Early years (1989–1995) DJ Shadow was experimenting with a four-track recorder while in high school in
Davis, California, and began his music career as a disc jockey for the
University of California, Davis, campus radio station
KDVS. During this period, he explored the experimental hip-hop style associated with the London-based
Mo' Wax record label. His early singles, including "In/Flux" and "Lost and Found (S.F.L.)", were genre-bending, merging elements of
funk,
rock,
hip hop,
ambient,
jazz,
soul, and used-bin found records. Andy Pemberton, a music journalist writing for
Mixmag, described the single "In/Flux" as "
trip hop", a term that had already been attached to Bristol, England-based groups
Massive Attack and
Portishead and the Bristol scene in general in June 1994. He has cited
Kurtis Mantronik,
Steinski, and
Prince Paul as influences on his sample-based sound, further claiming that "lyrics ... were confining, too specific". His music rarely features more than short clips of voices or vocal work. During 1991–1992, DJ Shadow remixes were released on
Hollywood BASIC, a short-lived rap/hip-hop subsidiary label of Hollywood Records. Notable amongst these is a 1992 compilation release titled "BASIC Beats Sampler", which features a remix of "The Real Deal", a song by
Lifers Group, as well as a 12-plus-minute "Mega Mix" of the rest of the album, including tracks by west-coast underground hip-hop act,
Raw Fusion and east-coast acts,
Organized Konfusion and Zimbabwe Legit. Also in 1992, Shadow contributed
scratching and production work to
Sleeping with the Enemy, the second release by rapper
Paris. Early in 1993, Shadow was a part of the creation of the
Solesides underground hip-hop label, in conjunction with
Blackalicious and
Lyrics Born (whose stage name at the time was Asia Born). The first 12" release on this new imprint was titled "Entropy", with the A-side containing the Asia Born track "Send Them" and a dub rendition of the DJ Shadow track "Count and Estimate", and the entire B-side consisting of the 17-plus-minute title track. Rapper
Gift of Gab is featured in the version of "Count and Estimate" that appears in Entropy. Shadow continued to participate in releases on the Solesides label for years to come, until the label was disbanded in favor of
Quannum Projects. Also in 1993, Mo' Wax's
James Lavelle contacted Shadow about releasing "In/Flux" on the fledgling imprint. The association with Mo' Wax was a productive one; his tracks "In/Flux" and "Lost and Found" made their way onto some releases over the next few years. Shadow also worked with
DJ Krush during this period. On a 1995 visit to the Mo' Wax Studios in London, England, Shadow was recruited to perform scratches on a Lavelle and
Tim Goldsworthy mix of the Massive Attack song "
Karmacoma".
Endtroducing....., UNKLE and Scratch (1996–2001) Shadow's first full-length work,
Endtroducing....., was released in late 1996 to critical acclaim.
Endtroducing would go on to make
Guinness' Guinness World Records book for "First Completely Sampled Album" in 2001. The only pieces of equipment Shadow used to produce the album were the
AKAI MPC60 II 12-bit sampling drum machine, a pair of turntables and a borrowed-by-visiting
Pro Tools setup from an early adopter of the technology,
Dan "The Automator" Nakamura. In November 2014, automobile maker
Chevrolet used a sample of "Building Steam with a Grain of Salt" in a Chevy commercial. In 1998 Shadow released
Preemptive Strike, a compilation of 1993–1997
singles released on Mo' Wax. Later that year, he produced
Psyence Fiction, the debut album by
UNKLE, a long-time Mo' Wax production team that featured guest appearances including
Thom Yorke (
Radiohead),
Richard Ashcroft (
The Verve),
Mike D (
Beastie Boys),
Kool G. Rap, and
Jason Newsted (
Metallica). Around 2000 he produced the score for the documentary
Dark Days filmed by British director
Marc Singer. This film is about a community of transients who live underground in a subway tunnel. It has six award wins in various competitions. Shadow also starred in the 2001 movie
Scratch, produced by
Doug Pray, alongside
Z-Trip,
Grand Wizard Theodore,
Mix Master Mike and
DJ Qbert. He makes multiple appearances during the turntable and
digging sections of the movie.
The Private Press and Live! In Tune and on Time (2002–2005) Nearly six years after his debut production album, his second album,
The Private Press, was released in June 2002. A video for his track "
Six Days" was also released in 2002, directed by
Wong Kar-wai. A remix of "Six Days" was also produced and released on
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift soundtrack, featuring
Mos Def. In protest at the 2003
invasion of Iraq, DJ Shadow collaborated with
Zack de la Rocha on the track "March of Death". The song was released online for free. In 2004, Shadow's first feature-length DVD,
Live! In Tune and on Time, was released. It features a live performance in
London that combines tracks and samples from past albums as well as his work with
UNKLE and
Quannum, and emphasizes visuals, with the help of Bay Area projection artist Ben Stokes.
The Outsider and Diminishing Returns (2006–2009) In 2006, he signed a deal with
Universal Records, on which would be released
The Outsider, on September 18. A special edition CD box set was also released containing
The Outsider, the album on CD and a DVD entitled Tour Visuals. This album, which prominently featured several artists from the local
San Francisco Bay Area hyphy hip hop movement, got a mixed welcome among Shadow's fans. Throughout 2007 and 2008, DJ Shadow toured with fellow DJ
Cut Chemist in support of their
The Hard Sell mixtape, released in January 2007 and recorded during the rehearsals of a June 2007 show. The duo had already produced several mixtapes in the past, most notably
Brainfreeze and
Product Placement, mixing jazz, funk, and soul. They were joined by Kid Koala, and the rehearsals of this tour spawned
The Hard Sell (Encore), a "refined" version of the duo's set.
Diminishing Returns was a 2-hour
DJ mix originally broadcast as an episode of the
Essential Mix on
BBC Radio 1 on March 29, 2003. It was released in 2003 on CD in a pressing limited to 1000 copies on the Reconstruction Productions label. On April 1, 2009, DJ Shadow announced on his
Facebook page that he was working on a
Diminishing Returns re-release. Reconstruction Productions reissued the album in 2009 with a sticker stating "official, last chance limited edition, re-release".
The Less You Know, the Better (2010–2013) In September 2010, DJ Shadow released a single with two tracks called "Def Surrounds Us" and "I've Been Trying" and taken from the new album as a preview. While on the 2010 "Shadowsphere" tour new songs began to emerge, although he stated that a new album was not yet ready and that he would continue working toward having it ready in time for his 2011 tour. On May 10, 2011, Shadow released an EP called
I Gotta Rokk featuring remixed tracks from the forthcoming album, titled
The Less You Know, the Better. A second single "I'm Excited" was also released, featuring
Afrikan Boy, on July 7, 2011. However the single was pulled because of copyright infringement. The infringement also delayed the album's release. Another song from the album, titled "Warning Call", featuring
Tom Vek, was released on September 7, 2011. The artwork for this album, the associated singles and promotional material was done by Tony Papesh, an artist from San Francisco, California. The album was mixed by
Jim Abbiss.
Liquid Amber (2014–2015) On August 12, 2014, Shadow launched his new record label imprint Liquid Amber, releasing
The Liquid Amber EP for streaming in accompaniment. Other acts signed to Liquid Amber include Bleep Bloop, Noer the Boy, Mophono, and Ruckazoid. In April 2015, a group called Nite School Klik released a single called "Posse" on Liquid Amber. In May 2015, Shadow revealed to
Billboard that the group was in fact himself and
trap producer G Jones working together. The first self-titled EP by Nite School Klik was released on June 9, 2015.
The Mountain Will Fall and The Mountain Has Fallen (2016–2018) In April 2016 Shadow announced a new album entitled
The Mountain Will Fall, which was released on June 24 via
Mass Appeal Records. A music video for the album's lead single, "
Nobody Speak", featuring rap duo
Run the Jewels, was released on August 24, 2016. In collaboration with a Los Angeles record store, Shadow held on September 10 and 11, 2016, the "First Annual DJ Shadow Storage Sale", selling duplicates in his collection, and limited editions of his "The Sideshow" track. It has been an annual event since then and ran until 2019. On April 20, 2017, a new collaboration between Shadow and
Nas named "Systematic" premiered on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 radio show. The song was revealed to be part of HBO's
Silicon Valley soundtrack. Later that year, in June, Shadow released the EP
The Mountain Has Fallen, featuring "Systematic" and "Horror Show", a new single featuring
Danny Brown. 2018 saw the release of
Live in Manchester: The Mountain Has Fallen, a nine-track live album recorded at Manchester's
Albert Hall on October 5, 2017, as Shadow was touring in support of his previous album and EP.
Our Pathetic Age (2019) He later announced a double album entitled
Our Pathetic Age that was released November 15, 2019. This two-part release includes an instrumental section and a vocal suite, featuring returning collaborators
Run the Jewels and
Nas, and artists such as
Ghostface Killah,
De La Soul, and
Raekwon. Shadow was approached by
Deftones to contribute to their
White Pony 20th anniversary re-issue remix project,
Black Stallion. Singer
Chino Moreno explained that they originally wanted him to remix the whole album, citing him as an inspiration at the time they recorded it. He ended up remixing "
Digital Bath", In January 2022,
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard released a remix album titled
Butterfly 3001. Shadow's "re-write" of "Black Hot Soup" was the first track on the album.
Action Adventure (2023) In January 2023 DJ Shadow's seventh studio album
Action Adventure was announced. Released in October 2023 the album was critically generally well received according to Metacritic. With no collaborations with other artists, the album marked a break from the previous two collaboration-heavy albums. ==Studio and equipment==