Assuming that DJ Ramble John Krohn was raised by an octopus, it makes perfect sense that he would be able to perform, vocalize, arrange, record and produce "The Third Hand" by himself.
After receiving slaphappy recognition for 2002's "Dead Ringer" and 2004's "Since We Last Spoke," Rjd2 resigned to taking his uncanny hip-hop back to the underground, into a basement studio, amidst a tangle of gadgets, samplers, and sequencers.
Krohn's monopolized creation is a blatant departure from former collaborative work. His mechanistic noise abruptly moves from the background to the foreground, which makes for a shocking transition.
This time around Rjd2 politely dodges sampling, whereas his previous patchwork in "Ghostwriter" (feat. Elliot Smith's "I Didn't Understand"), "2 More Dead" and "Work," was flattering, to say the least. "You Never Had It So Good" places a spacey piano in the middle of plush electric cackles, which sounds like a hybrid of Air and Ben Folds post "Super D."
Even though "The Third Hand" is laden with intricately knotted arrangements, the record therapeutically breathes in tracks like "Someday," a subtle acoustic reflection.
So long as Rjd2 leeches off of other musicians' inspiration, he can lay down a sparkling beat, but when he's not playing the complimentary angle he evokes an awkward reincarnation of David Bowie. "Just When" and "Have Mercy" are eerily reminiscent of hair crimpers and sock warmers. Both tracks sound about as anachronistic as the representation of 2015 in "Back to the Future II."
Traced by an eerie organ, "Laws of the Gods" borrows an evolutionary tempo from the Flaming Lips, as the tone frays out with caution. This album is certainly its own creature.
"The Third Hand," released March 6, has many redeeming qualities, especially when it manages to sound like any looped single by the Beta Band, but it can be said that Rjd2 makes a better parasite than a solo artist.
