DJ Shadow: DJ, 02.16.95 – 03.01.95
By: Andy Crysell
California's DJ Shadow looks at home in London. We arrange to meet at a photographic studio Ilington, he braves the tube on his own and arrives on time. He arrives clutching a bunch of seven inch singles. These are props, he says. Things to block his face from the camera with. He likes to try, but he never succeeds.
"Publicity, I don't know, it's hard. Take Portishead - I really like them, but I feel kinda sorry for them now they're getting famous. I wouldn't wish that on any group I love. I know it sounds corny, but I really feel for them artistically. I saw them playing on a TV show and I really felt for them."
"I dunno. Anyway..." says 22-year-old Shadow whenever he decides he's going on a bit or going off at a tangent. "I dunno, I guess I have said more than I should."
On vinyl he's just as prone to changing tack, mid-groove sometime. He's similarly introspective, lateral, and gently evasive. Plucked from somewhere near obscurity by James Lavelle, his first two Mo’ Wax singles, "InFlux" and "Lost and Found," surged b-boy style into beautiful innerspace. The UK was impressed - impressed enough to locate several dozen imitators and spawn a scene with no shape, no particular willing participants, and no point.
Shadows new single carried sufficient vision, flair and mood to stand up to its bold and stirring title. More than 30 minutes long, "What Does Your Soul Look Like?" is a sampledelic tumble to equal "InFlux." Rich, very deep, and very long, it touches The Orb, plays with 70's funk, strokes bizzarro jazz, and even sounds like early St. Etienne at one point. But don't let that worry you.
"Money does terrible things to people," says Shadow, still pondering the pitfalls of success. "It makes bands such as Pink Floyd and Kraftwerk do sad things like refuse to let new artists sample them. It makes people throw away everything they believe in for the almighty dollar. I don't want anything to do with that shit. I don't want to know, even for a little while what money does and how it corrupts."
Shadow didn't think about making records until 1990 - then he didn't think about anything else. His dad's a painter - he thinks all creative people belong to the same extended family.
"A select few can handle fame and fortune. Neil Young, he knows what's up. He's still going strong, and he's still human. I know where he lives, he has a cool little mellow place; nothing obnoxious or irritating."
Shadow is more or less the Richie Hawtin of blunted-to-high-heaven hip-hop. One's a beat head, the other's a computer head- both have heads tuned into progression and 90's individuality. Both have a little of the European left in them.
"The vibe I get is that there is less tension in the air here," decides Shadow, who toured the UK last year with fellow Mo’ Wax-ers Lavelle and DJ Krush from Japan. "America's going to blow up soon, there's pressure on every level. Everyone seems a little wiser in the UK."
"I go crazy sitting at home for too long," he continues, "I have to get in my car and drive to some crazy fucked up little town. I need adventure."
By: Andy Crysell
California's DJ Shadow looks at home in London. We arrange to meet at a photographic studio Ilington, he braves the tube on his own and arrives on time. He arrives clutching a bunch of seven inch singles. These are props, he says. Things to block his face from the camera with. He likes to try, but he never succeeds.
"Publicity, I don't know, it's hard. Take Portishead - I really like them, but I feel kinda sorry for them now they're getting famous. I wouldn't wish that on any group I love. I know it sounds corny, but I really feel for them artistically. I saw them playing on a TV show and I really felt for them."
"I dunno. Anyway..." says 22-year-old Shadow whenever he decides he's going on a bit or going off at a tangent. "I dunno, I guess I have said more than I should."
On vinyl he's just as prone to changing tack, mid-groove sometime. He's similarly introspective, lateral, and gently evasive. Plucked from somewhere near obscurity by James Lavelle, his first two Mo’ Wax singles, "InFlux" and "Lost and Found," surged b-boy style into beautiful innerspace. The UK was impressed - impressed enough to locate several dozen imitators and spawn a scene with no shape, no particular willing participants, and no point.
Shadows new single carried sufficient vision, flair and mood to stand up to its bold and stirring title. More than 30 minutes long, "What Does Your Soul Look Like?" is a sampledelic tumble to equal "InFlux." Rich, very deep, and very long, it touches The Orb, plays with 70's funk, strokes bizzarro jazz, and even sounds like early St. Etienne at one point. But don't let that worry you.
"Money does terrible things to people," says Shadow, still pondering the pitfalls of success. "It makes bands such as Pink Floyd and Kraftwerk do sad things like refuse to let new artists sample them. It makes people throw away everything they believe in for the almighty dollar. I don't want anything to do with that shit. I don't want to know, even for a little while what money does and how it corrupts."
Shadow didn't think about making records until 1990 - then he didn't think about anything else. His dad's a painter - he thinks all creative people belong to the same extended family.
"A select few can handle fame and fortune. Neil Young, he knows what's up. He's still going strong, and he's still human. I know where he lives, he has a cool little mellow place; nothing obnoxious or irritating."
Shadow is more or less the Richie Hawtin of blunted-to-high-heaven hip-hop. One's a beat head, the other's a computer head- both have heads tuned into progression and 90's individuality. Both have a little of the European left in them.
"The vibe I get is that there is less tension in the air here," decides Shadow, who toured the UK last year with fellow Mo’ Wax-ers Lavelle and DJ Krush from Japan. "America's going to blow up soon, there's pressure on every level. Everyone seems a little wiser in the UK."
"I go crazy sitting at home for too long," he continues, "I have to get in my car and drive to some crazy fucked up little town. I need adventure."