____twoism

"The Less You Know, The Better"
http://djshadow.com/news/less-you-know- ... ptember-16

Any thoughts?

I got into him shortly after the release of The Outsider but it's been forever for me [I was 11 at the time]. I loved the two free tracks he put out earlier but not I'm Excited as much. I prefer his more abstract tracks than the gangster rap personally but I've listened to a fair share of both.

He's always been a music idol to me along with Richard James [who came a long after] and Norman Cook and his influence is stinky throughout my work. I'll probably always support him even if he's into things I don't like.

not great. each release is less good than the last one IMO

Basepair wrote:not great. each release is less good than the last one IMO

Agreed. I haven't been keen on anything he's done since Private Press. Even that was disappointing.

Yeah his old style has really taken a back seat. Preemptive Strike and Entroducing are two of the finest albums ever made. The Private Press is also quite a masterpiece.

The new album is not his best one, less than the two first albums, I really enjoy two tracks in, "Redeemed" and "Come on riding".

I think there has always been a mutual misunderstanding between Shadow and a lot of his core audience.

Shadow is best known for his cerebral instrumental sampling pieces from the 90's, an artform no longer really accessible to artists in what I imagine is Shadow's budget - hence the 'preemptive strike' he talks about in the liner notes.

He has always first and foremost been a hip-hop DJ - The problem is that his forays into sampling psychedelia are what he is best known for.

And I think those forays allowed him to cross over into IDM, techno, and indie circles - people who might not otherwise have embraced him. Now that he has shed himself of a lot of that cross over appeal, people in those subcategories feel burned.

I am one of those - Shadow was a gateway for me into all kinds of things: jazz, funk, 60's psychedelia, and even indie hip-hop. Whatever he does, he'll always be a sort of musical hero to me. I just think sometimes he is being held to a standard he didn't mean to set up.

After checking some songs out I can safely say it's at least a fuck of a lot better than The Outsider. Nothing amazing but it's still good and enjoyable. Probably 6/10.

thedisavowed wrote:I think there has always been a mutual misunderstanding between Shadow and a lot of his core audience.

Shadow is best known for his cerebral instrumental sampling pieces from the 90's, an artform no longer really accessible to artists in what I imagine is Shadow's budget - hence the 'preemptive strike' he talks about in the liner notes.

He has always first and foremost been a hip-hop DJ - The problem is that his forays into sampling psychedelia are what he is best known for.

And I think those forays allowed him to cross over into IDM, techno, and indie circles - people who might not otherwise have embraced him. Now that he has shed himself of a lot of that cross over appeal, people in those subcategories feel burned.

I am one of those - Shadow was a gateway for me into all kinds of things: jazz, funk, 60's psychedelia, and even indie hip-hop. Whatever he does, he'll always be a sort of musical hero to me. I just think sometimes he is being held to a standard he didn't mean to set up.

Well said. It reminds of the interview he posted after the outsider came through "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."

Indeed, definitely great points. He really did set the bar high with Endtroducing early on and so it's very understandable why some fans of that splendid outing, including me couldn't quite gel with his other material which was radically different. I have a lot of respect for him of course, not wanting to be pigeonholed or indeed safely repeat himself infinitely for a quick buck.

Yeah, grudgingly I agree. And there's always people like Aether to tap that Endtroducing sound.

BBC4 have a short documentary on DJ Shadow one night this week. Or maybe it was Channel 4, dont recall now. Go hunting!!

Yep, Channel 4 in half an hour. Heard a little of the new album, sounded pretty good but I hated the "I Gotta Rok" EP so I was surprised I was digging it as much as i was. Hopefully it's a keeper.

I got around to listening to this last week.

I hated the vocals on "Warning Call" and the sample in "Give Me Back The Nights" got progressively more and more silly...

But you know what? In my opinion, 2011 has been a fucking awful year for music... so I'm not going to bitch about an album where I can play 14 out of the 16 songs, and not have them annoy me.

"noby" said 6/10 in his post... yeah, that's probably about right. Not a game-changing record by any means, but it's new music that's enjoyable... something that's getting increasingly harder to find.

haven't heard the album yet, as I have absolutely no money, but agree with your statement about music in 2011.

I haven't fmailiarized myself with the entire album but I've really been digging the track Scale It Back. Fits my silly teenage emotions at the moment.

its amazing i noticed this thread tonight.. i was just listening to endtroducing in my car for the first time in a long time. and i must say. it is def. on my top 10 favorite albums of all time list. the private press is also an incredible work of art. the only reason i even put endtroducing away for some time was to make it sound fresh again.


anyway. its so nice to see that their are fellow dj shadow fans on a boards of canada forum.. it was also nice to see a thread dedicated to the band "god is an astronaut" who is another one of my favorites.