Send "DJ Cam " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 Perhaps DJ Cam’s best days were in the mid-1990s, when he, along with DJs Shadow and Krush, first brought hip-hop to the electronic music audience. Or maybe those best days came at the turn of the century, as his dazzling Loa Project, Vol. 2 broadened his range and he turned in what may be his best song, “Juliet”. (“Friends and Enemies”, from 1996, would be a close second.) In any case, his best days did not arrive after that, when Cam (a.k.a. Laurent Daumail, from Paris) filled his career with slick soul, awkward attempts at reprising his own ‘mad blunted jazz’ from the ‘90s, and wide-open spaces devoid of new material. Seven, his first studio album in as many years if you don’t count his acoustic jazz stints with the DJ Cam Quartet, might be considered a proclamation that he’s back in the game. He already has a single in general distribution, “Swim” (featuring debut vocalist Chris James), and an expensively produced video to accompany it. But if Cam was intending to herald his return to the world with the release of this record, he does so most sullenly. That may be because his sporadic collaborator, most frequent sample subject, and friend Keith Elam (a.k.a. Guru) died suddenly in 2010 at the age of 48, after hanging precipitously in a coma. Whether or not Daumail’s grief over Elam’s death contributed to the cloudy atmosphere of Seven, the thing is a downer to its very bones. It may also, unfortunately, be the latest in a parade of indications that Cam’s salad days are still behind him, artistically at least. Seven is spotty, much like the records of his contemporary, the Mighty Bop, though it does betray the slightest glimmers of forward movement. “Swim”, while dour, is Cam’s most convincing argument that he can write a solid song for the mainstream. The piano riff, gliding morosely over brushed hi-hats, is understatedly cinematic and big budget, and Chris James pitches his voice somewhere in between Chris Martin and Andrew Bird, emotive but approachable. As it turns out, James is something of a vocal chameleon, blending competently into his surroundings. On “Ghost”, and even more so on “Uncomfortable”, he morphs into a bona-fide soul singer who pulls up Cam’s somewhat empty productions. Cam’s two other vocal tracks, featuring Nicolette and Inlove respectively, aren’t much more than acid jazz rehashes in the Koop/Nicola Conte vein, and the singers don’t distinguish themselves from R&B’s usual grip of hired guns....full text |
| Yahoo |
| DJ Cam, "Seven" (Inflamable) There's something dour about DJ Cam's new album "Seven," with its slow and brooding fusion of hip-hop and jazz. The French mix master has an interesting approach to blending disparate sounds, but seldom do things develop into a full gallop here, leaving the effort feeling a bit unfinished. DJ Cam likes trickles of piano, streams of ethereal synth work and a walking pace to his work. The beats are simple and often border on Casio keyboard territory, as is evident on "Dreamcatcher," with its old-school computer hand claps. But the further you get into that track, less is revealed. This is the routine on other songs as well, like the title track "Seven" and "Fontainebleau." The sounds and mixing is fine, but there is no great unveiling of purpose to the songs. The beginning sounds like the middle which sounds like the end. There is little plot to DJ Cam's purpose. At best, DJ Cam has given us an even-paced album to do other activities to, while it plays in the background, not jarring in its delivery of hip-hop tinged chill music. DJ Cam dulls the senses a bit too much here on "Seven," when a bit more creative arc to the tracks would have served the music better. CHECK THIS TRACK OUT: "Swim," featuring vocals from Chris James, is a beautiful track. James treats it perfectly, caressing the notes with a low-throated groan here and a soaring high note there. DJ Cam cooks up the perfect backbeat, with just enough soul to keep things stimulating....full text |
| Newsflash |
| A hip-hop graduate who is now operating just one step ahead of dinner party/back to mine music, DJ Cam (a.k.a. Laurent Daumail) is a long way from the likes of “Substances” and “The Beat Assassinated.” The Frenchman, now relocated to Los Angeles, makes mood music with teasingly small hints of the Gallic pianism and b-boy bravado he made his name with. The opening track on Seven is “California Dreamin’,” a song that taps into a winter’s day philosophy with nerves being frayed, and unease slips into the night of the title track. Two transient moments of alarm won’t shake the still of the lounge featuring the vocals of Chris James, beige in color but consoling in nature. “Ghost” is where he ups his soul quota the most while keeping sedatives at the ready. Cam keeps things appealing enough so as not to fade into a blandness born out of maturity and being contemporary. “1988″ features the beckoning whispers of InLove is the last dance of the evening with enough dance floor cool to cut through the album’s arid nature, and the bonus “Track a Loop” sneaks in hip-hop titbits to mark the point where Cam has come from and is presently at. File under: DJ Krush, DJ Vadim, Aim...full text |
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