Shifting Gears

DJ albums pretty much suck, mostly because the only people who want to hear a bunch of crate-digging beat geeks are other crate-digging beat geeks. But the major label debut from turntable legend Z-Trip skips the obscure references and esoteric soundscapes: The first three tracks compete to out old-school each other by dropping razor-sharp lyrics (from indie rap godheads like Lyrics Born and Jurassic 5’s Soup) over buoyant, party-hardy beats. “Take Two Copies” chops a welcomingly obvious Jethro Tull sample into frenetic beats with pulse-racing results. And on the menacing metallic rap-rock monster, “Shock And Awe,” Chuck D delivers one of his most searing rants in years. Hell, Z-Trip even makes Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington sound good on the gloomy, Cure-ish “Walking Dead.” Now, that’s an accomplishment.