Return of the Shadow...

June 4, 2002 4:06 AM

Return of the Shadow... Josh Davis shows he hasn't lost his muse in the six years since Endtroducing... changed the shape of things to come. Ten minute preview is available before you go out and get your own mint condition special edition (plus one copy to hock on eBay).
posted by birddog (22 comments total)

Village Voice has a great review here. Sorry I missed it before.
posted by birddog at 4:15 AM on June 4, 2002

One of those artists who definitely deserves support. Unfortunately, this album was "distributed" in it's complete form a few months ago and has been making the rounds on P2P and usenet. All those with copies (you know who you are) please get the real version, cause you know, packaging and liner notes are good.
posted by jeremias at 5:04 AM on June 4, 2002

Heard a full promo copy just a couple of days ago. Shadow is amazing. Buy this record!
posted by brand-gnu at 5:24 AM on June 4, 2002

if you all want to suport underground hiphop, buy from hiphop site and get a free 30 minute D-STYLES vs. DJ SHADOW Mix CD.This was done exclusivly for them.


i bet it'll be comparable to camel bobsled race that Qbert did for the 2nd disk of preemptive strike.

I've already heard the album promo copy about a month ago. good. different. not as good as endtroducing, in my opinon though.
I did really enjoy the final track: pushing buttons (live). 13 minute live track with chemist. nu-marc, and shadow performed at the root down.
posted by ewwgene at 6:07 AM on June 4, 2002

oops. forgot the url. hiphopsite :)
posted by ewwgene at 6:09 AM on June 4, 2002

Endtroducing is a tour de force. The Private Press, however, is not. DJ Shadow does dance - an electronica equivalent of "Street Life". If you're into easily-accessible IDM you'll dig, if you're not such a techno fan, and prefer cross-over genius (like me), you'll not.

The new Wilco it ain't.
posted by Marquis at 6:12 AM on June 4, 2002

I'd have to agree with Ewwgene and Marquis that The Private Press isn't nearly as good as Entroducing... Actually, after listening to it several (more than 10) times now, I'm pretty underwhelmed by nearly the whole thing. Besides a couple really good tracks and a couple more than have some value with their inherent goofiness, it's just not a very dynamic record. Too many random samples that make no sense whatever and just break the flow of things, and not nearly as much of the awesome freshness of his first disc. I guess I can always go back and listen to his first disc, or his excellent mix discs (Brainfreeze and Product Placement) with Cut Chemist). And who knows, maybe it will grow on me in time...
posted by almostcool at 6:31 AM on June 4, 2002

I think it's kind of an homage to vintage styles. I think he intentionally wanted to avoid sounding too contemporary or experimental. I think he was shooting for a simplified style than would hold up to time and age gracefully, just like his sample sources. It sounds like an album made for crate diggers, like he was trying to travel back in time and recapture an aesthetic that almost seems mystical 30-40 years down the road.

Ahistorical funk.
posted by rhizome23 at 7:36 AM on June 4, 2002

I'm listining to the preview now, and I would have to agree with the dissenters above. I'll definately get the album, but from this preview I already have the feeling that it's not as complete as Entroducing. I would have figured he'd have gone with some more beat splitting stuff (ala DnB, but slower).

This is his second album? Looks like sophmore slump. Too bad that we'll have to wait another few years before we hear the next LP. Maybe he has to go out & get new (old) records.
posted by password at 7:45 AM on June 4, 2002

The first time that I saw the video for 'Building a stream with a grain of salt' on MTV's AMP I ran out the next day and bought endtroducing. I still think that 'Organ donor' has one of the best breaks of all time. I've chased down everything from Shadow that I could get my hands on. (I must say I was pretty disappointed in the whole UNKLE thing.) I am glad that the man has finally put something new out. I'm downloading the new album right now and I plan on picking it up when it's released tommorrow.
posted by daHIFI at 8:16 AM on June 4, 2002

i see shadow has redesigned his site. only months ago it was optimized for ns 3.0, and all that implies. (and sans flash.) in fact, the old site remains at its old name. shadow actually had another release. it's called "preemptive strike", and while it's more a continuation of the material he'd done for endtroducing, it's quite good. (check out "in/flux", "what does your soul look like part 2", and "high noon.") apparently, there was a third release which i've never seen called "one to grow on," but it contains songs mostly found elsewhere. (a discography.)

also, i liked UNKLE. more so than most people, it seems.
posted by moz at 8:33 AM on June 4, 2002

if i haven't got anything positive to say on these personal taste threads, i tend not to say anything.
how does the 'dark days' score compare to his other recent work?
nb. i haven't had any of his releases since 'lost and found' and 'what does your soul look like?' (1994).
posted by asok at 8:49 AM on June 4, 2002

Hehe! I'm going to see Shadow at the Fillmore! Hehe!
posted by scarabic at 8:59 AM on June 4, 2002

even if you don't like PP as much as Endtro, you gotta admit it's the difference between being really good and better than anyone has a right to be.

i like 'em all, especially Brainfreeze.
posted by clango at 9:04 AM on June 4, 2002

I got a copy of the album last week, and it's not really much to write home too. the only really great tracks are "Six Days" (which could easily be a Portishead song) and "Mashin' On The Motorway" (which could easily be a Kid Koala song). the only DJ Shadow stuff I could really get into was Preemptive Strike and UNKLE, two highly excellent discs.
posted by mcsweetie at 9:28 AM on June 4, 2002

IHNTA. IJLS comparable to camel bobsled race that Qbert did for the 2nd disk of preemptive strike.

"Roger, sir, airstrike on the way."
posted by dhartung at 9:51 AM on June 4, 2002

I hope its better than Monosylabic.... I was very disappointed after finally tracking down a copy.

Looking forward to buying this tomorrow, despite the comments above.

Shadow is playing at the Essential Festival in London in August. He's a must see live. Very talented turn-tablism and a good line of banter all adds up to a great show.
posted by davehat at 10:12 AM on June 4, 2002

I wish there were a list of all that was sampled on Endtroducing. So far all I have is:

(something)
(something)
...
Dialogue from John Carpenter's "Prince of Darkness"
(something)
(something)
...
posted by kurumi at 10:39 AM on June 4, 2002

Moz has it a little wrong. Preemptive Strike was a release of older songs (What Does Your Soul Look Like was initially done in four parts, and released on MoWax) to "pre-empt" the bootleggers and/or greedy record execs. One to Grow On is a promo to reinitiate people to Shadow's work prior to this release. Endtroducing.com is actually a fan site, which was up before Shadow had a site of his own.

Meanwhile, the critics above have it more than a little wrong - this guy's got mad skills, and is pushing the boundaries in ways not readily found in so-called 'accessible' music, much less hiphop. If that weren't true, he wouldn't spawn such debate. All this dance music talk is missing the point (Endtro was just named best dance album of all time by some ridiculous rag, which Shadow refutes - he maintains it's not the best of anything album). It's experimental, challenging music that takes up the gauntlet of answering the question "what is hiphop?" and answers with genuine emotion and soul, "It's all good."

As for me, I'll be damned if I'm not going to see him at the Fillmore in a week.
posted by birddog at 11:41 AM on June 4, 2002

sorry about that, birddog.
posted by moz at 12:31 PM on June 4, 2002

I was hella excited to be going to see Shadow and Cut Chemist in Glasgow a couple of months ago. Oh yes. Sadly they stuck rigidly to their Funk 45s philosophy and I ended up being pretty damn bored. Okay, so I'm not really into funk but it just sounded like, "Hey listen to the grrreat horn riff here. Shame about the rest of the track."

The sort of thing that I was actually hoping for can be found on Thud Rumble: The Main Event and it is sweet indeed.
posted by MUD at 3:32 PM on June 4, 2002

I have the CDs of the seminal Headz compilations which was on James Lavelle's Mo' Wax label. Lovers of DJ Shadow should try to track these down. I've never seen the vinyl.
posted by gen at 9:27 AM on June 5, 2002