DJ Shadow spent his teenage years in Davis, California and was a DJ at the community radio station KDVS. During his time as a radio disc jockey, DJ Shadow was significant in developing the experimental instrumental hip-hop style associated with the California-based Solesides record label. His early singles for the label, including In/Flux and Lost and Found (S.F.L.), were genre-bending works of art merging elements of funk, rock, hip-hop, ambient, jazz, soul, and used-bin found records. DJ Shadow is often cited as a leading creator of trip-hop, though this is a label he strongly contests.
Although he previously released a couple of original works (during 1991-1992 for Hollywood Records) by the time Mo' Wax's James Lavelle contacted him about releasing In/Flux on the fledgling imprint, it wasn't until his distribution association with Mo' Wax that his sound began to mature and cohere.
Shadow's first full-length work, Endtroducing....., was released in late 1996 to immense critical acclaim. Following the success of this album, he acted as a shadow producer for Rage Against The Machine for their album, Evil Empire. It is said he influenced the solo on their song "Bulls On Parade". Endtroducing... made the Guinness World Records book for "First Completely Sampled Album" in 2001. Preemptive Strike, a compilation of early singles, followed in early 1998. Later that year, Shadow produced tracks for Psyence Fiction, the debut album by U.N.K.L.E., a long-time Mo' Wax production team that gained superstar guests including Thom Yorke (of Radiohead), Richard Ashcroft (of The Verve), Mike D (of the Beastie Boys) and others. His next project came in 1999, with the transformation of Solesides into a new label, Quannum Projects. Nearly six years after his debut production album, his second album, The Private Press, was released in June 2002. In the same year, the movie "Scratch" (2001, Doug Pray) was released to DVD with DJ Shadow appearing several times throughout the movie.
The documentary films "Dark Days" and "Wisconsin Death Trip" feature music of DJ Shadow while "Scratch" features an interview and more music.
DJ Shadow has also collaborated with fellow artist Cut Chemist. Together they have made two CDs entitled Brainfreeze and Product Placement. These albums fuse jazz, funk, and soul in the framework of a cohesive concept. The second of these (Product Placement) followed a very similar pattern to the first, but using remixes/other versions of the songs in roughly the same order.
In the year 2004, Shadow released his feature length DVD, In Tune and On Time. The DVD features a live performance in London, emphasizing intricate visuals.
In 2005, Shadow released a Deluxe Edition of his first album, Endtroducing.... and a new album, titled "The Outsider" in 2006.
While Shadow's earlier works, especially 'Endtroducing.....', are known for their innovation in genres such as hip-hop, ambient, and trip-hop, his fourth full length album, The Outsider, had several tracks dedicated to Hyphy. This decision has been controversial, leaving many fans feeling alienated. DJ Shadow addressed this point in an August, 2006 interview, in which stated, "Repeat Endtroducing over and over again? That was never, ever in the game plan. Fuck that. So I think it's time for certain fans to decide if they are fans of the album, or the artist."
Also in 2005, Brian Udelhofen began work on the Shadow Percussion Project, an attempt to adapt some of the tracks from Endtroducing... for a live performance group. The result was largely successful and well-received by DJ Shadow himself.
In 2007 DJ Shadow was contacted by the Hollywood Bowl to do a show featuring Freeze with Cut Chemist. However, not wanting to repeat old material DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist came up with a whole new routine entitled The Hard Sell. In 2007 and 2008 they went on The Hard Sell tour and were accompanied on stage by two large video screens with visuals created for the tour.
Discography
Solo Albums
* 1996 - Endtroducing.....
* 1998 - Preemptive Strike
* 2000 - Dark Days
* 2002 - The Private Press
* 2003 - The Private Repress (Japanese Remix Album)
* 2004 - In Tune and On Time
* 2005 - Endtroducing... (2xCD Deluxe Edition)
* 2006 - The Outsider
* 2007 - The 4-Track Era Vol.1 Best of the KMEL Mixes
* 2007 - The 4-Track Era Vol.2 Best of the Remixes and Megamixes (1990-1992)
* 2011 - The Less You Know, the Better
with Q Bert
* 1997 - Camel Bobsled Race (Q-Bert Mega Mix) CD-EP
with UNKLE
* 1998 - Psyence Fiction
with Cut Chemist
* 1999 - Brainfreeze
* 2001 - Product Placement
* 2004 - Product Placement on Tour
* 2005 - Freeze
* 2008 - The Hard Sell
with Dan The Automator
* 1998 - Bombay the Hard Way: Guns, Cars and Sitars
what does your soul like
DJ Shadow Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Cold...
Our road was paved to the edge of time...
Steel... Sparks...
Come with me now to the edge of time...
Does anyone remember who I am?
In a few moments you will have an experience which will seem completely real...
You have 5 seconds to terminate this tape...
5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Has everybody got a place to hide?
...is everybody inside?
Has everybody got a place to hide?
...is everybody inside?
There's a game out there, and the stakes are high.
And the guy who runs it figures the averages all day long, and all night...
Once in a while he let's you steal a pot,
But if you stay in the game long enough, you've got to lose,
And once you've lost, there's no way back...
No way at all...
The time has come
Darkness!
Darkness! darkness! darkness!
Da-da-da-da-darkness!
The time has come
The time has come
Can you feel this?
What is that buzzing?
Are you now, or have you ever, moved slowly?
The lyrics to DJ Shadow's song "What Does Your Soul Look Like" are open to interpretation but there seems to be a focus on time, fear, and loss. The opening lines "We are standing here at the edge of time... Cold... Our road was paved to the edge of time... Steel... Sparks... Come with me now to the edge of time... Does anyone remember who I am?" set the scene of some kind of existential or spiritual reckoning. The imagery of steel and sparks creates a sense of industrialism and hardness, which can be juxtaposed against the idea of time as something fluid and intangible.
The lines "Has everybody got a place to hide?... is everybody inside?" add an eerie and ominous tone to the song, suggesting that something threatening or dangerous may be looming. The subsequent lines refer to a "game" with high stakes in which losing means there is "no way back." This can be interpreted as a metaphor for life and the fear and anxiety that can come with it. The repeated phrase "The time has come" builds a sense of urgency and importance, as if something significant is about to happen.
Line by Line Meaning
We are standing here at the edge of time...
Here we are, at the brink of history, where everything is about to change--unsure and apprehensive.
Cold...
There's an emptiness or chill in the air that speaks more of the present state of affairs than the temperature.
Our road was paved to the edge of time...
The future was inevitable, as if we walked upon a preordained path, and there was nothing we could have done to change where we landed.
Steel... Sparks...
The hard, steely reality of what we'd accomplished at the brink of the unknown--looking for a flash of light or hope in the terror.
Come with me now to the edge of time...
I implore you, please take a chance and come with me--we can brave this moment together.
Does anyone remember who I am?
In this climate of unease, it's possible that I no longer recall my own identity. Is there anyone out there who can help me remember who I am?
In a few moments you will have an experience which will seem completely real...
I'm warning you, things might take a sudden and unpredictable turn in the next few moments. Be prepared for a jolt.
It will be the result of your subconscious fears, transformed to your conscious awareness...
Be ready for whatever may come--it could be your own subconscious coming to light, in a way that will be jarring but cleansing.
You have 5 seconds to terminate this tape...
You are in control of this situation. You have the power to stop this tape from playing.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Time is running out. Be decisive and act fast.
Has everybody got a place to hide?...
Is everyone prepared for what's coming? Do they have a spot to retreat to in the event of trouble?
...is everybody inside?
Are we all in this together and fully present in the moment?
There's a game out there, and the stakes are high...
Life is a game--a contest with valuable rewards or painful penalties. The risk is high and the pressure can be immense, and you're not in charge of the rules.
And the guy who runs it figures the averages all day long, and all night...
The person overseeing this game is someone who can calculate the potential outcomes--win or lose--day in and day out, perhaps at great personal cost.
Once in a while he let's you steal a pot...
Sometimes you manage to get ahead in the game, take a calculated risk and come out on top--but this is rare.
But if you stay in the game long enough, you've got to lose...
You cannot sustain success forever, no matter how shrewd you are. Eventually, everyone falls short and takes a hit.
And once you've lost, there's no way back...
The consequences of losing can be so severe that you may not be able to recover--financially, emotionally, or socially.
No way at all...
There's no easy route out--you're utterly trapped in your circumstances.
The time has come
Now is the moment. There is no time left for indecisiveness or hesitation.
Darkness!
A mood-setting declaration that everything is about to take a turn for the worse.
Darkness! darkness! darkness!
The darkness is so total that it needs to be invoked three times for emphasis.
Da-da-da-da-darkness!
A rhythmic variation on the previous invocation of darkness--for punctuation and effect.
The time has come
The moment has arrived; no more procrastination or delay is permitted.
The time has come
It bears repeating: the moment is now.
Can you feel this?
Is the weight and terror of the moment fully sinking in? Are you aware of how much danger is present?
What is that buzzing?
Something--perhaps a warning signal--is disrupting the stillness and signaling that there's danger afoot.
Are you now, or have you ever, moved slowly?
Have you ever been so unsure and afraid that you couldn't move quickly? Are you feeling that way now?
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Josh Paul Davis, Ray Smith
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Stew
cannot imagine what it was like hearing this in '95. like some monolith dropped from space onto the hiphop community. really brilliant music, even the album cover exudes it.
Kathryn Dogoloff
It was the best memory making music for me back then wonderful memories dancing at the club's in D.C. until 2am then after hours with the boyfriend and a few others smoking a blunt and drinking a little beer relaxing in the hot tub on the roof of my apartment building
Dayton Sander
First time I ever listened was on Pandora around 08-09 and even then I felt like I was elevated to a new level of music. To only realize it was dated and a Dedue album. Crazy shit
patochan
I was listening to this back in 95. I was living in MO, USA. Like every weekend, we would put this record on a turntable. Very strange things happened while listening to this. We were 18 or 19 at the time.
Stew
@patochan it has that ominous post-cold war heaviness to it, similar to god speed's F#. what happened?
thewirah1
"like some monolith dropped from space". Perfect metaphor for discovering Mo Wax back in the mid-90s. El-P did the same thing to me later.
ADC
some people will never understand the power this music possesses
Orgon Solo
This is totally the best stuff he ever put out! Overlooked classic in the Endtroducing canon
Orgon Solo
Just had a moment again to this while I was out choppin wood... Just so freaking good!.
eric strickland
This dropped like a bomb in college back in 96. We all knew how special it was. The last part is the best. Masterpiece in hip hop production.