Dj Shadow

The art of sampling has turned popular music inside out since the 80s, when it began to be used massively, though still not in a totalizing way in the economy of a song or, above all, of an album. Hip-hop is obviously the genre in which the fateful sample has a reason to exist in and of itself, regardless of everything and everyone. The trend is to pick out a score, an imperceptible melodic line, a rhythm, an unusual percussion part fished from some album forgotten by God, dust-covered by time and oblivion, perhaps bought at a flea market for a few cents in the hope of finding precious fragments useful to the cause, to the patchwork to be created later in one's own studio, surrounded by tons of vinyl scattered all over the house. Of these, the Californian Joshua Paul Davis, aka DJ Shadow, owns 60,000 and counting.

It's 1996, and the most enterprising sound manipulator in history is at the peak of his powers: twenty-four years old and possessed of a boundless urge to breathe new life into that thing called hip-hop, starting from the foundations — the instrumentals, that is. Young Joshua is a revolutionary. He has a warm ear, a far-sighted eye, and hands itching to overturn everything within reach, feeding off everything else as essential fuel for his mission. Destination: the world. There's no limit to his imagination. His quest recognizes no stylistic boundaries. To grasp the sheer scope and variety involved, it's worth citing the shopping list our man drew up to create his unrivaled masterpiece, "Endtroducing…..": David Axelrod, Pekka Pohjola, Baraka, Giorgio Moroder, Samson and Delilah, Jeremy Storch, Frankie Seay & the Soul Riders, Signs of the Zodiac and Mort Garson, Metallica, The Third Guitar, Pigmeat Markham, Nirvana, Björk, Pugh Rogefeldt, Tangerine Dream, Motherlode, Kay Gardner, Alan Parsons Project, Stanley Clarke, Beastie Boys, Divine Sound, Charles Bernstein, Billy Cobham, S Daly-Wilson Big Band, Human Race, to which are added, scattered here and there like decorative leaves, assorted radio snippets, scenes from Twin Peaks, and countless sounds of unclear origin. In short, there's something for everyone. Dj Shadow cuts and stitches with the precision of a plastic surgeon. A finally all-encompassing operation in sampledelic territory, in which the samples form an intensely personal whole, a new creature, a sort of musical Frankenstein's monster with beautiful features.

"Endtroducing….." gathers together a series of moves that changed forever the course not only of its own genre's history, but of popular music in its broadest sense, in its deepest aspiration toward contamination. DJ Shadow's experience, for instance, underpins the entire body of work of the Stones Throw crew led by Manak and brought to prominence by Madlib. And that's just one of the most emblematic circles one could cite as an example. One could list all the manipulators of the instrumental-leaning hip-hop scene who sprang up like mushrooms not long after. Of course, Dj Shadow has his own guiding lights too: Eric B. & Rakim, Ultramagnetic MCs, Public Enemy, EPDM, Grandmaster Flash, and the best of everything worth citing from the "ghetto" of years past. But his art sits right at the heart of a sonic revolution, and represents its principal hinge point. As for our good Joshua, he needs little: two turntables, an Akai MPC60 12-bit sampler, Pro Tools software borrowed from pioneer Daniel Nakamura, and the show could begin.

Any distance from easy categorization is to be found in the orchestral arrangement Dj Shadow aims for to elevate his work, drawing the listener toward an unknown island, a sonic Eden where the sweetest strings sprout up alongside angelic choirs, caressing pianos, mutating rhythms and biting basslines. An overture with a breakbeat bent, so to speak. "Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt" is all this and much more. The energy surge of the following "The Number Song" is hip-hop shot straight to Mars: a frontal rhythmic assault wrapped in cinematic, noir-film atmospheres. A collage of moods that would go on to illuminate the paths of Shape Of Broad Minds, J Dilla, Edan, J Rocc, and who knows how many others. There's no shortage of strictly trip-hop leanings either, like the muffled beat of "Changeling", around which scratches and soulful piano parts revolve. "Transmission 1", meanwhile, is the first of three such movements scattered across the record, almost marking out its breath. Alien interludes on an alien album.

"What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4)" is about taking Isaac Hayes by the hand and walking him among the rings of Saturn, while the Sun signals its presence in the distance. Erotic sax in the background, slow tempo. A veritable oasis to head toward with eyes closed. Beyond the orchestrated evocation blending crazy, seemingly irreconcilable ingredients, the leitmotif is to shake up a brand-new tribalism, now with the composure of the total-music listener, now with the restlessness of the hardcore, no-frills DJ ("Mutual Slump").

Between one instrumental gem and the next ("Organ Donor", "Why Hip Hop Sucks In '96"), we arrive at the dreamy "Midnight In A Perfect World": as if Bran Van 3000 had joined forces with Portishead. An ecstasy that anticipates the nine minutes of "Napalm Brain-Scatter Brain", the album's psychedelic suite: the flight of fancy of an alchemist journeying toward new rhythmic fascinations. Amid Hendrix-like riffs, warm basslines, siren songs, stop&go breaks with Afro percussion darting in every direction, and violins trailing off at the end, Dj Shadow reaches his own peak, the summit of his ambitions. It's the definitive summa of a one-of-a-kind album.

In the first weeks after release, London and Mo Wax showed their gratitude well before any "success" came at home. Meanwhile, the legendary cover photo remains the postcard to gaze into before satisfying one's own music-obsessive urges. A true generational manifesto. In the years that followed, the producer from San Jose would continue his career as a sound manipulator, through ups and downs. In the end, no other album would ever come close to the greatness of "Endtroducing.....". A prodigy unmatched even by its own creator.

* The title of the original version is "Endtroducing ....." with five ellipsis dots.

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22/03/2020