DJ Shadow | ||
| Allmusic Biography : DJ Shadows Josh Davis is widely credited as a key figure in developing the experimental instrumental hip-hop style associated with the London-based Mo Wax label. His early singles for the label, including "In/Flux" and "Lost and Found (S.F.L.)," were all-over-the-map mini-masterpieces combining elements of funk, rock, hip-hop, ambient, jazz, soul, and used-bin finds. Although hed already done a scattering of original and production work (during 1991-1992 for Hollywood Records) by the time Mo Waxs James Lavelle contacted him about releasing "In/Flux" on the fledgling imprint, it wasnt until his association with Mo Wax that his sound began to mature and cohere. Davis went on to co-write, remix, and produce tracks for labelmates DJ Krush and Dr. Octagon plus the Mo Wax trip-hop supergroup UNKLE. After the labels demise, Shadow launched his own Liquid Amber imprint and worked with artists as diverse as Nils Frahm and Run the Jewels. Davis grew up in Hayward, California, a predominantly lower middle-class suburb of San Francisco. An odd, white suburban hip-hop fan in the hard rock-dominated early 80s, Davis gravitated toward the turntable/mixer setup of the hip-hop DJ over the guitars, bass, and drums of his peers. He worked his way through hip-hops early years into the heyday of crews like Eric B. & Rakim, Ultramagnetic MCs, and Public Enemy, groups that prominently featured DJs in their ranks. Davis had already been fiddling around with making beats and breaks on a four-track while he was in high school, but it was his move to the Northern California town of Davis to attend university that led to the establishment of his own Solesides label as an outlet for his original tracks. Hooking up with Davis few b-boys (including eventual Solesides artists Blackalicious and Lyrics Born) through the college radio station, Shadow began releasing the Reconstructed from the Ground Up mixtapes in 1991 and pressed his 17-minute hip-hop symphony "Entropy" in 1993. His tracks spread widely through the DJ-strong hip-hop underground, eventually catching the attention of Mo Wax. Shadows first full-length, Endtroducing..., was released in late 1996 to immense critical acclaim in Britain and America. Preemptive Strike, a compilation of early singles, followed in early 1998. Later that year, Shadow produced tracks for the debut album by UNKLE, a longtime Mo Wax production team that gained superstar guests including Thom Yorke (of Radiohead), Richard Ashcroft (of the Verve), Mike D (of the Beastie Boys), and others. His next project came in 1999, with the transformation of Solesides into a new label, Quannum Projects. Nearly six years after his debut production album, the proper follow-up, The Private Press, was released in June 2002. The following year Shadow released a mix album, Diminishing Returns, and in 2004 he released a live album and DVD, Live! In Tune and on Time. In 2006, his long-awaited third solo album, The Outsider, came out, but instead of following the blueprint hed used on his past two records, Shadow enlisted help from Bay Area rappers like Keak da Sneak, E-40, and Lateef, as well as David Banner and Q-Tip. He toured frequently during the next few years, but released no material until 2010, when the single "Def Surrounds Us" teased a new album. Issues around rights clearance delayed the release during 2011, but The Less You Know, the Better finally appeared in the fall, heralding a return to his sample-based hip-hop. A year later, Reconstructed: The Best of DJ Shadow rounded up his greatest hits, while Total Breakdown: Hidden Transmissions from the MPC Era 1992-1996 compiled his early productions, with its title referencing his studio tool of choice at the time, the Akai MPC. He launched his new Liquid Amber label in 2014 with the Liquid Amber EP, then issued the Nite Skool Klik EP in 2015, the latter a self-titled debut from his project with producer G Jones. The Mass Appeal label picked up his 2016 solo release, The Mountain Will Fall, an album that featured guests Nils Frahm and Run the Jewels. The Mountain Has Fallen, an EP featuring collaborations with Nas and Danny Brown, was surprise released in 2017. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 33 Title: What Does Your Soul Look Like Released: 1994-06 Tracks: 4 Duration: 32:38 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 What Does Your Soul Look Like, Part 2 (13:52) 2 What Does Your Soul Look Like, Part 3 (05:12) 3 What Does Your Soul Look Like, Part 4 (07:12) 4 What Does Your Soul Look Like, Part 1 (06:21) |
 | Album: 2 of 33 Title: Stem Released: 1996 Tracks: 4 Duration: 11:17 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Stem (03:26) 2 Long Stem (04:26) 3 Red Bus Needs to Leave! (02:41) 4 Soup (00:44) |
 | Album: 3 of 33 Title: Endtroducing..... Released: 1996-09-16 Tracks: 13 Duration: 1:03:31 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Best Foot Forward (00:48) 2 Building Steam With a Grain of Salt (06:41) 3 The Number Song (04:38) 4 Changeling / Transmission 1 (07:51) 5 What Does Your Soul Look Like, Part 4 (05:08) 6 [untitled] (00:24) 7 Stem / Long Stem / Transmission 2 (09:22) 8 Mutual Slump (04:03) 9 Organ Donor (01:57) 10 Why Hip Hop Sucks in ’96 (00:43) 11 Midnight in a Perfect World (05:00) 12 Napalm Brain / Scatter Brain (09:23) 13 What Does Your Soul Look Like, Part 1: Blue Sky Revisit / Transmission 3 (07:28) |
| Endtroducing..... : Allmusic album Review : As a suburban California kid, DJ Shadow tended to treat hip-hop as a musical innovation, not as an explicit social protest, which goes a long way toward explaining why his debut album, Endtroducing....., sounded like nothing else at the time of its release. Using hip-hop, not only its rhythms but its cut-and-paste techniques, as a foundation, Shadow created a deep, endlessly intriguing world on Endtroducing....., one where there are no musical genres, only shifting sonic textures and styles. Shadow created the entire album from samples, almost all pulled from obscure, forgotten vinyl, and the effect is that of a hazy, half-familiar dream -- parts of the record sound familiar, yet its clear that it only suggests music youve heard before, and that the multi-layered samples and genres create something new. And thats one of the keys to the success of Endtroducing.....: its innovative, but it builds on a solid historical foundation, giving it a rich, multifaceted sound. Its not only a major breakthrough for hip-hop and electronica, but for pop music. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 33 Title: Preemptive Strike Released: 1998-01-13 Tracks: 11 Duration: 1:01:27 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Strike 1 (00:27) 2 In/Flux (12:14) 3 Hindsight (06:53) 4 Strike 2 (00:18) 5 What Does Your Soul Look Like, Part 2 (13:52) 6 What Does Your Soul Look Like, Part 3 (05:12) 7 What Does Your Soul Look Like, Part 4 (07:12) 8 What Does Your Soul Look Like, Part 1 (06:21) 9 Strike 3 (And I’m Out) (00:27) 10 High Noon (03:59) 11 Organ Donor (extended overhaul) (04:28) |
| Preemptive Strike : Allmusic album Review : DJ Shadow assembled the singles collection Preemptive Strike as a way for American audiences to catch up on his career prior to his debut album, Endtroducing. The 11-track album contains three new interludes and three complete singles that he released on MoWax -- "In/Flux," "What Does Your Soul Look Like," and "High Noon" -- and a bonus disc, "Camel Bobsled Race," which is a megamix of DJ Shadow material by DJ Q-Bert. Given that Endtroducing was a masterpiece of subtly shifting texture, Preemptive Strike almost seems purposely incoherent, even though the tracks are sequenced chronologically. The jerky flow can make the album a little difficult to assimilate on first listen, but it soon begins to make sense, even if it never achieves the graceful flow of the album. Several of the selections on Preemptive Strike were available in different forms on Endtroducing -- parts four and one of "What Does Your Soul Look Like" are in their original forms here, presented along with one and three, and theres the "extended overhaul" of "Organ Donor." All of these are significantly different than the LP versions, and "What Does Your Soul Look Like" is necessary in its original, half-hour, four-part incarnation. But the key moments are the seminal "In/Flux," which arguably created trip-hop, and "High Noon," the dynamic, fuzz-drenched single that was his first single release since Endtroducing. Those three A-sides are reason enough for any serious fan of the debut to pick up Preemptive Strike, but the B-sides and "Camel Bobsled Race" are equally intriguing, making the package a nice summation of DJ Shadows most important singles through the end of 1997. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 33 Title: Brainfreeze Released: 1999 Tracks: 2 Duration: 52:11 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 [Part 1] (25:36) 2 [Part 2] (26:35) |
 | Album: 6 of 33 Title: Schoolhouse Funk Released: 2000-08-08 Tracks: 22 Duration: 1:13:58 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Intro (01:10) 2 Black Roots (03:21) 3 Thing Medley / I Made a Mistake (05:03) 4 KCOR Variations (03:00) 5 Cisco Kid (04:49) 6 The World Is a Ghetto (06:52) 7 Funky Beat (00:14) 8 Scorpio (01:56) 9 Funky Side of Town (instrumental) (02:16) 10 Nine Monks (06:19) 11 Second Half Intro / Red Clay (reprise) (02:30) 12 Camel Back (03:18) 13 Sudsy (Soul Pride) (02:05) 14 A Toast to the Boogie (05:49) 15 Emergency (03:53) 16 Chameleon (05:08) 17 Give It Away (02:43) 18 Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey (02:21) 19 Loose Booty (00:23) 20 The Newborn Hippopotamus / Jazz Rock Machine (07:08) 21 Outro (00:16) 22 [untitled] (03:16) |
 | Album: 7 of 33 Title: Product Placement Released: 2001-11-01 Tracks: 2 Duration: 57:02 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 [Part 1] (29:31) 2 [Part 2] (27:31) |
 | Album: 8 of 33 Title: The Private Press Released: 2002-05-22 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:16:16 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 (Letter From Home) (01:09) 2 Fixed Income (04:49) 3 Un autre introduction (00:44) 4 Walkie Talkie (02:27) 5 Giving Up the Ghost (06:30) 6 Six Days (05:02) 7 Mongrel… (02:20) 8 …Meets His Maker (03:02) 9 Right Thing/GDMFSOB (clean instrumental version) (04:20) 10 Monosylabik (06:46) 11 Mashin’ on the Motorway (02:58) 12 Blood on the Motorway (09:12) 13 You Can’t Go Home Again (07:03) 14 (Letter From Home) (00:55) 15 Giving Up the Ghost (original version) (06:12) 1 Pushin Buttons Live (12:41) |
| The Private Press : Allmusic album Review : Five years on from his breakout Endtroducing..., hip-hops reigning recluse showed he still had plenty of tricks up his sleeve -- as well as many more rare grooves left for sampling. Shadow had kept a low recording profile during past years, putting out only a few mix sets alongside a pair of collaborations (Psyence Fiction by UNKLE and Quannum Spectrum). That lack of product actually helps The Private Press display just how good a producer he is; the depth of his production sense and the breadth of his stylistic palette prove just as astonishing the second time out. His style is definitely still recognizable, right from the start; "Fixed Income" and "Giving Up the Ghost" carefully layer wistful-sounding string arrangements overtop cavernous David Axelrod breaks (the latter a bit reminiscent of "Midnight in a Perfect World" from Endtroducing...). From there, though, DJ Shadow seldom treads the same path twice, switching from strutting disco breaks ("Walkie Talkie") to melancholy 60s pop that sounds like the second coming of Procol Harum ("Six Days"). "Right Thing/GDMFSOB" is pure breakers revenge, boasting accelerating, echoey electro breakbeats and enough confidence to recycle Leonard Nimoys "pure energy" sample and make it work. Later, Shadow turns to pure aggro for the hilarious road-rage comedy of "Mashin on the Motorway" (with Lateef the Truth Speaker behind the wheel), then summons the conceptual calm of a David Axelrod classic on the very next track with solo piano and a vocal repeating Bible text. Fans may have grown impatient waiting almost six years for the second DJ Shadow LP, but a classic like The Private Press could last at least that long, and maybe longer. [Initially, most copies of The Private Press on sale in America included a track available for download as a bonus.] | ||
 | Album: 9 of 33 Title: Diminishing Returns Released: 2003 Tracks: 17 Duration: 2:06:10 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Give It to Them (05:22) 2 Rock the Show (08:27) 3 Diss Me (05:09) 4 Special K (07:24) 5 Lyrics Are Hype (06:42) 6 Hollow Cut (07:31) 7 Freeze (05:26) 8 Rock to the Rhythm (05:07) 9 Moved On (07:11) 10 Funky Fresh in the Flesh (05:30) 11 I Cant Go for That (16:04) 1 Diminishing Returns Party Pak (08:56) 2 Diminishing Returns Party Pak (09:58) 3 Diminishing Returns Party Pak (06:43) 4 Diminishing Returns Party Pak (06:43) 5 Diminishing Returns Party Pak (08:50) 6 War Is Hell (05:02) |
| Diminishing Returns : Allmusic album Review : The incredibly welcome release of a mix originally done for the BBC in March 2003, the two-disc DJ Shadow set Diminishing Returns allows fans (or those lucky enough to find one of the thousand-copy official run) a listen in to Josh Davis country-wide vinyl-scavenging expeditions of the past ten years. The king of all beat-diggers, Davis reportedly owns the largest collection of rap vinyl on the planet, most of it gleaned from the rotting basements of urban record stores (just check out the Scratch DVD to get some flavor). The first disc alone is a gold mine for hip-hop fans, featuring 80 minutes of quick-cut tracks (most of them obscure) along Shadows interests: early West Coast hardcore, along with plenty of straight-ahead Golden Age hip-hop. The second disc, a 40-minute mix, is similar to Brainfreeze and Product Placement, his collaborations with Cut Chemist, although rather than deep funk, its an eclectic selection of obscure psychedelic rock. An unreleased Shadow production, "War Is Hell," is tacked onto the end. | ||
 | Album: 10 of 33 Title: The Private Repress Released: 2003-03-29 Tracks: 12 Duration: 42:20 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Intro (01:19) 2 Six Days (Soulwax remix) (05:18) 3 GDMFSOB (Unkle Uncensored) (06:26) 4 Interlude (00:20) 5 Walkie Talkie (extended radio edit) (03:15) 6 Six Days (remix) (03:53) 7 Disavowed (04:31) 8 Interlude (00:36) 9 Right Thing (Tokio Ghetto Tech remix) (06:44) 10 Mashin’ on the Motorway (radio edit) (02:40) 11 Right Thing (Z-Trip Set the Party Off mix in three parts) (06:19) 12 Outro (00:56) |
 | Album: 11 of 33 Title: Product Placement: On Tour Released: 2004 Tracks: 12 Duration: 1:01:33 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Part A (06:47) 2 Part B (04:37) 3 Part C (05:42) 4 Part D (03:54) 5 Part E (05:04) 6 Part F (04:46) 7 Part G (03:37) 8 Part H (05:30) 9 Part I (05:27) 10 Part J (04:17) 11 Part K (06:29) 12 Part L (05:20) |
 | Album: 12 of 33 Title: Live! In Tune and on Time Released: 2004-06-14 Tracks: 21 Duration: 1:18:23 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Intro (01:15) 2 Fixed Income (06:00) 3 What Does Your Soul Look Like? Part 2 (03:15) 4 In/Flux (03:18) 5 Un Autre Introduction (00:23) 6 Walkie Talkie (03:53) 7 Guns Blazing (Drums of Death, Part 1) (02:08) 8 Lonely Soul (02:53) 9 Lost & Found (02:56) 10 What Does Your Soul Look Like? Part 3 (03:07) 11 Mutual Slump (02:46) 12 Stem/Long Stem (03:25) 13 Reconstruction Medley (02:04) 14 Holy Calamity (Bear Witness II) (02:34) 15 The Third Decade, Our Move (02:49) 16 Halfway Home (02:17) 17 The Number Song (02:59) 18 Organ Donor (04:20) 19 Mashin’ on the Motorway (03:44) 20 Blood on the Motorway (10:00) 21 Napalm Brain/Scatter Brain & Outro (12:05) |
 | Album: 13 of 33 Title: Schoolhouse Funk II: Raw Business Released: 2005-06-07 Tracks: 23 Duration: 1:03:17 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Interlude: Something Like This (intro) (00:05) 2 Celebrate (03:30) 3 On the Good Foot (05:49) 4 White Man, Black Man (02:44) 5 Interlude: Bus 11 (00:07) 6 Pain (03:36) 7 Carl Woods Experience (02:30) 8 The First Thing I Do (04:10) 9 Hot Streak (05:06) 10 Interlude: Coach Bjorks Inspiring Words (00:26) 11 In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (03:12) 12 Scorpio (02:42) 13 Interlude: General School Year (00:07) 14 Black Brothers (01:46) 15 Underground (03:27) 16 Time Cycle (03:08) 17 Interlude: In the Locker Room (00:06) 18 You Got It (03:43) 19 Da Ya Think Im Sexy? (01:36) 20 Gaza Strip (06:25) 21 K-Jee (03:22) 22 Interlude: Cafeteria Problems (00:08) 23 25 or 6 to 4 (05:18) |
 | Album: 14 of 33 Title: The Outsider Released: 2006-09-15 Tracks: 18 Duration: 1:10:42 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Outsider Intro (02:20) 2 This Time (I’m Gonna Try It My Way) (03:05) 3 3 Freaks (03:49) 4 Droop-E Drop (00:18) 5 Turf Dancing (04:35) 6 Keep Em Close (03:05) 7 Seein’ Thangs (03:40) 8 Broken Levee Blues (02:07) 9 Artifact (instrumental) (02:55) 10 Backstage Girl (07:21) 11 Triplicate / Something Happened That Day (03:43) 12 The Tiger (05:23) 13 Erase You (06:58) 14 What Have I Done (05:24) 15 You Made It (02:47) 16 Enuff (04:28) 17 Dats My Part (04:03) 18 3 Freaks (Droop-E remix) (04:34) |
| The Outsider : Allmusic album Review : The Outsider is either a concept record about musical schizophrenia or a warehouse for 18 of the most idiosyncratic productions of DJ Shadows career. And, to complicate matters, many of them are excellent. Although it trails his second production LP by only four years, The Outsider sounds like it includes the detritus of a decades worth of false starts: celebrity production jobs (one track was originally intended for Zack de la Rocha), anonymously released comeback singles (the regional radio hit "3 Freaks"), collaborations with art rock figures (Kasabian, Chris James from a band called Stateless, Christina Carter from Charalambides), and a cavalcade of talented guest vocalists and rappers who predictably underperform (or get overwhelmed by their productions). The best thing about The Outsider is that it rarely attempts to be Endtroducing, Pt. 2. In fact, mainstream rap commands the first third of the record. Setting aside his sampler for a few tracks, Shadow proves that Lil Jon has nothing on him. (Certainly, if Shadow ever made a concerted effort at commercial rap production, Scott Storch would soon be back making sandwiches in Philly.) For "3 Freaks," he pushes a couple of San Franciscos finest hyphy hip-hop stars, Keak da Sneak and Turf Talk, for a digital track thats as experimental as should be expected from Shadow, but just commercial enough to light up urban radio. (Granted, rap radio can be a surprisingly experimental place.) The paranoid synth of "Turf Dancing" finds Shadow cruising out to Vallejo, David Banner stops by for "Seein Thangs," and the Sick Wid It fiend Nump spins a tale of gritty paranoia on "Keep Em Close." From there, the roller coaster begins banking sharply; Shadow follows up a New Orleans guitar elegy worthy of Hendrix himself with a madcap punk-into-R&B; instrumental. His tribute to John Cage precedes the Kasabian feature, and vocalist Chris James is drafted to impersonate Bono on "Erase You" (where he continually intones an interesting phrase, "under the blood red sky") and, two tracks later, Chris Martin on "You Made It." Aside from the artist himself, the only other thing that unifies this record is a crack band called the Heliocentrics, which proves its chops throughout the LP -- but nowhere better than on the first song, a dead ringer for Marvin Gayes "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" with vocals from a singer that not even DJ Shadow could identify (probably picked up during one of his record-shop binges). The Outsider is a carefully crafted, artistically elusive mess -- far more scattershot than even his first UNKLE record (Psyence Fiction), but much more interesting for its excellent productions. | ||
 | Album: 15 of 33 Title: Live at Brixton Academy December 2006 Released: 2006-12-16 Tracks: 23 Duration: 1:51:24 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 The Outsider / (intro) (06:02) 2 Building Steam With a Grain of Salt (04:09) 3 [untitled] (02:56) 4 Six Days (03:25) 5 Changeling (04:47) 6 The Tiger (01:54) 7 Mutual Slump / Mongrel Meets His Maker (02:43) 8 Be There (04:19) 9 Instrumental 3 (04:24) 10 War Is Hell / Seein Thangs (04:49) 11 Three Freaks / Turf Dancing (03:55) 12 This Time (Im Gonna Try It My Way) (02:56) 13 You Made It (04:29) 1 Erase You, Part 1 (04:43) 2 Erase You, Part 2 (02:27) 3 Enuff (04:43) 4 Lady Dont Tek No / Enuff (02:29) 5 Mashin on the Motorway (05:05) 6 Break It Down (07:47) 7 The Number Song (04:00) 8 Organ Donor (07:15) 9 Triplicate / UNKLE Megamix (17:03) 10 Midnight in a Perfect World (05:04) |
 | Album: 16 of 33 Title: The Hyphy Movement Released: 2007-04-30 Tracks: 15 Duration: 58:20 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Thizzelle Dance (04:04) 2 Super Hyphie (remix) (03:25) 3 The Bay (Hyhpy Remix) (03:33) 4 Its Ah Slumper (03:49) 5 Getz Ya Grown Man On (03:55) 6 Hyphy Juice (03:22) 7 Super Sic Wit It (03:31) 8 3 Freaks (Droop-E remix) (04:34) 9 I Gott Grapes (04:15) 10 Scrapin (04:35) 11 The Dummy (04:31) 12 Metros & Chirpers (03:27) 13 Fassst (03:54) 14 That Go (03:40) 15 Feelin Myself (03:44) |
 | Album: 17 of 33 Title: The 4-Track Era, Volume 1: Best of the KMEL Mixes (1991) Released: 2007-08-29 Tracks: 2 Duration: 1:17:11 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 [untitled] (38:18) 2 [untitled] (38:53) |
 | Album: 18 of 33 Title: The 4-Track Era, Volume 2: Best of the Remixes and Megamixes (1990-1992) Released: 2007-12-11 Tracks: 11 Duration: 1:15:17 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Let the Rhythm Hit Em (DJ Shadow remix) (02:39) 2 Best of the Megamixes, Part 1 (17:17) 3 Shakiyla (DJ Shadow remix) (06:08) 4 Bubble Gum Beat (03:42) 5 Best of the Megamixes, Part 2 (14:23) 6 Give Your Love to Me (DJ Shadow remix) (04:12) 7 Stopper (DJ Shadow remix) (02:57) 8 Jimbrowski (DJ Shadow remix) (04:25) 9 No Tricks (DJ Shadow remix) (04:02) 10 Best of the Megamixes, Part 3 (07:26) 11 Wordz of Wisdom (DJ Shadow remix) (08:01) |
 | Album: 19 of 33 Title: The Hard Sell Released: 2008-01-11 Tracks: 2 Duration: 1:09:40 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 [untitled] (42:26) 2 [untitled] (27:13) |
 | Album: 20 of 33 Title: The Hard Sell (Encore) Released: 2008-02-27 Tracks: 9 Duration: 1:19:01 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 On a Mission (05:19) 2 Jukebox Rock (07:36) 3 Funky (06:57) 4 Chilled (06:53) 5 Sun Used to Shine (03:10) 6 Fused of Course (17:28) 7 Toro Toro (02:56) 8 Hooked on Atari (23:48) 9 Turned Around and Time Warped (04:48) |
 | Album: 21 of 33 Title: The 4-Track Era Collection (1990-1992) Released: 2008-11-11 Tracks: 1 Duration: 38:06 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 KMEL Mix #4 (1991) (38:06) |
 | Album: 22 of 33 Title: The 4-Track Era, Volume 3: Best of the Original Productions (1990-1992) Released: 2008-11-11 Tracks: 22 Duration: 1:06:20 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Shadow T-Mor Beat (01:34) 2 DJ Shadows Theme (original version) (02:41) 3 Sampler Phone Message (00:16) 4 The Source Is Serious Business (05:14) 5 Make It Critical (02:05) 6 Track the Groove (04:14) 7 Rock Lesson (05:14) 8 Genesis Beat (02:54) 9 Shadows Legitimate Mix (alternate version) (06:34) 10 Preacher Beat (02:14) 11 Cult of Brutality (04:06) 12 Beat for Paris (04:05) 13 UMCs Drop (00:11) 14 Ms. Chauncey (03:40) 15 Do You Remember (00:26) 16 Lesson 5 (04:02) 17 Aint That a Bitch (02:42) 18 Reverse Beat (01:42) 19 Oras Intro (00:21) 20 Lesson 4 (alternative version) (08:35) 21 Closing Credits (02:50) 22 Zen Outro (00:29) |
 | Album: 23 of 33 Title: Spinning Live In NYC, 1996 Released: 2009 Tracks: 1 Duration: 38:55 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Spinning Live In NYC, 1996 (38:55) |
 | Album: 24 of 33 Title: Live in Milan, Italy (September 1st, 1999) Released: 2009 Tracks: 3 Duration: 1:13:30 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Part 1 (05:18) 2 Part 2 (39:17) 3 Part 3 (28:55) |
 | Album: 25 of 33 Title: The UNKLE In-Stores Released: 2009-10 Tracks: 2 Duration: 1:07:47 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 NYC, October 1st, 1998 (24:42) 2 Austin, Texas, October 2nd, 1998 (43:05) |
 | Album: 26 of 33 Title: The DJ Shadow Remix Project Released: 2010-07 Tracks: 17 Duration: 1:09:24 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Shadow Propaganda Mix (Somepling) (00:57) 2 Building Steam With a Grain of Salt (NiT GriT mix) (03:19) 3 Stem (Blank Image mix) (05:22) 4 Walkie Talkie (Irn Mnky "Beat Down" mix) (04:13) 5 What Does Your Soul Look Like? Part 2 (economics version) (07:39) 6 Broken Levee II (Primus Luta version) (03:07) 7 This Time (suonho "Now Is the Time" mix) (03:59) 8 Midnight in a Perfect World (FUSO mix) (03:02) 9 What Does Look Like Your Soul (Benjamin One mix) (04:13) 10 Mongrel Meets His Maker (Sonotech mix) (03:52) 11 Halfway Home (Awkward mix) (04:51) 12 Fixed Income (Cherenkov Riddim mix) (04:54) 13 Scatterbrain (Randomatik Blast mix) (04:06) 14 Shadow Megamix (Sovereign Universalist) (04:11) 15 Building Steam With a Grain of Salt (Ruby My Dear mix) (05:24) 16 Blood on the Motorway (Coalition of the Aware "SHDW" mix) (02:17) 17 Stem (Le Couturier version) (03:58) |
 | Album: 27 of 33 Title: The Less You Know, the Better Released: 2011-09-27 Tracks: 16 Duration: 59:30 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Back to Front (Circular Logic) (02:05) 2 Border Crossing (03:36) 3 Stay the Course (03:37) 4 I’ve Been Trying (03:13) 5 Sad and Lonely (03:10) 6 Warning Call (03:31) 7 Tedium (02:27) 8 Enemy Lines (05:23) 9 Going Nowhere (00:28) 10 Redeemed (04:26) 11 Run for Your Life (03:25) 12 Give Me Back the Nights (03:55) 13 I Gotta Rokk (06:29) 14 Scale It Back (04:18) 15 Circular Logic (Front to Back) (04:55) 16 (Not So) Sad and Lonely (04:30) |
| The Less You Know, the Better : Allmusic album Review : Proud to be a turntable throwback in an age of iPod mixers, DJ Shadow constructs his beats (and tracks, and mixes) from the ground up. The result is an album that sounds unlike any other, even though its comprised of countless bits and pieces of vinyl history. The Less You Know, The Better, his fourth studio album and first in five years, also sounds closer to his classic Endtroducing..... than any of his others, as though Shadows finally willing to embrace his career landmark instead of constantly play against type. It contrasts starkly with 2006’s The Outsider, which was heavily rap-based. (Here, only Posdnuos and Talib Kweli rhyme, and theyre both on the same track.) Instead, Shadow focuses on plumbing the depths of his record collection, occasionally flashing and scratching like in his salad days, but just as often pulling slabs of forgotten wax -- metal riffs, piano balladry, bygone acid-rock burnouts, crystalline female folkies -- to state his case for him. As on Endtroducing....., his ear for interesting obscurities is nearly faultless, but he seems to have less patience than earlier in his career. The first seven tracks, each under three-and-a-half minutes, flit from style to style so quickly that heads will spin, and he doesnt quite connect the dots between tracks as well as he was doing in the mid-90s. (Granted, anyone looking for a single to pull from the album has a clear winner, “Warning Call” featuring fellow Island Records artist Tom Vek.) Shadow certainly followed a tough road to get this album released: two singles previously released for the album faced samples-clearance issues and didnt make the final program (which makes it clear that this wasnt the exact album he had in mind originally). Except for the occasionally bumpy ride, though, The Less You Know, The Better is one of the most entertaining albums of the year, with countless moments of brilliance. Being a throwback means there arent many like you, and the album positively shines compared to the rest of instrumental hip-hop in the 2000s and 2010s. In that sense, it proves the wisdom of the cover design, where a trio of cartoonish consumer-electronic devices attempt to whitewash the album title off a billboard. | ||
 | Album: 28 of 33 Title: Total Breakdown: Hidden Transmissions From the MPC Era, 1992-1996 Released: 2012-06-05 Tracks: 24 Duration: 1:14:32 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Intropy (original version) (01:06) 2 Vee in Detroit (02:35) 3 Dreams of a Piece (03:18) 4 The Not-So-Quiet Storm (03:20) 5 Fast Rap Fanfare (06:16) 6 Intensely Hitting (03:26) 7 Mystical With Solo (02:04) 8 Alright (02:26) 9 Dont Try It (03:06) 10 From the Old School (02:45) 11 Freddis Popcorn (02:52) 12 Quickstep (00:27) 13 Movin On (Gab demo 1) (03:59) 14 Falling Up (02:37) 15 Mellow but Chunky (02:59) 16 Total Breakdown (Gab demo 2) (02:59) 17 Heavy Mood (01:33) 18 Affectations (03:49) 19 Perilous Journey (Gab demo 3) (03:37) 20 Aye (02:44) 21 Brittle but Magic (02:23) 22 Atmospheric Disturbances (07:19) 23 Swimming Upstream (Gab demo 4) (05:45) 24 Up for Grabs (outro) (01:07) |
 | Album: 29 of 33 Title: Reconstructed: The Best of DJ Shadow Released: 2012-09-21 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:07:33 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Midnight in a Perfect World (05:00) 2 High Noon (03:59) 3 I’ve Been Trying (03:13) 4 This Time (I’m Gonna Try It My Way) (03:05) 5 You Cant Go Home Again (radio edit) (04:43) 6 Scale It Back (single edit) (03:39) 7 Listen (02:59) 8 Stem (single edit) (03:26) 9 Six Days (05:02) 10 Wont You Be (03:36) 11 Organ Donor (Extended Overhaul re-edit) (04:27) 12 Lonely Soul (7" version) (04:20) 13 Blood on the Motorway (08:16) 14 You Made It (02:47) 15 Redeemed (04:26) 16 Dark Days (Main Theme) (04:30) |
| Reconstructed: The Best of DJ Shadow : Allmusic album Review : The problem with compiling experimental, instrumental hip-hop producer DJ Shadow is that his two-decade-plus career has yielded a mere five albums, and one of those is 1996s Endtroducing..., a mammothly influential release, the first album that was comprised entirely of samples, and one thats beloved beyond belief. This one-disc compilation deals with its Sgt Peppers-sized, must-have classic status by grabbing two important cuts off the album, putting the aptly titled, nocturnal dream "Midnight in a Perfect World" right up front and dropping the single edit of the serene "Stem" between a new cut (a jazzy, life-journey called "Listen" with the full-bodied, bluesy voice of Terry Reid) and the best bit off his Private Press (2002) album (the Procol Harum-meets-David Axelrod-ish "Six Days"). Not only are they the best reminders for fans, but that leaves plenty of music for newcomers to discover once Endtroducing… is acquired; but where Reconstructed really wins is with the rest, rounding up the best bits that more casual fans might have missed (the moody and refined drifter "Redeemed" off 2011s The Less You Know, The Better, or 2006s The Outsider being represented by the Bill Withers-bright blast of soul called "This Time (Im Gonna Try It My Way)") along with some rare cuts that reach out of the usual discography (the funky introvert-dubbed "Lonely Soul" with Richard Ashcroft is actually from the trip-hop supergroup U.N.K.L.E., of which Shadow was a once a member). Exiting with the subterranean and special "Dark Days" from the film of the same name earns the comp some extra credit, but the boom-bap-meets-Duane Eddy track does bring up an arguable point: that Reconstructed favors the deep, crafted, and cool side of Shadows output over his more outgoing and heavily rap-based work. Still, its a fine set, worth owning along with Endtroducing… while giving beat-friendly newcomers a very persuasive career-to-date overview. | ||
 | Album: 30 of 33 Title: Reconstructed: The Definitive DJ Shadow Released: 2012-11 Tracks: 97 Duration: 7:50:34 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Best Foot Forward (00:48) 2 Building Steam With a Grain of Salt (06:41) 3 The Number Song (All Samples Feared re-edit) (04:10) 4 Changeling / Transmission 1 (07:51) 5 What Does Your Soul Look Like, Part 4 (05:08) 6 [untitled] (00:24) 7 Stem / Long Stem / Transmission 2 (09:22) 8 Mutual Slump (04:03) 9 Organ Donor (01:57) 10 Why Hip Hop Sucks in ’96 (00:43) 11 Midnight in a Perfect World (05:00) 12 Napalm Brain / Scatter Brain (09:23) 13 What Does Your Soul Look Like, Part 1: Blue Sky Revisit / Transmission 3 (07:28) 1 Best Foot Forward (alternate version) (01:16) 2 Building Steam With a Grain of Salt (alternate take without overdubs) (06:43) 3 The Number Song (Cut Chemist Party mix) (All Samples Feared re-edit) (04:54) 4 Changeling (original demo excerpt) (00:59) 5 Stem (Cops ’n’ Robbers mix) (03:49) 6 Soup (00:44) 7 Red Bus Needs to Leave! (02:44) 8 Mutual Slump (alternate take without overdubs) (04:21) 9 Organ Donor (extended overhaul) (04:28) 10 Why Hip Hop Sucks in ’96 (alternate take) (00:54) 11 Midnight in a Perfect World (Gab mix) (04:55) 12 Napalm Brain (original demo beat) (00:35) 13 What Does Your Soul Look Like? (Peshay remix) (09:24) 14 DJ Shadow Live in Oxford, England, October 30 1997 (12:35) 1 (Letter From Home) (01:09) 2 Fixed Income (04:49) 3 Un autre introduction (00:44) 4 Walkie Talkie (02:27) 5 Giving Up the Ghost (06:30) 6 Six Days (05:02) 7 Mongrel… (02:20) 8 …Meets His Maker (03:02) 9 Right Thing/GDMFSOB (clean instrumental version) (04:20) 10 Monosylabik (06:46) 11 Mashin’ on the Motorway (02:58) 12 Blood on the Motorway (09:12) 13 You Can’t Go Home Again (07:03) 14 (Letter From Home) (00:55) 1 Outsider Intro (02:20) 2 This Time (I’m Gonna Try It My Way) (03:05) 3 3 Freaks (03:49) 4 Droop-E Drop (00:18) 5 Turf Dancing (04:35) 6 Keep Em Close (03:05) 7 Seein’ Thangs (03:40) 8 Artifact (instrumental) (02:55) 9 Backstage Girl (07:21) 10 Triplicate / Something Happened That Day (03:43) 11 The Tiger (05:23) 12 Erase You (06:58) 13 What Have I Done (05:24) 14 You Made It (02:47) 15 Enuff (04:28) 16 Dats My Part (04:03) 1 Back to Front (Circular Logic) (02:05) 2 Border Crossing (03:36) 3 Stay the Course (03:37) 4 I’ve Been Trying (03:13) 5 Sad and Lonely (03:10) 6 Warning Call (03:31) 7 Tedium (02:27) 8 Enemy Lines (05:23) 9 Going Nowhere (00:28) 10 Redeemed (04:26) 11 Run for Your Life (03:25) 12 Give Me Back the Nights (03:55) 13 I Gotta Rokk (06:29) 14 Scale It Back (04:18) 15 Circular Logic (Front to Back) (04:55) 16 (Not So) Sad and Lonely (04:30) 1 Listen (02:59) 2 Wont You Be (03:36) 3 Lost & Found (S.F.L.) (10:06) 4 Hindsight (06:53) 5 Skullfuckery (04:52) 6 Hardcore (Instrumental) Hip-Hop (Butchered edit) (04:41) 7 Divine Intervention (05:19) 8 Lonely Soul (7" version) (04:21) 9 High Noon (03:59) 10 Dark Days (Main Theme) (04:30) 11 Camel Bobsled Race (DJ Shadow megamix) (24:01) 1 Show Intro Through Border Crossing (13:45) 2 Hip-Hop Section (10:52) 3 I Gotta Rokk Section (11:38) 4 Redeemed Section (05:28) 5 DNB Section (13:43) 6 Sad & Lonely Section (07:18) 7 High Noon Through Outro (14:50) 1 Number Song (Cut Chemist Party mix (All Samples Feared re-edit)) (?) 2 Be There (Underdog mix) (?) 3 Six Days (remix) (03:53) 4 Enuff (DJ Fresh remix) (?) 5 I Gotta Rokk (Irn Mnky Swagger mix) (06:22) 6 Scale It Back (Kev Willow remix) (05:07) |
 | Album: 31 of 33 Title: The Remixes Released: 2015-11-16 Tracks: 10 Duration: 37:13 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Cassette Ready (intro) (00:05) 2 Yeah (Eriks MPC & 1200 remix) (03:00) 3 Napalm Brain, Scatter Brain (Vinkate remix) (06:28) 4 Hitosu No Mirai (Prototype 68 remix) (02:50) 5 Giving Up the Ghost (Erik Jackson Holy remix) (03:36) 6 Four Elements (Vinkate remix) (04:29) 7 Midnight in a Perfect World (Jenova 7 remix) (04:50) 8 Duality (Mr. Moods Reef remix) (03:55) 9 What Does Your Soul Look Like (Mr. Moods Good Looking remix) (03:47) 10 Kemuri (Erik Jackson Cassette/1200 Massacare) (04:13) |
 | Album: 32 of 33 Title: The Mountain Will Fall Released: 2016-06-24 Tracks: 12 Duration: 49:40 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The Mountain Will Fall (04:36) 2 Nobody Speak (03:16) 3 Three Ralphs (03:37) 4 Bergschrund (04:10) 5 The Sideshow (03:28) 6 Depth Charge (04:53) 1 Mambo (03:03) 2 Ashes to Oceans (06:16) 3 Pitter Patter (03:24) 4 California (04:29) 5 Ghost Town (03:51) 6 Suicide Pact (04:34) |
| The Mountain Will Fall : Allmusic album Review : In the professional and creative senses, Reconstructed: The Best of DJ Shadow cleared the deck for Josh Davis. Released in 2012, it summarized the producers Mo Wax and major-label years, and somewhat perversely included only one cut that originated on his 1996 landmark debut album. After a 2014 EP, the first release through his download-only Liquid Amber label, Davis completely severed ties with majors and connected with the independent Mass Appeal. In the booklet for The Mountain Will Fall -- his fifth proper album -- only a handful of interpolations and samples are credited. After the detailed track list, a series of images pointedly depict a wall of analog electronic gear. While this album is much less reliant upon repurposed recordings than what preceded it -- Davis voiced the intent to put his touch on what contemporary music moves him -- there are many shared qualities. The sounds of the components have varied from release to release, but The Mountain Will Fall, as much as anything else, can be classified as a sprawling, largely instrumental suite rooted in hip-hop. There are subtle and abrupt changes in mood, dashes of off-center humor, and moments of bass-drum bombardment following extended stretches of austere atmospheres. Likewise, there are tracks within tracks that slip and tumble down unexpected paths. Theres even a modern-day equivalent to "The Number Song," the almost-as-cut-up and equally rambunctious "The Sideshow." The few guest appearances have true purpose, not merely the fulfillment of half-hearted offers to "work together sometime." In typically hostile and humorous form, Killer Mike and El-P mix it up with live brass and horns on the gunslinging "Nobody Speak." "Bergschrund" ("mountain crevasse"), made with Nils Frahm, is a bracing hybrid of stutter-stop beats, blips, and thrumming effects that evoke perilous suspense. An equally valuable contribution comes from a group of musicians, including Matthew Halsall, on "Ashes to Oceans." Davis seems to tug a dying drum machine across a shoreline before rapid handclap clusters and a feverish drum break arrive, only to dissolve into smeared piano and Halsalls trumpet. Some moments are so bleak that they could be titled descriptively as "What Does Your Witch House Look Like, Pts. 1-2," yet the whole thing sounds like it was created in a state of fevered inspiration. | ||
 | Album: 33 of 33 Title: Live in Manchester: The Mountain Has Fallen Tour Released: 2018-07-13 Tracks: 9 Duration: 1:16:53 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Shadow Intro (01:43) 2 Transmission Mountain (07:20) 3 Blast Talkie (06:15) 4 Berg Stem (12:04) 5 Mongrel Show (08:54) 6 Suicide Posse (10:58) 7 Soul Days (08:58) 8 Nobody Steam (09:33) 9 Sideshow Donor (11:04) |