The bonus disc caters mainly to fans devoted enough to track down every last scrap. And then the closing “What Does Your Soul Look Like Part I” ends the album on an up note, with a warm sax and keyboard refrain evoking a Western cityscape at dusk, af?rming Endtroducing as one of the great California albums. Spoken-word bits from Bay Area crony Lyrics Born lighten the mood in a couple places, like goofy cartoons sandwiched between segments of a double feature. “The Changeling”-which at ?rst suggests the laidback instrumental funk fueling the “rare groove” movement with its opening organ refrain-builds to a climax of ascending synth chords that stays just this side of cheesy, like a Miami Vice theme from a (cooler) alternate universe. “The Number Song” is a dense and explosive party jam, combining thick bass drones with nimble drum programming and playful vocals counting out the beats. Then the rolling bass groan of “What Does Your Soul Look Like Part 4” fuses with the wordless chants of some deep robotic voice, evoking the same uneasy futurism and techno-anxiety of Shadow’s one-time tourmate Radiohead.ĭark clouds are only part of the story. Further medieval heaviness emerges on the epic “Stem/Long Stem,” with its delicate passages of plucked nylon-string guitar and glockenspiel accents leading to thunderous drum climaxes that dissipate into a mournful cello riff. With its foreboding piano loop and a background chorus that sounds like dark angels accompanying a funeral dirge, “Building Steam with a Grain of Salt” can be heard as symphonic goth in the tradition of 4AD bands like Dead Can Dance.
Film scores and the post-Floyd “head music” of the mid ’70s are obvious touchstones, but other in?uences are more surprising. Though Shadow unfailingly calls his music hip-hop, the textural precedents spring primarily from other corners of the record shop. Likely aware that many still consider the album his masterwork, Shadow has given it the deluxe reissue treatment, pairing the original album with an extra disc of outtakes, alternate mixes and remixes.Įndtroducing is a great record in part because of its unusually ?uid sense of genre. The long-in-the-making all-star album Psyence Fiction (recorded under the name UNKLE with Mo’ Wax founder James Lavelle) and its low-key follow-up The Private Press both have their moments (and the latter is de?nitely underrated), but neither approaches the uni?ed vision of Endtroducing.
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The dilemma of how to follow such a record is something Shadow's had to battle ever since. Endtroducing perfectly distilled the possibilities inherent in the sampling aesthetic and was received as an instant classic. Shadow’s patient, detailed style-in which he sampled small bits of forgotten vinyl and meticulously stitched the pieces into new compositions-worked best in the long form. But, as good as those singles were, Endtroducing was better. The 23-year-old had already enjoyed a run of highly regarded 12” singles on British label Mo’ Wax, establishing himself as the producer to contend with in the emerging trip-hop genre. In 1996, Bay Area DJ Josh Davis-known to the world as DJ Shadow-released his debut album Endtroducing. Standing In His Own Shadow: Generous reissue of DJ's stone classic sets the bar.again
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