fat Gold Chain and When Summer Turns to Snow
From Music to Slit Wrists By (Litterthugz, 2003)

Reanimator is a great name for a hip-hop beatmaker. After all, it perfectly describes what they do – dig up ‘dead’ old records and give them new life. To his credit, Reanimator doesn’t follow the strict “vinyl samples only” of so many DJ Shadow disciples, adding various synthesized sounds and digital processing effects into the mix. However, he incorporates the electronic elements within a larger hip-hop aesthetic, rather than vice versa. So many electronic producers have been appropriating hip-hop sonics lately, it’s nice to hear the tables turned for once.

“This is Much More Than Your Fat Gold Chain” rides a mellow vibe from front to back, but its old-school vocal samples give it enough of hard edge to save it from being coffee-shop material. “When Summer Turns to Snow” features one of the illest double bass samples I’ve heard in a minute. Peep the change-up around 2:00, too. The album that these songs are taken from supposedly took him three years to make, so hopefully he’ll be dropping something new in the near future.