Biography

DJ Shadow is a pivotal figure in the art of sampling. The Bay Area native's early solo work for the U.K. independent Mo' Wax label culminated in Endtroducing.. (1996), a hip-hop masterwork that incorporated obscure recordings spanning jazz, soul, funk, prog, psychedelia, and other forms, to filmic effect. Since co-piloting UNKLE's Psyence Fiction (1998) with Mo' Wax founder James Lavelle and moving a little farther out with his proper follow-up, The Private Press (2002), Shadow has confounded expectations with each successive step. Across The Outsider (2006), The Less You Know, The Better (2011), and The Mountain Will Fall (2016), the producer naturally distanced himself from using only recordings liberated from cramped record stores hazardous to his breathing. Among other unpredictable moves, he worked with rappers, singers, and fellow musicians ranging from E-40 to Tom Vek to Nils Frahm, embraced the local hyphy movement, and integrated gnashing metal and limpid folk. His scope widened even more with Our Pathetic Age (2019), a double album with separate instrumental and vocal sections. --Sean Cooper AllMusic