DJ Spooky – Songs of a Dead Dreamer

Songs of a Dead Dreamer is the debut album by DJ Spooky, released in 1996. It was one of the first albums to fall under the “illbient” moniker (ill + ambient), a portmanteau to represent the combination of ambient sounds and hip hop influences.

I’ll never forget the first time I discovered DJ Spooky’s first album, Songs of a Dead Dreamer. I was sat in a computer room at sixth form college. I’d gotten into downtempo via Zero 7 so that ambient side of hip hop was well within my purview. It was only natural that I’d fall under the illbient spell and Songs of a Dead Dreamer had me in a trance. The production value was like nothing I’d heard before with its metallic motifs and industrial soundscapes. I was like an moth to a flame.