Pitchfork

Downtempo beatmaster and instrumental hip hop pioneer DJ Krush has decided to take Kanye's "I drop my new shit/ It sound like the Best Of" mantra to the next level by actually fusing the two. How? By remixing his own catalog on Red Ink Records' forthcoming release Stepping Stones: The Self-Remixed Best, dropping September 19 on double CD/vinyl.

The first disc of the package, called Lyricism, covers Krush's work with MCs-- from the Roots' Black Thought and Malik B to Def Jux's Aesop Rock and Mr. Lif. Krush, however, remixed each track and included two new ones: "Mosa" (featuring Kan) and its corresponding remix.

True to its name, the second disc-- Soundscapes-- consists solely of instrumentals, including tracks with DJ Shadow and the Roots' Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson. As with Lyricism, Krush remixed all of the tracks on Soundscapes and added new ones: "Intro", "Elapse", and "Drum".

Krush kicks off a North American tour tonight in support of Stepping Stones.

Stepping Stones: The Self-Remixed Best:

Lyricism (Disc 1):

01 Only the Strong Survive [ft. C.L. Smooth] (Bon Mix)
02 Kiro [ft. Twigy & Rino Latina II] (Vib Mix)
03 Vision of Art [ft. Company Flow] (Broken Mix)
04 Zen Approach [ft. Black Thought] (Cradle Mix)
05 Final Home [ft. Esthero] (Piano Mix)
06 Kill Switch [ft. Aesop Rock] (Beep Mix)
07 Nosferatu [ft. Mr. Lif] (Space-Cadet Mix)
08 Song for John Walker [ft. Anticon] (Sticky Mix)
09 Meiso [ft. Black Thought & Malik B] (Silent-Gun Mix)
10 Danger of Love [ft. Zap Mama] (Gray-Sky Mix)
11 Shinjiro [ft. Mos Def] (Harsh Mix)
12 Mosa [ft. Kan]
13 Mosa [ft. Kan] (Remix)

Soundscapes (Disc 2):

01 Intro
02 Stormy Cloud [ft. Ken Shima] (Raindrop Mix)
03 Elapse
04 Trihedron [ft. Opus] (Stray Mix)
05 Still Island [ft. Shuuzan Morita] (Still 'n' Slow Mix)
06 Endless Railway [ft. Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson] (Sentiment Mix)
07 Day's End [ft. Kazufumi Kodama] (After-Dusk Mix)
08 Outro (Revised)
09 Duality [ft. DJ Shadow] (2006K Mix)
10 Kemuri (Untouchable Mix)
11 Drum
12 Duck Chase [ft. PhonopsychographDISK] (Double-Up Mix)
13 Bypath - Would You Take It? (Static Mix)

Cityscapes:

09-06 Philadelphia, PA - Fluid
09-07 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
09-09 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
09-10 Boston, MA - Underbar
09-12 Toronto, Ontario - Mod Club
09-13 Montreal, Quebec - Club Soda
09-15 Atlanta, GA - The Loft
09-16 Dallas, TX - Minc Lounge
09-19 Detroit, MI - The Shelter
09-21 Minneapolis, MN - Foundation
09-22 Chicago, IL - Smart Bar
09-23 Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre
09-25 Portland, OR - Holocene
09-26 Seattle, WA - Neumos
09-27 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom
09-29 San Francisco, CA - Mezzanine
09-30 Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory
10-02 Honolulu, HI - Fashion 45