DJ Shadow: classic or dud?

i think of the Gaslamp Killer as one ideal version of what DJS could have evolved into, blending obscure samples and live breaks + synths + turntablism in a way that sounds fresh and personal.

― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Saturday, April 9, 2016 12:48 PM (41 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah i thought his recent live album (featuring live musicians, iirc) was really interesting, it really goes all over the place and hangs together pretty nicely.

Taking in photographs and articles from/in regards to Charlottesville while listening to Preemptive Strike. Eerily soothing.

in/flux is his best track

I might agree... it's a masterful lovely garden of samples

I saw him a couple weeks ago, it was a pretty good show. Pretty spectacular digital effects, played lots of oldie-goodies. He was a little grumpy as a stage presence, but that seemed in keeping with his overall persona. He wore a T-shirt from a local record store that he'd been shopping at that afternoon, which was cool.

yes but which version of in/flux is the better version?

Headz version is my favourite

is Endtroducing... the best album to start with?

it's the best one to start and end with

P much OTM. Incredibly aptly named now that I think about it.

There are a bunch of other tracks from his catalogue that I like but that’s the only essential album.

you could start with the "Preemptive Strike" compilation of early singles, then go to Entroducing, then stop.

Private Press has a few really good tracks, and it's worth hearing at least one of his live things (Brainfreeze, Product Placement etc.)

sic otm

here is how i would rank the essential material

what does your soul look like EP > zimbabwe legit - doing damage in my native language (shadow's legitimate mix) (track) > in/flux (track) > > lost and found (track) > endtroducing

such a good album cover

https://img.discogs.com/elXT78Q80EgbVCaJRUjWdtLnYXM=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-3467-1253735604.jpeg.jpg

Private Press still my favorite in 2018

Private Press has some jams man I love the joint that flips Paul Simon

'lost and found' was my introduction to shadow, still think it's one of his best songs and it sucks that's it's not on pre-emptive strike iirc. maybe bono blocked it?

Private Press still my favorite in 2018

agreed

his recent rap collabs have been pretty listenable imo

this remix of 6 days is a soundtrack classic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUlqk1F3wn0

this one was kinda ~balaeric~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7rZGZLbsLs

'high noon' and 'organ doner' are also classic non-endtroducing cuts. tbh i think every album of his is inconsistent or has boring parts, but there's peaks across the whole catalog (until he started making hyphy music)

I've been trying to figure out where the hell I put my signed Private Press tour poster. Hope I didn't lose it in a move.

I'd say something about how it seems like forever ago that I was hanging around listening to Endtroducing and all the random remixes and singles a friend had hoarded, but it really has been twenty years!

the headz version of influx is the best one btw

organ donor was on endtroducing, just not the "(extended overhaul)" version which is essential

oh yeah i'm thinking of that one

I still feel like the kool g rap feature from unkle goes extremely hard

Pre emptive is as essential as endtrouducing. Private press has blood on the motorway which is classic

unkle is similar to shadow in that they started strong and dropped off with quickness

I still feel like the kool g rap feature from unkle goes extremely hard

― Vapor waif (uptown churl), Monday, March 12, 2018 1:05 PM (twenty-three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

agree

Pre emptive is as essential as endtrouducing. Private press has blood on the motorway which is classic

― kolakube (Ross), Monday, March 12, 2018 1:16 PM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this was the other one i was gonna mention from that album. three high points miminimum

Fixed Income, Walkie Talkie, Six Days are my favs from that one. Also still think a lot about "ECOUTEZ/COUTEZ/COUTEZ SIT A VOUS/AVOUS/AVOUS POUR LE DANCE/DANCE/DANCE"

I can’t recall exactly what tracks I liked off private press, I just remember the drums being sick as fuck

some of the longer tracks on preemptive strike are so good

in/flux

prefer the Headz version to the Pre Emptive Strike one

i like both!

Everybody otm. I also like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RFtLELeXVU

This is v good fun too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfmpeo85IMs

http://www.waxpoetics.com/blog/features/gallery/dj-shadow-begins/

I'll defend the Private Press and its surrounding b-sides/remixes.

Ultimately it was disappointing, but how could he have possibly improved on Endtroducing? That being said, I've always thought 'Six Days' and 'Blood on the Motorway' are as good as anything from Endtroducing.

I’m not brimming with confidence that this is a broadly applicable opinion and it probably wouldn’t have been possible anyway, but: I feel like if Shadow had been able to put out Psyence Fiction as his sophomore album (instead of a friendly jumpstart for James Lavelle’s solo project that Lavelle would largely fail to build on) then The Private Press would’ve been a perfectly acceptable third record. His audience would have gotten the Endtroducing sound but bigger, more lavish, and with special guests, and they’d be looking for the kind of differences that Private Press offered instead of clamoring for the former thing from a record that didn’t have it. I’m not saying it would’ve necessarily prevented the panic spiral that constituted the next decade or so of his career, but he’d at least have been in a better headspace to avoid it.

All of this of course being predicated upon my (admittedly not universal) opinion that Psyence Fiction lives up to the weighty reputation of Endtroducing, but even given the less charitable takes on that record I think it’d survive the sophomore-record scrutiny better than The Private Press did.

That's a good point, psyence was definitely a transitional record

does he still do a quick break in the middle of organ donor to do it "live" by having the different organ notes on different sampler pads? it's one of those ideas that is so goofy that it worked

This remix is also pretty essential

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYE2x3gVMuM

Private Press still my favorite in 2018

― change display name (Jordan), Monday, March 12, 2018 4:22 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

100% agree ... it's the only DJ Shadow album that I still listen to.

Shadow also deserves a lot of credit for his work as a funk/breaks DJ imo, and as far as I can tell he was kind of on the leading edge of the whole rare funk thing that blew up later.

i mean, rap producers were, lol but yeah

man alive otm

dj shadow / cut chemist - freeze dvd is an essential document as well

I highly recommend listening to his "Gourmet Dog Shit" ep of the Dogpatch podcast!

https://imgur.com/gallery/ZsH1UM2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpVpUb78YzA

excited for this! i like the single.

https://i.imgur.com/2CHgQA0.jpg

couldn't make it through more than 10 seconds of any track on new album. really unpleasant music.