He sounds like a dark superhero nemesis haunting the alleys and sidewalks of some fictional North American future city. Or perhaps the murky pools that lie within the darker recesses of our psyches. In fact, he is Josh Davis, ironically from the Northern Californian town of… Davis, and for the last 20 years he has been behind some of the most innovative electronic music to have filtered out of the human imagination and into nightclubs across the planet.
DJ Shadow really made his name with 1996’s Entroducing album, which famously was the first album made entirely from samples. And that meant DJ Shadow made it into the pages of The Guinness Book of Records, as well as those of DJmagazine. He also made a mark by providing much of the music for James Lavelle’s U.N.K.L.E. electronic supergroup, and their ’98 album Psyence Fiction.
It’s therefore apt that this overview should now appear, marking two decades spent on two decks. Reconstructed forms a strong and successful overview of the career of DJ Shadow, over one CD and double vinyl. For those true aficionados, The Definitive DJ Shadow will be released at the same time, a multi-disc box set limited to 500 copies, each signed by DJ Shadow. With eight discs, one 12” vinyl and full illustrated booklet, that’s one for the true completists.
Over the years, DJ Shadow has managed to provide the soundtrack to both urban dancefloor and metropolitan living room, superheroic beats and supine grooves, low slung hip hop to folky influences. This career overview stretches from the mellifluous beats of ‘Won’t You Be’ through the mellow acoustics of ‘I’ve Been Trying’ to the smudged, grimier electric guitars that feed into ‘Listen’. Taken together the album creates contemporary, urbane soundscapes over which vocals float like moody clouds, in the shape of folk like Thom Yorke on ‘Dark Days’ and Richard Ashcroft on ‘Lonely Soul’. In terms of chronology, the album stretches back to pre-Mo Wax days running right up to the most recent album The Less You Know, The Better and two brand new cuts – ‘Won’t Be You’ and ‘Listen’ – featuring vocals from Terry Reid. The quality is sustained throughout; the same raw beat underpinning all the music, through all these years.
DJ Shadow will step up for a rare appearance at the Warehouse Project on November 9th. It took them six years to persuade him to play at their old Store Street home, so this is set to be one special evening. Time for Josh Davis to step out of the shadows…
Release Date 24/09/2012 (Island)
Simon is a writer, broadcaster and countercultural investigator. Over the last 15 years he has written for everyone from The Guardian to Loaded magazine, presented television for Rapture TV and hosted radio programs for the likes of Galaxy. He has also found time to earn a Masters Degree in Novel Writing and write three books (a collection of journalism, a guidebook to Ibiza and one on financial planning for young people – the most varied publishing career it’s possible to have) and establish and run a PR company, Pad Communications, looking after a range of leisure and lifestyle clients.He currently splits his time between researching his PhD at Leeds University, looking into various countercultural movements; consulting freelance for PR clients; writing for the likes of Marie Claire in Australia, The Big Issue and the Manchester Evening News, where he reviews concerts, theatre and is their Pub & Bar Editor. He is also broadcaster, appearing regularly on Tony Livesey’s late night 5Live show for the BBC, and also for BBC Radio Manchester Gourmet Night food and drink show.Simon’s main focus has been music and travel. His career has included editing Ministry of Sound’s magazine in Ibiza for two summers and also writing two long-running columns for DJmagazine – ”Around The World in 80 Clubs” (which took him everywhere from Beijing to Brazil, Moscow to Marrakech) and “Dispatches From The Wrong Side”. A collection of the latter was published in the UK and US as the book Discombobulated, including tales as varied as gatecrashing Kylie Minogue’s birthday party, getting deported from Russia, having a gun held to his head by celebrity gangster Dave Courtney and going raving in Ibiza with Judith Chalmers. He has recently written for the likes of Red magazine, Hotline, Clash, Tilllate, Shortlist and the Manchester Evening News. Pad Communications has recently consulted for clients as varied as Manchester nightclubs and New Zealand toy companies.On a personal note, Simon is a Londoner who left the capital at the age of 18 and never looked back. He sees himself as a citizen of the global dancefloor having lived in Sydney, Los Angeles, Ibiza and Amsterdam. However his life is now rather more sedentary. After all his adventures he bumped into and subsequently married his highschool sweetheart from their North London Grammar. They now live in Stockport with their four children and four chickens, trying to live the good life. Simon recently turned 40 and is steadfastly refusing to have a midlife crisis – as in, growing a ponytail and buying a shiny red sports car.OK, maybe he’ll buy the sports car…
