It’s been a while since we’ve heard a full-length from Shadow, but wherever he’s been for the last five years, he’s been keeping his ears open. In the years since, however, he’s struggled to find his footing, even as a younger generation of producers have successfully adapted his omnivorous sampling approach to suit the current climate. In an era where beatmaking revolved around physical hardware, vintage records and vinyl manipulation skills, Shadow stood at the vanguard. His enduring masterpiece, Endtroducing is now 20 years old, its cover art accurately dating the music contained therein: two men thumbing through the same dusty crates where Davis himself once sought out obscure samples. This suggests, of course, that he’s had a fruitful career it also suggests that his best work is in the rearview mirror. Josh Davis passed a milestone recently: the artist known as DJ Shadow now has a greatest hits collection to his name.
