“Airworks” begins perfectly, mid-swelling strings, but then it starts over and you even get to hear the needle hit, I guess “exposing” the sample but then, that’s not the part Dilla’s really interested in, it’s L.V Johnson’s quivers of voice, the exhalations that matter. In that sense, Dilla’s really working with air here, as he turns the moments between words, the times a voice, especially when it’s singing doesn’t have control over.A few times the breathy vocals get interrupted by Raymond Scott’s bleeps and bloops, teasing you with the next track “Lightworks” but also making some weird “it’s all sound” connection between indistinct snippets of voice and snippets of electronics. Is that radar ping-esque sound that comes after the repeated “eaaahhhh….” from Raymond Scott or is it some moment of “I Don’t Really Care” given a ton of echo and sucked of its bass?
The thing that sticks out to me throughout Donuts, that I seriously thought was on some next-level shit, was the way he sampled vocals. It’s like he figured that the best part of any of these soul songs, maybe the most painstakingly emotive sometimes, isn’t anything remotely concrete like drums or a drum break or a melody or even a full phrase. It’s just like a grunt or sigh or breath or some warbling slice of some note held out. This isn’t more pronounced than on “Airworks”, the title itself kinda alluding to the not-thereness of the vocals. Then the ill thing is that Dilla takes these pieces and pretty much disregards any notion that you’re supposed to smooth out the chops. He just lets it all hang like “Fuckit, yeah its a sample bitch, and whut?!”
-Quan
Starting with the however insanely proficient, not all that engaging loop of “Glazed”–it’s really that stew of voices that make the track—and up to “Twister (Huh, What)” I find this part of Donuts to be the least interesting. These tracks seem like weird producer exercises, almost a “how-to” blueprint. “Airworks” makes really clear the weird voice snippet trickery that dominates Donuts, “Lightworks” is weirdo sample fuckery, and “Stepson of the Clapper” is fun with a classic rap sample from Mountain.These tracks are pure hip-hop head stuff and Donuts needs to do that because it does just about everything else. Yeah, the whole album’s for production nerds but “Airworks” and the next few tracks seem especially formal and technical.
But there’s one weird piece of dialogue or voice that cuts through the track–that “I don’t really care”. Dilla’s reaching into all these songs and vocals to express serious or casual emotions and that “I don’t really care” pushing through the track crystal-clear, un-manipulated, is a quick nod to Dilla—and everybody’s—plurality of emotions. It’s not some heavy statement on apathy or something, I don’t think it’s one of Donuts’ many grand messages/lessons, but it’s just one more idea or thought tossed out-there, making “Airworks” something more than a cool L.V Johnson song deconstruction.
Airwo…Airworks starts like that. It was almost like Dilla said, “Nah, lemme bring that back, I don’t think y’all ready for this one”, kinda like a much less obnoxious version of DJ Drama. Dilla chops the Hell into the beat. Making the vocals of L.V. Johnson sound other-worldly, like something other than a human singing. Through the course of the track you hear snippets of L.V., a word here and there that you can actually decipher, but it all sounds like a radio picking up another station during a song. It’s messy, and random, but it still sounds beautiful.
-Johnathan
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