NEWS
EVENTS
DJ Shadow. The Mountain Will Fall Tour 2016
RnB/Hip Hop | Wednesday 17th August 2016 | Phil
To celebrate re-endtroducing himself to British crowds throughout summer, Guestlist have put together a mini review of his performances at SGP and Electric Brixton, as the renowned U.S West Coast producer walks the line between keeping his faithful fans content whilst tweaking his style to suit the contemporary electronica scene.
Without delving into his vast back catalogue of the last two decades, DJ Shadow has been touring his latest offering, an LP 5 years in the making named ‘The Mountain Will Fall’, almost exactly 20 years since the release of ‘Endtroducing’, the LP that put his name firmly on the lips of beat-makers and hip-hop heads across the globe.
The new album starts with the title tune of the record, an ambient, euphoric, and fittingly-inspiring introduction for new listeners to savour and the old fans to reacquaint themselves with Shadow’s ever evolving musical persona. Highlights of the album include ‘The Sideshow’, a track that sounds as if it was made in the image of Shadows trademark sound: Heavy hip hop drum loops back with scratched in rap vocal samples and heavy cuts, perhaps an ode to his hip-hop heritage.
‘Mambo’ has a menacing and imposing electro feel to it as if Shadow had been listening to an old Company Flow album, while ‘California’ is a track of reverence to the development and recent run of experimentalism in the Bay Area/ Los Angeles beats scene, a scene that was most definitely itself influenced massively by Shadow’s earlier works. Up and coming UK Dubstep/Grime/Electronica producer, true instrumentalist and Radar Radio resident G3, a long time fan of the West Coast beats scene, feels that although ‘The Mountain Will Fall’ carries many of the hallmarks of a classic DJ Shadow record, it more fully exudes elements of the contemporary beats scene that is dominated by the Low End Theory sound and the Soulection ethos.
Performances at Secret Garden Party & Electric Brixton
Fortunately enough, Guestlist was lucky enough to see DJ Shadow perform at both Secret Garden Party and Electric Brixton on the UK leg of his tour.
Listening to the sets live on club/festival sound systems, it is clear that Shadow’s influences stretch far and wide. Not only a result of his own prolific crate digging, many tracks included sounds reminiscent of old jungle/dubstep and UK rave culture, combining with Ben Stoke’s colourful psychedelic visuals which ranged from urban/natural landscapes to shifting Tron/Matrix digital craziness. The set was littered with snippets and remixes of his classics, particularly Six Days, High Noon, and Building Steam with a Grain of Salt. The highlight remix was dropped at the end, an exclusive HudMo remix of Midnight in A Perfect World.
Though the sets were nearly identical, the crowd at SGP, being a jolly festival bunch rather than true fans, were in more of a party mood, with some clearing out after the first half of his set in response to what they felt was a lack of danceable rhythms. In contrast to this, at Electric Brixton, the crowd was almost entirely made up of older fans, many of whom would have grown up listening to DJ Shadow. The difference in the level of appreciation was palpable, with the Brixton crowd stomping for an encore till the house almost came crashing down. In response, Shadow re-emerged to a thunderous ovation and proceeded to smash out ten minutes of hardcore hip hop drums to footage of the video for 'The Sideshow', live drum pads and a few choice lightning cuts, ending with the fan favourite Organ Donor Extended Overhaul, something which made for a much more satisfying ending to his set as compared to the performance at SGP.
So if you’re interested in the history of hip-hop, or its just that you are a fan of artists such as Flying Lotus, Samiyam, TOKiMONSTA or Free the Robots, it is a must to listen to DJ Shadow’s back catalogue. All of those artists just mentioned would almost certainly list him as an imposing influence on their own music. Hudson Mohawke’s recent tweet about being chosen to remix the classic ‘Midnight in a Perfect World’ says it all.
Honoured to be involved in 1 of the records that shaped my career. #Endtroducing saw the first tour at 10 years old https://t.co/wjlVgeO8H6
— Hudson Mohawke (@HudMo) August 2, 2016
Even if it is a fact that fans would rather hear music more akin to that produced on Endtroducing or even on The Private Press, you have to respect Shadow for slowly stepping away from a style that made his name and was a proven formula from its inception. Instead, DJ Shadow seems to absorb his contemporary environment and proceeds to add his time-honoured spin on it. However, each time that spin morphs into something new, responding to what’s going on around him musically. It is almost as if DJ Shadow initiated his own self-fulfilling prophecy instigated from the moment the master/student of the drum vocal sample on ‘Building Steam with a Grain of Salt’ was played for the very first time all those years ago.
For us at Guestlist, DJ Shadow is essential for true appreciators and a wonderful lesson for the newbies. He wasn’t the first and he won’t be the last, but nobody does it like he does. A rare and wonderful lesson in live drumming, drum & sample programming as well as first class DJing, something to truly savour for budding DJ/Producers.
However you feel about Mr. Josh Davis, he is clearly one of the most original producers of his generation.
With more dates around Europe in October, you can see where else DJ Shadow is performing 'The Mountain Will Fall' Tour at djshadow.com
