DJ Shadow Album: “Private Press [Non-Enhanced]”

Josh Davis aka DJ Shadow is a pastiche turntablist. His m.o. on the groundbreaking Endtroducing... was the breakbeat suite, mini-symphonies culled from pieces of thousands of slabs of vinyl. He was as meticulous as an animator hand-painting each cell. It paid off. Not only was Endtroducing... groundbreaking in the underground, it was a (relative) commercial success. In the six years since its release, no other DJ or turntablist collective has come close to Shadow's genius. Though The Private Press is a more accessible work they still - to sample that old hack MC Hammer - can't touch this. Davis loves arcana. He opens and closes The Private Press with a recorded spoken letter, over cocktail jazz, from a California family to a friend, and these homey bookends indicate Shadow's new warmth. On the first record, he was showing off (he had a right). On The Private Press, his aim is to communicate as directly and unfettered as possible. The song titles aren't grand metaphors, like Endtroducing...'s "Building Steam with a Grain of Salt", but literal: "Fixed Income", "Six Days", "Blood On the Motorway", "You Can't Go Home Again". His cribbed vocal samples express basic desires, joys, and fears which the music takes to poetic extremes. On The Private Press, DJ Shadow says more with beats, with incisive edits, than most lyricists who split open a vein and bleed on the page.

I'm a big fan of Endtroducing. It a classic for electronic, jazz and soul music out there. I've just picked up Private Press a few hours ago and i'm currently writing this review under a "first spin" perspective. First impressions are...

1) Definitly still has the "Shadow Theme" that means listening to it I can still pick up all the Shadow signiture. Piano and spoken work bits are still visible. Rustic vinly sound still prominant in some songs. However, the sound feels more refined compared to Endtroducing. The songs sounds more "processed". I don't think this is a bad element. Its just a different side of the Shadow's artistic skills.

2) It's not as dark as Endtroducing.

3) Shadow's "epic" song structures are still intact.

4) Feels less cohesive. Not a bad thing ! Private Press unlike Endtroducing is more diverse in its soundscape. Endtroducing had one theme running through teh album where as Private Press is more diverse in themes. But don't get me wrong it's still a cohesive album just more diverse in sounds compared to Endtroducing.

5) The latter part of the album exhibits a slight 80s groove. However altered to sound fresh.

conclusion: Great Album... I can already tell that the second spin should reveal even more intresting tidbits on this album. The album definitly sound like the Shadow. It still has the structure of Endtroducing but refined to open a whole new soundscape for the Shadow

Dj Shadow is in my honest opinion one of the most overlooked artists in music today. Threading the thin line between commercial and underground, and finding his niche somewhere in between (as UNKLE says, the middle ground between light and shadow) DJ Shadow continues to impress with every release he puts forth. I was fortunate enough to pick this album up right after its release, and actually purchased it before I bought Endtroducing, which is by far DJ Shadow's best album, and one of the best albums ever made. By sampling elements from just about anywhere Shadow combines elements from our pop culture to create mini-movies of his songs which few artists can touch in terms of sheer production value, and the emotional effect that is created while listening to his music. I am actually glad I bought this album before Endtroducing as it has given me the time to truly appreciate this album for what it is; a work of art, and a continual growing of Shadow's talents. Had I bought Endtroducing before this and writtwn a review I'm sure I would have garnered it with a 4 star review, but that is simply not the case here. While Endtroducing is always going to be leaques above and beyond this album, Josh Davis has found a way here to go above and beyond what should be expected of an album, and given us an album that I'm sure years from now I will still find elements in it that will grow even more on me with time. Best enjoyed while driving or relaxing at home (possibly with a little mary in tow, if you know what I mean), the songs fluctuate with peaks and valleys of highs and lows, and the beats are flawless, especially when compared to a lot of the mainstream garbage that is put out in the record industry on a regular basis. See the thing is that Shadow bases his music upon how he feels, and artists that do this correctly achieve an emotional reaction from their music that the true artists of our world truly achieve. Radiohead for example has a way of doing this, and it is not surprising then that one of DJ Shadows favorite artists is Radiohead, they both fuse these elements into their music, and achieve monumental status in my opinion. The package design is equally well done as well showing an artists eye for presentation, and a graffiti influenced design to the overall package. If you enjoy this album then I highly recommend any of Shadows works: Endtroducing, Preemptive Strike, The Private Press, and In Tune and On Time, which is a live set recorded in support of this album. UNKLE is also a well thought out album which bridges the gap between hip-hop, rock and techno, with guest appearences by Mike D of the Beastie Boys, Thom Yorke from Radiohead, and others from throughout the music industry. If you've never heard of DJ Shadow before, then I must say that you are missing out, if you are at all interested in underground music, do yourself a favor and pick up any of Shadow's albums or collaborations, I guarantee you will extremely impressed, as with any good album the songs have a way of growing on you over time. Peace out!

I am not familiar with Dj Shadow's music for the most part, maybe a track or two here from his Unkle project but I have always been curious about his music and whether it lives up to the critical acclaim that I read about in various magazines. Just recently I saw the video for "Six Days" from "Private Press" and became immediately hooked by what I heard. That song alone reminded me of Talvin Singh's music on "OK". That song alone convinced me to buy "Private Press". And what would you know but I would find a copy of this cd in the same used cd bins that I found Sasha's new album in? Talk about a stroke of luck. I immediately loved this entire album on the first listen. Dj Shadow did prove to me that his music is worthy of all the critical acclaim. I definitely plan on buying his breakthrough "Endtroducing" album in the very near future. I am not a big fan of sampling but what Dj Shadow does in his music greatly impressed me. "Private Press" definitely earns a spot in my best of 2002 list.

For his second real album (I think of Preemptive Strike as a compilation rather than a cohesive unit), DJ Shadow delves even deeper into his fascination with eerie samples and odd voices. The Private Press is not quite as brilliant as his debut, but DJ Shadow still knows how to put together a gorgeous, torpid patchwork of sound that is instantly identifiable as his own.

The first song on the album, "Fixed Income," is classic DJ Shadow. He takes the march of a drum beat and marries it to some mysterious acoustic guitar samples (including something that may have come from a Spaghetti Western) and an ominous bass. Throw in a voice here and there and you've got the direct descendant of Endtroducing's "Midnight in a Perfect World." Wicked and addictive.

Skipping ahead, "Giving Up the Ghost" is a tough name for a song to live up to, but Shadow delivers in spades. Disenchantment, disillusion, doubt, regret -- all conveyed by one sample in a loop that makes up the first sixty seconds. I find that this song gets stuck in my head when I get in that kind of a mood. Extremely evocative and more than a little sad.

This is followed by the shimmering torpor of "Six Days," and the fast-paced but downright creepy "Mongrel...Meets His Maker." A single meandering guitar ties the song together, augmented by a flute, a piano, and a ringing telephone(!) Along the same lines, "Blood on the Motorway" brings to mind the morbid transcendentalism of "What Does Your Soul Look Like, part 2," but with some decidedly 80s-ish samples used to achieve the effect. That three-second silence speaks volumes, like the transition from life to death or ignorance to knowledge. Hypnotizing and profound without being maudlin or heavy-handed.

Shadow provides some up-tempo sounds as well ("Walkie Talkie," "Mashin' on the Motorway") but let's face the obvious: he's at his best when gazing at his navel. I don't know if he is hip hop, trip hop, or just a renegade genius. But there is no one else like him making music today.