Editor’s Note: Our new, recurring “Albumism Recommends” series aims to shine a bright light on our favorite albums of the past, with an emphasis on the records that arguably never achieved the widespread or sustained attention they rightfully deserve. As you’ll see below, unlike our longer-form feature articles, we’ve intentionally kept the accompanying commentary to a minimum, so as to allow the great music to speak for itself.
We hope that you enjoy discovering (or rediscovering) these musical treasures and if you like what you hear, we encourage you to spread the good word far and wide so that others can experience these under-the-radar classics as well.
ARTIST: Djinji Brown
TITLE: Sirround Sound
RELEASED: 2002
LABEL: 7 Heads
Djinji Brown’s eclectic origins made for great music. The son of avant-garde jazz alto saxophonist Marion Brown, Djinji fronted the hard rock band Absolution in the late 1980s, while also finding time to apprentice under producer Eric Sadler of the famed Bomb Squad. In the mid-1990s, he produced for hip-hop artists like Supernatural and the Jungle Brothers, before releasing an obscure 12-inch “The Set-Up” (as a rapper and producer) under the name “Brown Sirround.” He eventually dropped his debut album Sirround Sound (2002) through the 7 Heads imprint. The mostly instrumental release was a kaleidoscopic view of Brown’s wide-ranging influences that shaped his identity.
Brown envisioned Sirround Sound as a means to move beyond producing only hip-hop tracks by delving into many different genres (while still employing sampling). “Abuelita’s Dance” is an infectious and catchy salsa jam that would make a corpse want to get up and dance. “Rocker’s Dub Uptown” is an appropriately skanked out dub track, while “Mojuba” is his towering take on Afro-Beat.
Brown also displays mastery of other more “contemporary” genres. On “Apache’s Revenge,” he completely repurposes the nominal Incredible Bongo Band break into a dreamlike EDM track. He honors his hip-hop “roots” with songs like “Red Lights and Cognac…,” “Lifesavers,” and “Enter the Sound” (featuring the phenomenal Asheru and Blue Black).
Sirround Sound proved to be an ideal album for the peak days of summer, where listeners can just chill and let the grooves wash their consciousness.
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