DJ Shadow
The Private Press (MCA)
by Tim Den
Everyone knows by now that DJ Shadow‘s debut, Endtroducing…, revolutionized the “found sound”/DJ/sample-based electronica genre. The man has nothing left to prove. Except, maybe, that he can have a good time too.
On The Private Press, his first full-length in six years (many projects, though not full albums, have elapsed during that time: The semi-anonymous U.N.K.L.E., two collaborations with Cut Chemist, soundtrack to the film Dark Days, production work with Blackalicious, etc.), Shadow still pleases the audiophiles with quirky compositional skills, but he’s also turned up the fun factor.
And it’s all toe-tappin’, head-boppin’, stereo-blastin’ “phat beats.” It’s irresistible. Maybe you had to be in the right mood for Endtroducing…, what with the dark undertones and fast beats and all, but The Private Press is one for all occasions. Maybe it ain’t the next “groundbreaking” thing to change the face of music, but so what? He’s already done it once. Now he just wants to make you move and smile.