Artists are always looking to advance their work to create something new to impress a fan-base rife with expectations. Sometimes artists will wrongly assume that their audience doesn't want to hear more of the same. This attempt at advancement has taken its toll once more, this time on indie/hip-hop turntablist Rjd2's latest release, The Third Hand.

Ever since their 2002 debut Dead Ringer, Rjd2 has been synonymous with sample-based, instrumental records. While he's held his own in terms of craftsmanship, there are detractors who say he's just ripping off the work of another sampler-master, DJ Shadow. It seems Rj took that criticism to heart in his latest release.

For this album he took to playing instruments live in the studio and coupling it with a beat. This seems like a normal progression, but it doesn't suit Rjd2 at all. Then he added vocals.The big departure from the norm in Rj's new method is singing -- half-singing to be exact. His faux-British utterances (he's from Columbus, Ohio) wouldn't get the heart pumping on a steroid-injected silverback gorilla.

The instrumentation lacks the energy present on previous efforts -- energy that jumped from the speakers as the listener instantly succumbed to an infectious groove.

This time around the song starts breaking down instantaneously. Whether it's repetition in lyrics or overuse of droning keyboards, the songs start falling apart without warning. This happens for much of the record, even on standout track "Beyond the Beyond."

Many of the songs just come off as buildup that leads to nowhere and leave you waiting for the explosive hooks or a groove you can sit back into, both of which were mainstays of past records. In terms of songwriting in lieu of sampling, a big mistake Rj made was taking his knack for sampling with concise simplicity and repetition and applying the same concept to his lyrics.

The end result is mind-numbingly disappointing and is evidence that lyrical structure doesn't mesh with Rjd2's production style.

It's disappointing to see a producer who is more creative than radio-worthy hip-hop trade in his turntables. Hopefully this experimentation won't last and Rjd2 will follow up this album with another classic. Grade: D+

-- Reviewed by Jim DiGiuseppe