DJ Shadow
1,671 Shouts - 23,099,000 Scrobbles
Biography
DJ Shadow's 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 he'd already done a scattering of original and production work (during 1991-1992 for Hollywood Records) by the time Mo' Wax's James Lavelle contacted him about releasing "In/Flux" on the fledgling imprint, it wasn't until his association with Mo' Wax that his sound began to mature and cohere. Mo' Wax released a longer work in 1995 -- the 40-minute single in four movements "What Does Your Soul Look Like," which topped the British indie charts -- and 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.
Read More...Davis grew up in Hayward, California, a predominantly lower-middle class suburb of San Francisco. An odd, white suburban hip-hop fan in the 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-hop's early years into the heyday of crews like Eric B. & Rakim, Ultramagnetic MC's, 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. Shadow's 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 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 he'd 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. ~ Sean Cooper, Rovi
Music Videos
Top Tracks
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Midnight In A Perfect World - (4:58) - 77,310 playsLyricsInsight, foresight, more sight
The clock in a war is a quarter past midnight
Ahh ohh
Ahh ohh
I don't believe
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Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt - (6:39) - 70,773 playsLyricsProducing
From listening to records
I just knew what to do, I mainly taught myself
And, you know, I did pretty well
Except there were a few mistakes
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Organ Donor - (1:57) - 65,717 playsLyricsYou got an organ goin' there no wonder the sound has so much body
You got an organ goin' there no wonder the sound has so much body
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Best Foot Forward - (0:48) - 50,463 playsLyricsBob, Bob Wood
National program director of the chum group
Worked with us in producing
Hold up, hold up, before we get started
Guess who's coming
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The Number Song - (4:34) - 47,766 playsLyrics1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Break down baby
Come on and get with it
1, 2, 3, 4, hit it
What is this?
- Back to Front (Circular Logic) - (2:04) - 41,621 plays
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- Mutual Slump - (4:00) - 37,807 plays
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- I've Been Trying - (3:13) - 43,867 plays
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- What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4) - (5:02) - 35,195 plays
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- Border Crossing - (3:36) - 38,851 plays
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- Sad and Lonely - (3:10) - 40,474 plays
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- Tedium - (2:26) - 33,104 plays
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- I Gotta Rokk - (6:30) - 31,868 plays
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- Enemy Lines - (5:23) - 31,746 plays
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- Scale It Back - (4:19) - 35,571 plays
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- Warning Call - (3:36) - 33,663 plays
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- Redeemed - (4:26) - 33,022 plays
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- Run for Your Life - (3:25) - 28,974 plays
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- Fixed Income - (4:44) - 26,360 plays
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- Six Days - (4:59) - 30,667 plays
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From Radio.com
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Concert Recap: LIVE 105-s Spookfest 2010
October 30, 2010 -
SPOOKFEST 2010: TONIGHT’s SET TIMES!!
October 28, 2010






DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist
DJ Krush
dj shadow & dan the automator
Cut Chemist
UNKLE
Kid Koala
RJD2
DJ Cam
DJ Food
The Herbaliser