Joshua Paul Davis better known as
DJ Shadow is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
music producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
,
DJA disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
and
songwriterA songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
. He is considered a prominent figure in the development of instrumental hip hop and first gained notice with the release of his highly acclaimed debut album
Endtroducing.....Endtroducing..... is the debut studio album by American hip hop artist DJ Shadow. It was released on November 19, 1996 by Mo' Wax Records. The album was conceived as an effort by Shadow to make an album completely based around sampling...
, which was constructed entirely from
samplesIn music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
. He has an exceptionally large personal record collection, with over 60,000 records.
Early years
DJ Shadow was experimenting with a four-track recorder while in high school in
Davis, CaliforniaDavis is a city in Yolo County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, and began his music career as a disc jockey for the
University of California, DavisThe University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...
campus radio station
KDVSKDVS is an American student and community radio station based in Davis, California. Featuring a freeform programming format, the station is owned by Regents of the University of California...
. During this period he was significant in developing the experimental hip hop style associated with the London-based
Mo' WaxMo' Wax was a UK-based record label owned by James Lavelle, who founded it in the early 1990s with Tim Goldsworthy. Steve Finan became co-owner shortly after. The label came to recognition for being at the forefront of trip hop, turntablism and alternative rap during the mid-90s...
record label. His early singles, including "In/Flux" and "Lost and Found (S.F.L.)", were genre-bending works of art merging elements of
funkFunk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
,
rockRock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
,
hip hopHip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
,
ambientAmbient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
,
jazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
,
soulSoul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, and used-bin found records. Andy Pemberton, a music journalist writing for
MixmagMixmag is a British dance music and clubbing magazine. It styles itself as "the world's biggest selling dance music magazine", with an Audit Bureau of Circulations audited circulation of approximately 21,250...
, coined the term "
trip hopTrip hop is a music genre consisting of downtempo electronic music which originated in the early 1990s in England, especially Bristol. Deriving from "post"-acid house, the term was first used by the British music media and press as a way to describe the more experimental variant of breakbeat which...
" in June 1994 to describe Shadow's "In/Flux" single and similar tracks being spun in London clubs at the time. Though his music is hard to categorize, his early contributions were certainly important for alternative hip hop. He cited groups such as Kurtis Mantronik, Steinski, and Prince Paul as influences on his sample-based sound, further claiming that "lyrics (...) were confining, too specific". His music rarely features more than short clips of voices or vocal work.
During 1991-1992, DJ Shadow remixes were released on Hollywood BASIC, a short-lived rap/hip-hop subsidiary label of Hollywood Records. Notable amongst these is a 1992 compilation release titled "BASIC Beats Sampler", which features a remix of The Real Deal, a song by Lifers' Group, as well as a 12-plus-minute "Mega Mix" of the rest of the album, including tracks by west-coast underground hip-hop act,
Raw FusionRaw Fusion was a spin-off project from Digital Underground emcee Money-B, with DJ talent provided by DU contributor DJ Fuze. Their albums contained cameos by many of the Digital Underground crew, including Shock G and 2Pac...
and east-coast acts,
Organized KonfusionOrganized Konfusion is an alternative hip hop duo from Queens, New York. Though not commercially popular, the duo was one of the most respected and acclaimed underground hip hop acts of the 1990s, largely due to the groundbreaking lyrics of Pharoahe Monch and Prince Poetry.-Recording career:Group...
and Zimbabwe Legit. Also in 1992, Shadow contributed
scratchingScratching is a DJ or turntablist technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while optionally manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer. While scratching is most commonly associated with hip hop music, since the late 1980s, it has been used...
and production work to
Sleeping with the EnemySleeping With the Enemy is the second album of U.S. militant political rapper Paris. Released in 1992, it stimulated much controversy with the songs "Bush Killa" and "Coffee, Donuts & Death,"...
, the controversial second release by rapper
ParisOscar Jackson, Jr. , better known by his stage name Paris is an American rapper from San Francisco, California, known for his highly charged political and socially conscious lyrics...
.
Early in 1993, Shadow was a part of the creation of the
SolesidesSolesides was an underground hip hop label based in Northern California, founded in 1991. It comprised various DJs and MCs, the most notable being DJ Shadow, MC–producer Lyrics Born, and the duo, Blackalicious. The members of Solesides all met via the radio station, KDVS, the 5000-watt community...
underground hip-hop label, in conjunction with
BlackaliciousBlackalicious is an American hip hop duo from Sacramento, California made up of rapper Gift of Gab and DJ/producer Chief Xcel . They are noted for Gift of Gab's often "tongue-twisting", multisyllabic, complex rhymes and Chief Xcel's "classic" beats...
and
Lyrics BornLyrics Born , is a Japanese American rapper, record producer, songwriter, and voice over announcer. He is also one half of the group Latyrx with Lateef the Truthspeaker.-History:...
(whose stage name at the time was Asia Born). The first 12" release on this new imprint was titled "Entropy", with the A-side containing the Asia Born track "Send Them" and a dub rendition of the DJ Shadow track "Count and Estimate", and the entire B-side consisting of the 17-plus-minute title track. Rapper
Gift of GabGift of Gab is an American MC best known for performing in the Bay Area hip-hop duo Blackalicious with DJ Chief Xcel...
is featured in the version of "Count and Estimate" that appears in Entropy. Shadow continued to participate in releases on the Solesides label for years to come, until the label was disbanded in 1996 in favour of
Quannum ProjectsQuannum Projects is a hip hop collective based in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has been active since 1992, when it was formed at UC Davis under the moniker Solesides Records. It is also the name of the independent record label that releases their records, as well as those of a number of other...
.
Also in 1993,
Mo' WaxMo' Wax was a UK-based record label owned by James Lavelle, who founded it in the early 1990s with Tim Goldsworthy. Steve Finan became co-owner shortly after. The label came to recognition for being at the forefront of trip hop, turntablism and alternative rap during the mid-90s...
's
James LavelleJames Lavelle is a DJ, electronic recording artist and record label boss.-Early years:Born into a family with a strong tradition of music, Lavelle first began by learning the cello with his grandmother in Oxford....
contacted Shadow about releasing "In/Flux" on the fledgling imprint. The association with Mo' Wax was a productive one; his tracks "In/Flux" and "Lost and Found" made their way onto a number of releases over the next few years. Shadow also worked with
DJ Krush, better known as DJ Krush, is a producer and DJ. He is known for his atmospheric instrumental production which incorporates sound elements from nature and extensive use of jazz and soul samples.-Biography:...
during this period. On a 1995 visit to the Mo' Wax studios in London, England, Shadow was recruited to perform scratches on a
James LavelleJames Lavelle is a DJ, electronic recording artist and record label boss.-Early years:Born into a family with a strong tradition of music, Lavelle first began by learning the cello with his grandmother in Oxford....
and
Tim GoldsworthyTim Goldsworthy is a British record producer, DJ and recording artist, living and working in New York City since 1999.Originally a musician/producer for UNKLE, Goldsworthy co-founded James Lavelle's Mo' Wax label...
mix of the
Massive AttackMassive Attack are an English DJ and trip hop duo from Bristol, England consisting of Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. Working with co-producers, as well as various session musicians and guest vocalists, they make records and tour live. The duo are considered to be of the trip...
song Karmacoma.
Endtroducing.....
Shadow's first full-length work,
Endtroducing.....Endtroducing..... is the debut studio album by American hip hop artist DJ Shadow. It was released on November 19, 1996 by Mo' Wax Records. The album was conceived as an effort by Shadow to make an album completely based around sampling...
, was released in late 1996 to critical acclaim. Endtroducing would go on to make the
Guinness World RecordsGuinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
book for "First Completely Sampled Album" in 2001. The only pieces of equipment Shadow used to produce the album were the AKAI MPC60 12-bit sampling drum machine, a pair of turntables and a borrowed-by-visiting
Pro ToolsPro Tools is a digital audio workstation platform for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, developed and manufactured by Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, film, and television...
setup from an early adopter of the technology,
Dan "The Automator" NakamuraDaniel M. Nakamura , better known by the stage name Dan the Automator, is a Japanese-American hip hop producer. He founded the record label 75 Ark, which was distributed by Tommy Boy Records during its short existence....
. In November 2006 Time magazine named it one of its "All-Time" 100 best albums.
Preemptive Strike
In 1998 Shadow released
Preemptive StrikePreemptive Strike is a retrospective compilation album of DJ Shadow's singles released on the UK record label Mo'Wax between 1991-1998.-Track listing:# "Strike 1" – 0:26# "In/Flux" – 12:12# "Hindsight" – 6:52# "Strike 2" – 0:15...
, a compilation of early
singlesIn music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
. Later that year, he produced
Psyence Fiction-Samples:*"Intro "**Quannum MCs – "Blue Flames"**Massive Attack – "Teardrop"**Air – "All I Need"**Invisibl Skratch Piklz – "Invisibl Skratch Piklz vs...
, the debut album by
UnkleUnkle are a British musical outfit founded in 1994 by school friends James Lavelle and Tim Goldsworthy. Originally categorized as trip-hop, the group once included producer DJ Shadow and have employed a variety of guest artists and producers.-First incarnation :Lavelle and Goldsworthy were joined...
, a long-time Mo' Wax production team that featured guest appearances including
Thom YorkeThomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...
(
RadioheadRadiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
),
Richard AshcroftRichard Paul Ashcroft is an English singer-songwriter. He was the lead singer and occasional guitarist of alternative rock band The Verve from their formation in 1990 until their split in 1999, and continues as a lead vocalist working with guitars and keyboards...
(
The VerveThe Verve were an English rock band formed in 1989 in Wigan by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bassist Simon Jones, and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboardist Simon Tong later became a member. Beginning with a psychedelic sound indebted to shoegazing and space...
), Mike D (
Beastie BoysBeastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
), Kool G. Rap,
Jason NewstedJason Curtis Newsted is an American bassist known for his work with Metallica, Voivod and Flotsam and Jetsam. Joining Metallica in 1986 after Cliff Burton's death, Newsted remained a member until 2001, making him the band's longest-serving bassist...
(
MetallicaMetallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
) among others.
Dark Days
Around 2000 he produced the score for the documentary
Dark DaysDark Days is a documentary made by Marc Singer, a British filmmaker. The film follows a group of people living in an abandoned section of the New York City underground railway system, more precisely the area of the so called Freedom Tunnel.-Background:...
filmed by British director
Marc SingerMarc Singer is an English documentary filmmaker. He was born and raised in London, England and moved to Florida, United States, when he was 16. After graduating high school, he moved to New York City....
. This film is about a community of transients who live underground in a subway tunnel. It has six award wins in various competitions.
The Private Press
Nearly six years after his debut production album, his second album,
The Private PressThe Private Press is the second full-length studio album by DJ Shadow, released on June 2, 2002 on MCA. Although not as critically well-received as his 1996 debut breakthrough Endtroducing..., The Private Press still received universal acclaim....
, was released in June 2002. In the same year, the movie Scratch (2001,
Doug PrayDoug Pray is an American documentary film director, cinematographer, and editor who often explores unique subcultures in his films. His work includes Surfwise a portrait of the nomadic, 11-member Doc Paskowitz family ; Big Rig , a documentary about truck drivers; Infamy , a documentary about...
) was released to DVD with DJ Shadow appearing several times throughout the movie. A video for his track "
Six Days"Six Days" is a song by American hip-hop artist DJ Shadow, from his second album, The Private Press. The song was written by Brian Farrell and Dennis Olivieri, and was produced by DJ Shadow...
" was also released in 2002, directed by
Wong Kar-waiWong Kar-wai BBS is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylized, emotionally resonant work, including Days of Being Wild , Ashes of Time , Chungking Express , Fallen Angels , Happy Together and 2046...
.
In Tune and on Time
In 2004, Shadow's first feature-length DVD, In Tune and on Time, was released. It features a live performance in
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
that emphasizes visuals.
The Outsider
The Outsider album was released on 18 September 2006. A special edition CD box set was also released containing The Outsider, the album on CD and a DVD entitled Tour Visuals. The Outsider, which prominently featured several artists from the local
San Francisco Bay AreaThe San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
hyphyThe word hyphy is Conor Devlin's preferred short word meaning "hyperactive." It was created by Bay Area rapper Keak Da Sneak when he used the term on an album he recorded in 1994. From the USA Today article: "Every record label was getting at us at that time, but we fumbled the ball," says E-40,...
hip hopHip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
movement, got a mixed welcome among Shadow's fans. Responding to criticisms, the DJ/producer explained on his blog why he made no apologies: "Repeat Endtroducing over and over again? That was never, ever in the game plan. Fuck that. So I think it's time for certain fans to decide if they are fans of the album, or the artist." DJ Shadow has also collaborated with fellow DJ
Cut ChemistLucas MacFadden , better known as Cut Chemist, is an American DJ and record producer. He is a former member of the funk Latin band Ozomatli, and of hip hop group Jurassic 5...
. Together they have created three popular mixtapes entitled
BrainfreezeBrainfreeze is a 1999 live mix album by DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist. The two tracks of the album are uninterrupted recordings from a live performance where they sampled hit funk, soul, rock and jazz singles from 45 rpm vinyl records...
,
Product PlacementProduct Placement is an album by DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist. It was released in 2001 on One29 Records.-Comments:The CD was on sale only at gig venues on DJ Shadows tours between about 2001-2003 and was made on an extremely limited run .The cover has a picture of Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow...
, and the recent The Hard Sell. These mixes fuse jazz, funk, and soul in the framework of a cohesive concept. He has also collaborated with several other artists, including
BlackaliciousBlackalicious is an American hip hop duo from Sacramento, California made up of rapper Gift of Gab and DJ/producer Chief Xcel . They are noted for Gift of Gab's often "tongue-twisting", multisyllabic, complex rhymes and Chief Xcel's "classic" beats...
,
Zack de la RochaZacarías Manuel "Zack" de la Rocha is an American rapper, musician, poet, and activist best known as the vocalist and lyricist of Rage Against the Machine.-Early life and childhood:...
,
Keak Da SneakCharles Toby Bowens , commonly known by his stage name Keak da Sneak, is a rapper from Oakland, California . At the age of 16 he was known as Z-Kush but became known as "Keak da Sneak" at 17, best known for his scratchy, gruff rapping voice and coining the term "hyphy" in 1994.-Career:Keak da Sneak...
,
Mos DefDante Terrell Smith is an American actor and Emcee known by the stage names Mos Def and Yasiin Bey. He started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which...
,
David BannerLavell Crump , better known by his stage name David Banner, is an American rapper, record producer and occasional actor. Banner was born in Jackson, Mississippi and graduated from Southern University. He started his music career as a member of the rap duo, Crooked Lettaz before going solo in 2000...
, and
Dr. OctagonDr. Octagon was a persona created and used by American rapper Keith Matthew Thornton, better known as Kool Keith. First appearing on Thornton's 1996 debut solo album, Dr. Octagonecologyst, Dr. Octagon is an extraterrestrial time traveling gynecologist and surgeon from the planet Jupiter. Thornton...
, an alter ego of
Kool KeithKeith Matthew Thornton, better known by his stage name Kool Keith, is an American rapper from The Bronx, New York. A founding member of Ultramagnetic MCs, Kool Keith has recorded prolifically both as a solo artist and in group collaborations. Kool Keith is the self-proclaimed inventor of...
.
In 2006, he signed a deal with
Universal RecordsUniversal Records was a record label owned by Universal Music Group, and it is now owned by Manny Patino and Michael Jackson, and operated as part of the Universal Motown Republic Group.-History:...
. DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist toured in 2008 in support of their mixtape The Hard Sell with
Kid KoalaEric San , who records under the name Kid Koala, is a Canadian DJ, turntablist, musician and an author of graphic novels. He is signed to the British record label Ninja Tune, is a member of alternative hip hop supergroup Deltron 3030, and The Slew with Dynamite D and former members of the...
opening for them.
Diminishing Returns
Diminishing Returns was a 2-hour
DJ MixA DJ mix or DJ mixset is a sequence of musical tracks typically mixed together to appear as one continuous track. When a DJ mix or DJ mixset is recorded onto some medium, it is often referred to as a mix tape...
originally broadcast on
BBC Radio 1BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
on March 29, 2003. It was released in 2003 on CD in a pressing limited to 1000 copies on the Reconstruction Productions label. Reconstruction Productions reissued the album in 2009 with a sticker stating "official, last chance limited edition, re-release".
The Less You Know, the Better
During Shadow's Outsider 2007 tour, he was spotted filming with Dean Fernando (aka "DINO") as reported on Shadow/Quannum fansite
SolesidesSolesides was an underground hip hop label based in Northern California, founded in 1991. It comprised various DJs and MCs, the most notable being DJ Shadow, MC–producer Lyrics Born, and the duo, Blackalicious. The members of Solesides all met via the radio station, KDVS, the 5000-watt community...
. On April 1, 2009, DJ Shadow announced on his
FacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page that he was working on a Diminishing Returns re-release.
On March 7, 2009, Shadow announced that he was working on new music. Though no release date was given, he assured, "It will sound different from the last one." DJ Shadow released a track from the new album called "Def Surrounds Us" as a preview. During his gig in Antwerp in August 2010, he played some tracks from the new album, although he stated that it was not yet ready and that he would continue working toward having it ready in time for his 2011 tour.
On May 10, 2011, Shadow confirmed via his Facebook page and official website that his new album, titled
The Less You Know, the BetterThe Less You Know, the Better is the fourth studio album by American music producer DJ Shadow. It was released on September 27, 2011 by Verve Records. The album is his first of original material since The Outsider . Like Shadow's previous efforts, the album relies heavily on sampling; the samples...
, was finished and that it would be released the following September on Verve/Universal. The same day, he also released a EP called I Gotta Rokk featuring remixed tracks from the forthcoming album. A second single "I'm Excited" was also released, featuring
Afrikan BoyOlushola Ajose, better known by his stage name Afrikan Boy is a grime MC from Woolwich, London, England, originally from Nigeria. He made a guest appearance on the track "Hussel" from the M.I.A. album Kala, and is one of the initial artists M.I.A. wanted signed to her label in 2007, then titled...
, on July 29th, 2011. However the single was pulled because of copyright infringement.. The infringement also delayed the album's release. Another song from the album, titled "Warning Call," featuring
Tom VekThomas Timothy Vernon-Kell is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist musician who works under the name Tom Vek.-Career:...
, was released on 7th September 2011, and was featured as a free
downloadA music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
on the official DJ Shadow Facebook page. Shadow announced on September 30, 2011 via Twitter that TLYK,TB would be released on a "3xUSB" format.
The artwork for this album, the associated singles and promotional material was done by Tony Papesh, an artist from San Francisco, California.
Studio and equipment
The book
Behind the BeatBehind the Beat: Hip Hop Home Studios is a book by Raph where the home studios of twenty eight notable Hip-Hop producers are photographed , along with brief descriptions of the producers and their studios...
documents Shadow's home studio (named "Reconstruction") through photos and a brief description (as of 2005). It is "nestled within a leafy San Francisco suburb" and Shadow apparently moved to the area "to be closer to the local record store". It also states that "Shadow only keeps a small selection of vinyl at home with the rest occupying storage units around town".
His equipment as of 2005, according to Behind the Beat, consists of two Akai MPC 3000s and a
Korg TritonKorg Triton is a music workstation synthesizer featuring digital sampling and sequencing created by Korg. All Tritons use Korg's HI Synthesis tone generator. They are available in several models and various upgrade configurations. The Triton is world famous among many musicians for being a...
. His album Endtroducing was "created on an AKAI MPC60 and an
A-DatAlesis Digital Audio Tape or ADAT is a magnetic tape format used for the simultaneous digital recording of eight analog audio or digital audio tracks at once, onto a Super VHS tape that is used by consumer VCRs.- History :...
".
Sampling
DJ Shadow's reputation is largely built on the skill with which he manipulates samples, taking rare and unheard pieces of music and reworking them into parts and phrases for his songs. Many of his tracks feature dozens of samples from a wide array of styles and influences including rock, soul, funk, experimental, electronic and jazz. Shadow famously sampled American composer
David AxelrodDavid Axelrod is an American composer, arranger and producer, working in several musical genres.-Biography:...
twice: the piano in "Midnight In A Perfect World" from 1996's Endtroducing was original recorded for Axelrod's "The Human Abstract"; and on his collaboration with
DJ Krush, better known as DJ Krush, is a producer and DJ. He is known for his atmospheric instrumental production which incorporates sound elements from nature and extensive use of jazz and soul samples.-Biography:...
, "Duality", sampling Axelrod's "The Warnings" (Part 1). Although Shadow currently uses fewer samples than on his earlier albums, several examples feature on 2006 album,
The Outsider-Literature:* The Outsider , a book by Colin Wilson* The Outsider or The Stranger , a novel by Albert Camus* The Outsider , a novel by Richard Wright...
. His collaboration with
David BannerLavell Crump , better known by his stage name David Banner, is an American rapper, record producer and occasional actor. Banner was born in Jackson, Mississippi and graduated from Southern University. He started his music career as a member of the rap duo, Crooked Lettaz before going solo in 2000...
, "Seein' Thangs", features a
synthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
and vocals from Cecilia's "Crimson Red" and "Outsider Intro" includes an excerpt from
Ron GeesinRonald 'Ron' Geesin is a British musician and composer, noted for his quirky creations and novel applications of sound. He is probably best known as the orchestrator and organizer of Pink Floyd's "Atom Heart Mother" in 1970, after the band found themselves hopelessly deadlocked over how to...
's "Concrete Line Up" from the 1973 album, As He Stands.
Discography
- Endtroducing.....
Endtroducing..... is the debut studio album by American hip hop artist DJ Shadow. It was released on November 19, 1996 by Mo' Wax Records. The album was conceived as an effort by Shadow to make an album completely based around sampling...
(1996)
- Preemptive Strike
Preemptive Strike is a retrospective compilation album of DJ Shadow's singles released on the UK record label Mo'Wax between 1991-1998.-Track listing:# "Strike 1" – 0:26# "In/Flux" – 12:12# "Hindsight" – 6:52# "Strike 2" – 0:15...
(1998)
- The Private Press
The Private Press is the second full-length studio album by DJ Shadow, released on June 2, 2002 on MCA. Although not as critically well-received as his 1996 debut breakthrough Endtroducing..., The Private Press still received universal acclaim....
(2002)
- The Outsider (2006)
- The Less You Know, The Better
The Less You Know, the Better is the fourth studio album by American music producer DJ Shadow. It was released on September 27, 2011 by Verve Records. The album is his first of original material since The Outsider . Like Shadow's previous efforts, the album relies heavily on sampling; the samples...
(2011)
External links