DJ Shadow – Endtroducing….. – Promo postcard
Introduction
At the end of 1996, I bought DJ Shadow’s debut album. Endtroducing….. was a completely unique album that seemed to have no connection whatsoever to anything that was available to me. At a time when I was desperately looking for something different and refreshing, DJ Shadow delivered!
DJ Shadow
DJ Shadow is an American DJ and producer, born Joshua Paul Davis on June 29, 1972. Inspired by productions such as Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, which made extensive use of samples to create new music, Davis began experimenting with a four-track recorder at an early age and started making music of his own. His career as a DJ followed soon after. Following a few singles (Entropy, In/Flux and Lost And Found), which had already attracted attention in the press,
DJ Shadow – Endtroducing….. – Equipment
In the summer of 1994, DJ Shadow began recording his debut album for the legendary British label Mo’ Wax. Once half of the album was finished, the label suggested releasing the music that was already completed as a single, What Does Your Soul Look Like. The single was released in 1995, and DJ Shadow returned to work on his debut album.
DJ Shadow set out with the idea of making an album consisting entirely of samples. He used just three different pieces of equipment: an Akai MPC60 MKII sampler, a Technics SL-1200 turntable and an Alesis ADAT tape recorder. His source material came from records and singles he found at Rare Records in Sacramento. The search was an incredibly time-consuming process, with hours and hours spent on it every day. The cover photo for the upcoming Endtroducing…. album was shot inside that very record store.
DJ Shadow – Endtroducing…..
Endtroducing…..
DJ Shadow had finished recording his debut album by early 1996. On September 16, 1996, Mo’ Wax released Endtroducing…. in the UK. In the US, the album was released more than two months later.
Within a year, the album had been certified gold in the UK. In his home country, however, its initial success was less impressive, much to DJ Shadow’s disappointment. It took a little longer in the US, but by April 1997 the album was also beginning to attract positive attention there.
Music critics and reviewers around the world were impressed by the album, which was widely regarded as a major step forward for electronic music, hip-hop, trip-hop and popular music in general. In 2001, Endtroducing….. was entered into the Guinness World Records as the first album to be made entirely from samples.
DJ Shadow – Endtroducing….. – Samples
Sampling
By the mid-1990s, sampling had evolved into an art form with a very questionable reputation. Early in the decade, several lawsuits were filed by artists who believed their rights were being infringed through the use of samples. One of the best-known examples was De La Soul’s debut album 3 Feet High And Rising, which featured a sample from The Turtles (which, incidentally, was itself a cover of a Byrds song). The lawsuit was filed in 1991. The Turtles’ singer stated:
Sampling is just a longer term for theft. Anybody who can honestly say sampling is some sort of creativity has never done anything creative.
L.A. Times, 1991
The case was settled, but it had a major impact on sampling in hip-hop. The art form was suddenly considered too risky. Record labels preferred not to take the chance. Lawsuits over rights and the use of samples continue to this day. DJ Shadow was, of course, aware of this as well, and was disappointed at the prospect of an important form of artistic expression, as he saw it, disappearing.
By ’95, when I was really working on Endtroducing heavily, I was very much trying to make a statement about, “Why are we all abandoning this artform? What everybody else is doing is great, but I feel like there’s a lot of work left to be done in this discipline.” And I wanted to create a record that pushed that conversation forward.
DJ Shadow
To claim that sampling is not creative is to fundamentally misunderstand the art form. Anyone who has heard a Public Enemy record knows that taking existing sounds and transforming them into something entirely new can require enormous creativity, musical insight and technical skill. The same is true of Endtroducing…., a truly unique work that consists entirely of samples yet feels like a completely new form of music. DJ Shadow didn’t simply copy pieces of other records; he cut, rearranged, layered and transformed them into something that had never existed before.
In 2012, DJ Shadow spoke about the rights issue and how Mo’ Wax got the green light to release his debut album.
I was asked by the parent record company, “Give us your first 10 [samples] that you think are the most obvious or the biggest usages, and we’ll work on those first.” I said, “Fair enough, here they are.” … Clearing samples is not a cut-and-dried process. Some people have reasonable expectations of what they think the usage is worth and some people don’t. Some people have artistic scruples about it, some people don’t. And then the third most common thing is, you can’t find the people: The labels don’t exist or they’ve been absorbed into a massive conglomeration who doesn’t even know what they have or where the tapes are. These are really common scenarios, and you just have to do your best to navigate them.
NPR, 2012
DJ Shadow – Endtroducing….. – Ad
Review
So, why do I love this album so much then? I asked myself that question after my wife wondered aloud what on earth there was to like or admire about that music. I couldn’t give her a quick, straightforward answer; there is something indefinable and elusive about Endtroducing….. that draws me in. At times, this instrumental album moves me deeply. I bought it back then based on the reviews I had read, and it has stayed with me for all these years.
Samples of jazz, soul, funk and (psychedelic) rock are transformed into hip-hop and trip-hop, wrapped in a dark, brooding and claustrophobic atmosphere. It is that atmosphere that speaks to me. The album is a consistently immersive listening experience that pulls the listener into a world of its own. Utterly unique and original. Highly recommended!
DJ Shadow – Endtroducing….. – Back cover
Songs
- Best Foot Forward
- Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt
- The Number Song
- Changeling / Transmission 1
- What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4)
- Untitled
- Stem/Long Stem / Transmission 2
- Mutual Slump
- Organ Donor
- Why Hip Hop Sucks In ’96
- Midnight in a Perfect World
- Napalm Brain/Scatter Brain
- What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 1 – Blue Sky Revisit) / Transmission 3
The complete list of samples used on Endtroducing….. can be found in the accompanying subarticle DJ Shadow – Endtroducing….. – All samples.
DJ Shadow – Searching for vinyl
After Endtroducing…..
In 1997, DJ Shadow contributed to the debut album Psyence Fiction by UNKLE, a Mo’ Wax production team that released music featuring a host of guest artists, including Thom Yorke (Radiohead), Richard Ashcroft (The Verve), Mike D (Beastie Boys), Kool G. Rap and Jason Newsted (Metallica).
DJ Shadow’s second solo album didn’t appear until 2002: The Private Press. The Outsider followed in 2006. His music increasingly failed to resonate with listeners and came under criticism from fans who had followed him throughout the years. DJ Shadow responded:
I care about what hardcore fans think, but they lose me when they ask me to just repeat myself. I feel like if they understand “the real me” the way they claim to, then they would understand why to ask me NOT to change and pursue my musical interests goes against everything I have ever stood for. Repeat Endtroducing over and over again? That was never, ever in the game plan. Fuck that. So I think it’s time for certain fans to decide if they are fans of the album, or the artist. Besides, not everyone with an opinion on the boards is a “fan.”
DJ Shadow on his own website djshadow.com, 08/03/2006
DJ Shadow continued performing and regularly released solo albums:
- The Less You Know, the Better (2011)
- The Mountain Will Fall (2016)
- Our Pathetic Age (2019)
- Action Adventure (2023)
DJ Shadow has collaborated with many artists, particularly from the hip-hop community, including DJ Krush, Depeche Mode, Q-Tip, Run The Jewels, De La Soul, Ice Cube, Blackalicious, Blues Explosion, DJ Fresh and many others.
In closing
What do you think of DJ Shadow and Endtroducing…..? Let me know!
Video/Spotify
This story contains an accompanying video. Click on the following link to see it: Video: DJ Shadow – Endtroducing…... The A Pop Life playlist on Spotify has been updated as well.
