Pitchfork on Dilla's Donuts

• January 16, 2013

The 'Fork, everyone's favorite-to-argue-about music site, covered J Dilla's Donuts 45 box set, dubbed "Best new reissue" and a number rating that isn't too bad.  Perhaps most important for us, the piece by Nate Patrin, recognizes Donuts as Dilla's signature instrumental work and an album that inspires ongoing curiosity and interpretation.  

"If the six years since Donuts was released has taught us anything, it's that a great album can be a sort of open-ended puzzle that can be solved from multiple angles. It's become James Yancey's signature production opus, even though the path that led him to it was laid down by a lifetime of collaboration, workshopping, and constant production in the service of other people's voices. It's the last work he created in his lifetime, released the week of his death, and yet it still feels like his music hasn't run out of time yet, whether that's down to periodic dives back into his vaults, or via the artists that've picked up inspiration and run with it to new places. It's a widely praised favorite for so many people, and yet there's something about Donuts that feels like such an intensely personal statement. Even attempting to engage with it objectively, setting aside the direct experience of the man who made it, doesn't entirely break through its mystique."

THE REVIEW
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17510-donuts-45-box-set/