08 May 2013

DJ Shadow, legendary architect of sound, visits El Paso for first time

On his first-ever El Paso visit, experimental hip-hop icon DJ Shadow surely will have all his bases covered.

It’s right in the name of his current U.S. tour. All Basses Covered 2013 will take Josh “Shadow” Davis, a legendary turntablist who has crafted dexterous and mind-blowing sets for more than two decades, to Tricky Falls on Saturday, May 11.

The set provides a new take on the scratch-master’s well-known mixing style. Seventeen years since the release of his seminal album, “Entroducing…..,” Shadow continues to evolve and incorporate as many genres of music as possible into seamless sets, all while remaining as humble as ever.

In an interview with THUMP, Vice’s new electronic music and culture channel last month, Shadow refused to even use the word “success,” referring to his own achievements as “contributions.”

“I didn’t get into DJing because I wanted to entertain,” he said. “I still don’t really consider myself an entertainer. I feel like entertainers are beholden to the whims of the audience. Pretentious or not, I consider myself an artist.”

His humility precedes his success. Shortly after releasing “Entroducing……” in late 1996, Shadow produced tracks for British musical outfit UNKLE’s first album, in which he collaborated with artists such as Mike D of Beastie Boys, Richard Ashcroft of The Verve and Thom Yorke of Radiohead, with whom he toured on the band’s 1997 “OK Computer” tour.

Now 40 years old, Shadow has collaborated with some of the best artists, released five albums and developed unprecedented sampling and scratching skills.