I first encountered Dynomite D on his remix of the 764-Hero/Modest Mouse collaboration "Whenever You See Fit." D's cut, which unwisely tried to shoehorn beats into the epic rock song, was the worst on the 12" and I more or less forgot about him. This black mark was canceled out when I discovered that he'd done production work on "Four Fly Guys," the lost Beastie Boys track from DJ Hurricane's debut-- it remains the Beasties' final above-average moment. After this varied showing, I wasn't expecting much when I sat down to check out Dynomite D's debut full-length, but as I listened my ears pricked up with metronomic regularity; this is an instrumental hip-hop album as assured as it is unassuming, and D has done the estate of Jimmy Walker proud.

It's not often that I put a track on a tape before sitting down to write a review, but I couldn't resist weaving Dynomite D's slamming "Stick 'Em" into my latest car mix. Snatching an insanely catchy vocal riff off the Fat Boys tune of the same name was an inspired idea that someone should have though of years ago. Equally profound is the hectic rhythm of "And Ya Don't Stop," which offers up a rich, full drum track DJ Shadow would be proud to put his name on, over a wriggling worm of a bass. As music industry personality Mike Diamond might say, these two party favors are guaranteed every time.

While those tracks are ass-controllers par excellence, the bulk of By the Way finds Dynomite D setting his sampler for stoned downtempo territory. Indeed, it's conceivable that the deep, airy beats of "Lonely Trucker" and the Seattle-referencing "Alki Beach Dr." could work their way into Kruder and Dorfmeister's crate. This same dub-wise funk forms the bed for the excellent "No Excuses," which finds guest DJ Kid Koala gleefully manipulating a choice sample of some authority figure-sounding guy commanding us to "mix every thing up."

Though By the Way is a little short on running time and includes the dreaded "answering machine track," the record makes for a powerful, sophisticated and surprising listen on the whole. Between this and Draco's Enter the Draco, indie pop label Slabco continue to bring us what The Source would call "the next-level shit."

-Mark Richard-San