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DJ Shadow

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DJ Shadow


DJ Shadow

DJ Shadow’s iconic album, Endtroducing....., was an album I kept seeing when I came across one of those “Best Albums of All Time” lists, not to mention the album art is so iconic... it was an album I would stumble across and see a lot on my quest to discover new music. I finally took the time to check out the album. Once I listened, I hadn't realized I had already heard some of his songs before, but one thing I did realize: DJ Shadow is one mad scientist who obviously doesn’t get out of the lab much. Shadow, otherwise known as Northern California beatmaster and vinyl fetishist Josh Davis, became one of the leading lights of DJ culture with a string of head-spinning singles in the ‘90s, weaving more obscure rare-groove samples than any lawyer could trace into expansive new style of headphone funk. He defined the tripping, hopping sound of his record label: Mo’ Wax. By the time he got around to releasing his debut album Endtroducing in 1996 his sound was solidified. Endtroducing mixed countless samples and special effects into a hypnotic pastiche, especially in the cinematic crawl of tracks like “Midnight ina Perfect World” and “Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt.” All slow-motion tension and release, Shadow’s grooves evoke a late night in the heart of the city vibe, with your body poised right on the edge of fatigue. DJ Shadow kept a low profile for a few years, spear-heading the U.N.K.L.E. project Psyence Fiction. His label released 1998's compilation, Preemptive Strike, which collected the DJ's Mo' Wax singles released from '93 - '97, and included the highlight “High Noon.” He also did some work with Cut Chemist with 2001’s ProductPlacement. It wasn't until 2002’s The Private Press that we got a proper follow-up to Endtroducing. As on Endtroducing, the best songs on The Private Press take their time to let the momentum build: “Fixed Income,” “Meets His Maker,” “YouCan’t Go Home Again,” and since Radiohead freely admit how much they’ve been influenced by DJ Shadow, it’s only right that “Giving Up the Ghost” sounds like primo Radiohead, with nerve-rattling guitar and lonesome violin howling away. 2006 gave us The Outsider, five years later we got 2011’s The Less You Know, the Better, by this time I was a fan and his releases were on my radar. 2016’s The Mountain Will Fall and 2019’s Our Pathetic Age, both released on Mass Appeal Records, the same label as Run the Jewels, which explains these two awesome tracks between the DJ & rap-duo: "Nobody Speak" & "Kings & Queens." DJ Shadow is a master at mixing beats, sound effects, machine hums, and mock-symphonic patterns of robotic noise. If you don’t know... now ya' know...
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DJ Shadow

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