AMG Review of Synthetic Fury

Bret Love
All Music Guide

This EP, which is actually nearly 30 minutes long, shows why DJ Spooky was the first turntablist signed to a major label. The opening track, "You Are About to Witness," sets syncopated scratching against a Bomb Squad-like backdrop of wailing sirens, screeching #Psycho samples, and a classic NWA line before morphing into "Dumb Mutha Fucka," a furiously funky descent into hell that matches thunderous drums and sheets of psychedelic samples against a maddeningly infectious string melody. On "Sum Ill Shit (Clinton Street Dub)," Spooky deconstructs his whacked-out sound even further, tweaking a bassline straight outta the Jack Bruce songbook and taking it into the deepest, darkest recesses of psychedelic dub. But the EP's high point is the supremely bizarre title track, a seven-minute epic of insane samples, distorted voices, and schizophrenic style changes that will leave "normal" listeners dizzy, disoriented, and completely discombobulated. In a subgenre where originality and creativity are held in the highest esteem, DJ Spooky proves himself to be truly one of a kind.