DJ Shadow – Endtroducing.....

I've just finished listening to this from start to finish for the first time in probably 10 years. Not sure why I haven't dusted it off in that time maybe because i overplayed it like hell for the first 10 years. Even though I know these tracks inside out it still made me think "this is amazing, something special is coming out of the speakers" Everything about it is pretty much perfection. The sound of a man with a sampler, an amazing record collection and a whole head full of ideas. One of the greatest Hip-Hop Albums of all time (Yeah you can keep your "trip hop" or other bullshit labels to yourself this is Hip Hop to the core ;)

I'm not much for writing reviews, and this took me a week to write and over 20 years to be able to articulate. This album is quite possibly the best album ever assembled by a DJ. All modesty aside, Josh Davis, aka DJ Shadow put together samples and beats that are unparalleled by today's standards. When I think of each track, I cannot think of a better sample or sound, or piece of music, to put in place of what is there... I can't. It is almost as if by some sort of unnatural force, that he was able to find the perfect sounds and lay them down in all the right places. Over the years, without question, it has become his Citizen Kane: He has not been able to live the album down. However, I personally don't feel he should. I feel he should embrace the fact he made a masterpiece. For as to embrace it, doesn't mean you must be locked into it, but for what it is, to acknowledge what it meant for music can only help him grow as an artist. And for me, what this has meant in my life. I, for one, am eternally grateful he made this album. I have listened to at least one track from this album every day since I was 18 in 1996. Great music is timeless. And Entroducing... is just that... timeless. Thank you, Josh. And please continue to make great music.

So much has been written about this album that it is impossible to really add anything besides my own feelings towards it, and the experiences I’ve had listening to it. Not only does it have the distinction of being the first album to be composed entirely of samples but it marks the start of my journey into a different type of music and the enjoyment purely of the sound and flow of instrumental music.

The sound is so crackly and full of dreamy washed out snatches of old songs that is kindles nostalgia anyway, as well it also kindling actual nostalgia for me; of being 16 and begin to develop my identity as an individual.

The mournful journeying piano line in “Building steam with a grain of salt” and the thumping, lolloping big drums. The soulful vocal in “Changeling” and lazy sax coming from way out across the bay. All of the percussion sounds across the album are so warm and lush as to envelope you. They kick hard and have that irresistible funky >crunch< that not many producers can achieve (another example would be Liam Howlett).

The drumlines for me are often earthy brown and the organs, pianos and other sweeping swathes of sound are green, aquamarine to blue, with the orangey yellow sax above – a sunset looking out over the sea in the harbour. Attention is paid to every detail – the cymbal crash on at the end of every other fourth bar on “What does your soul look like part 4″.

Most of the tracks build up slowly, into rich layers with the mood slowly being introduced and deepened. The album is languid and mournful and world weary, with an almost trance like strung out euphoria that comes at the end of long summer evening. The short snatches of shouts and vocals that come and go are like the glimpses of memories that vanish from your mind before you can place them.

“One of ‘em, has eyes as big as Jolly Ranchers. Beautiful girl, she’s a beautiful girl.”

Even the ferocious drums of Stem/Long stem are spread out between pieces of haunting horror music strings, before the iconic bars of organ music. The frenzied panicky monologue as the track starts to fade ends with a drumbeat on the desperate last word, “scared” and the pure chill of terror that the track has instilled is gradually eased away by sweeping waves of horns and strings.

A deep primal feeling of fear is evoked in other places with the sample from the film “Prince of Darkness”, more of which is revealed each time it is played throughout the album.

Some of the tracks feel like Jungle tunes in their rhythm, flow and texture: “Mutual Slump” and “Naplam Brain – Scatter Brain” for example. The drum samples have exactly the right quality; I’ve love to hear proper Jungle versions of each one.

I’ve long wanted to gather all the different songs that are sampled on the album – there would no way of organising them in a coherent way – but that would be Endtroducing, broken down to its constituent parts, dismantled – with no way of putting it together again. That would be the perfect illustration of the beauty of music made from samples – how it is more than the sum of its parts, and makes it own new language out of its ingredients. It makes you realise that a million different albums could all have been made from the some parts and within each one would be the potential for all others – music becomes one.

Endtroducing is one of very few, what I would call, perfect albums. A journey across time and space, into the darkness of fear and desperation and out again. The beats are so tight, and the bass so relaxed and funky, you really feel it in your chest. It’s impossible to place in time, as if 40 years of radio waves had been beamed back to Earth from outer space; an album that I will always come back to, time and time again.

Anyone have an idea why "What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4)" isn't on the vinyl versions?

One of the most important albums of the 90s and still unique. Dj Shadow gathered loads of samples to make songs out of them and he achieves an style that covers many decades and many influences at the same time. Maybe it was the equipment used, or the sources of these samples, but "Endtroducing" keeps a cohesive 70s sound (there are many pure prog-rock themes here, the ending of "Stem" being the most blatant) through what is actually a pure 90s record. It sounds really natural being so alien: there is not a sample that sounds out of place, the composition of all themes is careful... if you haven't listened to it, do it and be amazed.

This is album is a true masterpiece and will go down in history with the DJ community. Every song is so meaningful and beautiful.
Buy it now.

Dear music connoisseurs,

Could you enlighten me on who the voice at 3:16 in the track 'What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 1 - Blue Sky Revisit)' belong to ? It is sung in italian.

I've already asked someone on the official DJ Shadow website. He said that the sample sources of DJ Shadow are very vast. He didn't give me the name.

Would be great, thank you.

i don't need to repeat the love heaped on this album, it's a known masterpiece. i just wanted to ask if anybody else noticed the samples from the john carpenter film "prince of darkness" and how he uses a little more of the "dream" sample each time you hear it during the transitions. it's brilliant!

My first genre was hip-hop, my second genre was electronic. Which made me the ideal candidate for this album, and boy is it good. I need not elaborate much on this album because it's already been discussed at length. It's one of those classics that people will continue to talk about twenty years from now.

Stunning, one of a kind, one of the greatest albums ever recorded.

I can't find the words to fully describe how brilliant this album is. DJ Shadow's debut is a milestone in music and one that anyone interested in non-mainstream music should hear. It might just change your outlook on the possibilities that music has to offer.