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DJ Shadow Interview @ Salon.com

SaracenusSaracenus 671 Posts
edited September 2014 in Strut Central
DJ Shadow interview talking about his new efforts, the internet, as well as Afrika Bambaataa and his collection of vinyl (40,000+) archived at Cornell University.

???It???s more difficult for a song to become a lightning rod???: DJ Shadow on the future of music (Salon.com)

  Comments

  • dreskieboogiedreskieboogie 951 Posts
    'Endtroducing.. the first samples-only album in history.'

    OK...
  • volumenvolumen 2,532 Posts
    Wonder how the reporter came up with that.
  • Controller_7Controller_7 4,052 Posts
    It technically isn't even all samples. Lyrics born vocals, that Xanadu roller skate girl, and something else.

    From that, if the writer isn't counting vocals, then there are probably 100s of all sample albums prior to endtroducing.
  • fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
    ...
  • SaracenusSaracenus 671 Posts
    volumen said:
    Wonder how the reporter came up with that.

    Been my experience that a lot of "reporters" don't get it right. They are on a deadline and are relying on other folk's expertise. And those are the "serious" ones.

    You take that environment and you got someone writing a puff piece you are not likely to get something properly fact checked. Unless the guy or gal doing the work is vested deeply in the subject they are covering or have an ax to grind with the subject of their piece it just isn't going to happen.

    I will bet that the claim of an all sampled album came from DJ Shadows PR folks and/or sloppy research. It was on the internet, so it must be true!
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    ^ This is so important to remember when you are reading something that you don't know a lot about.

    I hear so many music myths taken as truth and repeated.
  • white_teawhite_tea 3,262 Posts
    Saracenus said:
    volumen said:
    Wonder how the reporter came up with that.

    Been my experience that a lot of "reporters" don't get it right. They are on a deadline and are relying on other folk's expertise. And those are the "serious" ones.

    FUCK YOU RACIST!!!

    OK, just kidding. But as a reporter, I resent that. I also resent the implication that there was anything approaching "deadline pressure" on an article about DJ Shadow on Salon.com. I don't know, but I'd be surprised. "Yo, b, where's that 500-word on Josh? We trying to get that on the 10 a.m. biz sked - FOX Business might want it for their lunchtime seg!"

    Also too, if there was any question about Entroducing being the first sample-based album, they could have just added an ", according to Shadow's representatives" rather than representing it in copy as like a fact.
  • DJ_EnkiDJ_Enki 6,475 Posts
    white_tea said:
    Saracenus said:
    volumen said:
    Wonder how the reporter came up with that.

    Been my experience that a lot of "reporters" don't get it right. They are on a deadline and are relying on other folk's expertise. And those are the "serious" ones.

    FUCK YOU RACIST!!!

    OK, just kidding. But as a reporter, I resent that. I also resent the implication that there was anything approaching "deadline pressure" on an article about DJ Shadow on Salon.com. I don't know, but I'd be surprised. "Yo, b, where's that 500-word on Josh? We trying to get that on the 10 a.m. biz sked - FOX Business might want it for their lunchtime seg!"

    Also too, if there was any question about Entroducing being the first sample-based album, they could have just added an ", according to Shadow's representatives" rather than representing it in copy as like a fact.

    Well, the Guinness Book of World Records has it listed as the first album made completely from samples, which I imagine would pass muster as fact-checking these days.
  • BeatChemistBeatChemist 1,465 Posts
    DJ_Enki said:
    white_tea said:
    Saracenus said:
    volumen said:
    Wonder how the reporter came up with that.

    Been my experience that a lot of "reporters" don't get it right. They are on a deadline and are relying on other folk's expertise. And those are the "serious" ones.

    FUCK YOU RACIST!!!

    OK, just kidding. But as a reporter, I resent that. I also resent the implication that there was anything approaching "deadline pressure" on an article about DJ Shadow on Salon.com. I don't know, but I'd be surprised. "Yo, b, where's that 500-word on Josh? We trying to get that on the 10 a.m. biz sked - FOX Business might want it for their lunchtime seg!"

    Also too, if there was any question about Entroducing being the first sample-based album, they could have just added an ", according to Shadow's representatives" rather than representing it in copy as like a fact.

    Well, the Guinness Book of World Records has it listed as the first album made completely from samples, which I imagine would pass muster as fact-checking these days.

    This is the most sad thing about this thread. Guinness World Records... is an authoritative source in todays media climate.

    ps I still ride for Endtroducing. Maybe not as hard as my 17 year old self. But still. If you never got into blazing downtempo, I understand. It's pretty much the album that made me realize I could make music by myself and have it sound cool. Can't turn my back on it lol
  • SaracenusSaracenus 671 Posts
    white_tea said:
    Saracenus said:
    volumen said:
    Wonder how the reporter came up with that.

    Been my experience that a lot of "reporters" don't get it right. They are on a deadline and are relying on other folk's expertise. And those are the "serious" ones.

    FUCK YOU RACIST!!!

    OK, just kidding. But as a reporter, I resent that. I also resent the implication that there was anything approaching "deadline pressure" on an article about DJ Shadow on Salon.com. I don't know, but I'd be surprised. "Yo, b, where's that 500-word on Josh? We trying to get that on the 10 a.m. biz sked - FOX Business might want it for their lunchtime seg!"

    Also too, if there was any question about Entroducing being the first sample-based album, they could have just added an ", according to Shadow's representatives" rather than representing it in copy as like a fact.

    "Some of my best friends are reporters..."

    There are good reporters out there that get their shit done right. You notice that I said a lot, not all.

    Unfortunately, it has been my experience that journalism today is rushed. We live in a 24 hour news world and we have more content providers than ever before (and countless content aggregator/regurgitaters). I constantly see errors in reporting in my areas of interest ranging from the small to the ridiculous. It does not give me confidence in those reporters that are writing/talking about stuff I really don't know about.

    DJ Shadow is not someone that I know much of anything about so reading that Salon.com article is mostly taken on faith that it is accurate by me. Had it been someone like Nasurat Fatah Ali Khan or the Tallis Scholars I would have more background to judge.

    If you are one of the reporters that get there shit done right, right on brother. We need more people like you out there.
  • volumenvolumen 2,532 Posts
    Yea journalists have always had its issues with facts. Too many writers are trying to meet a deadline or shilling or just plan hacks. Use if the gbowr as fact is iffy. Pretty sure they just come if u call them. Not sure how that claim would hold up with any one who knew anything. Steinski lessons qualify more that most rap records that have rapping scratching and often programming or live playing on them.
  • Controller_7Controller_7 4,052 Posts
    As the kind of hip hop historian, knowledgeable person that he is, I find it hard to believe that he didn't tell Guinness that they were wrong.
  • white_teawhite_tea 3,262 Posts
    Saracenus said:
    white_tea said:
    Saracenus said:
    volumen said:
    Wonder how the reporter came up with that.

    Been my experience that a lot of "reporters" don't get it right. They are on a deadline and are relying on other folk's expertise. And those are the "serious" ones.

    FUCK YOU RACIST!!!

    OK, just kidding. But as a reporter, I resent that. I also resent the implication that there was anything approaching "deadline pressure" on an article about DJ Shadow on Salon.com. I don't know, but I'd be surprised. "Yo, b, where's that 500-word on Josh? We trying to get that on the 10 a.m. biz sked - FOX Business might want it for their lunchtime seg!"

    Also too, if there was any question about Entroducing being the first sample-based album, they could have just added an ", according to Shadow's representatives" rather than representing it in copy as like a fact.

    "Some of my best friends are reporters..."

    There are good reporters out there that get their shit done right. You notice that I said a lot, not all.

    Unfortunately, it has been my experience that journalism today is rushed. We live in a 24 hour news world and we have more content providers than ever before (and countless content aggregator/regurgitaters). I constantly see errors in reporting in my areas of interest ranging from the small to the ridiculous. It does not give me confidence in those reporters that are writing/talking about stuff I really don't know about.

    DJ Shadow is not someone that I know much of anything about so reading that Salon.com article is mostly taken on faith that it is accurate by me. Had it been someone like Nasurat Fatah Ali Khan or the Tallis Scholars I would have more background to judge.

    If you are one of the reporters that get there shit done right, right on brother. We need more people like you out there.

    Yeah, I was just messing around. Of course, the 24-hour news cycle. At my job, we get graded against the competition in seconds and being ahead by several minutes qualifies as a "major beat." Luckily, few algorithmic dudes are putting on a trade timed to, say, Salon.com mentioning Paul's Boutique, which could have caused a major headache - or at least an angry email - from homeboy writing the Shadow article. Still, in that environment, if you are not sure about something but want to include it in an article, it never hurts to just attribute it to whomever is making the claim. And, likewise, I still enjoy Entroducing on the once or twice I year and I listen to it on my iPod.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    Why Endtroducing Sucks in '14.
  • ElectrodeElectrode Los Angeles 3,133 Posts
    HarveyCanal said:
    Why Endtroducing Sucks in '14.

    It heard that it could be the money, but my source is unreliable.
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    So is there consensus on which record was the first samples-only album in history?
  • tecatetecate 73 Posts
    LaserWolf said:
    So is there consensus on which record was the first samples-only album in history?

    I would say PE'S 'Yo! Bum Rush the Show'. However, I remember reading how Flav played the hi-hats live in the studio on a track in order to get it right. So, I guess, technically it doesn't count.

    Paul's Boutique: Ad-Rock played guitar and MCA played bass on 'Looking Down the Barrel', so I guess technically, if we want to be super serious about it, it doesn't count?

    3 Feet High: Strong candidate as well, although I think Prince Paul played the kazoo on there (not joking) so. . .

    'It Takes A Nation of Millions' might be it.
  • TheKindCromangTheKindCromang 1,463 Posts
    If we're debating "first entirely sample based" (which I think was also the claim on the original Entroducing hype sticker) then neither Paul's Boutique, 3ft High, or any PE joint would count because they have live vocals/Rapps therefore not entirely sample based. Also, no offense to Controller7, but if you're talking about Xanadu Roller Girl and Lyrics Born "clock on the wall reads a quarter past midnight" those are both samples of pre-existing material.

    Entroducing is still a landmark accomplishment IMHO. Not sure why people here are so eager to bring the hatt on DJ Shadow when you know you rode hard back in 1996

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Sounds like DJ Shadow for the win!
  • caicai spacecho 362 Posts
    TheKindCromang said:
    "clock on the wall reads a quarter past midnight" those are both samples of pre-existing material.
    That's Organized Konfusion

    TheKindCromang said:
    Entroducing is still a landmark accomplishment IMHO. Not sure why people here are so eager to bring the hatt on DJ Shadow when you know you rode hard back in 1996
    It's a Soul Strut tradition! Anything Shadow related is put under a microscope for minute errors, which are then gloated about!
  • Controller_7Controller_7 4,052 Posts
    Yo cromang, change your name to fucking TheMeanCromang, because I do take offense!


    Just kidding.

    Lyrics Born says "it's the money." I believe it was recorded for the album. The girl who talks about coming to America and watching Xanadu, Shadow said in some interview that it was a recording of someone he knew. Someone who was on the cover of URB at one point, but he kept it secret. I forget where he said this.

    I like the album and it was a game changer for me back in the day. I'm not discrediting that at all. I'm just saying, the Lyrics Born thing cancels it out, assuming that recording vocals is now no longer sampling. I mean, there's probably tons of 88-89 rap records that are all samples and vocals.

    Technically any recording is a sample. They're just long samples. The White Noise Electric Storm album might be the first all sample album, but I get it, we're talking about all samples from preexisitng stuff and chopped on a sampler or computer.

    Crazy that it's almost 20 years old and still debated and discussed with such intensity.
  • granjerogranjero 147 Posts
    I doubt PE or De La Soul didn't use a 808 in their recordings.
    It's plausible Shadow was the first but you know how it goes with these things, somebody unknown will have done it before him.
    I've never put on Shadow (though I respect him as a craftsman). Saw him live at a festival in about 2004 with his Hyphy (?) and crazy lights thing going on.
    No idea why I'm responding here
  • crazycratecrazycrate 32 Posts
    If a sample is defined by pre-recorded sound, than a tape loop is an equivalent. People were making records using nothing but tape loops in the 1950┬┤s already (if not earlier). I think what I heard/read about Endtroducing is that it contains the largest amount of different samples, hence the Guinness record(?????)
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    I think some of the Shadow hatt comes from that interview a little while ago where he referred to his "flock". Nobody wants to be referred to as a sheep, and they certainly don't want to be referred to as one by someone who is elevating himself to a Christ-like figure with the same metaphor.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
  • volumenvolumen 2,532 Posts
    tecate said:
    LaserWolf said:
    So is there consensus on which record was the first samples-only album in history?

    I would say PE'S 'Yo! Bum Rush the Show'. However, I remember reading how Flav played the hi-hats live in the studio on a track in order to get it right. So, I guess, technically it doesn't count.

    Paul's Boutique: Ad-Rock played guitar and MCA played bass on 'Looking Down the Barrel', so I guess technically, if we want to be super serious about it, it doesn't count?

    3 Feet High: Strong candidate as well, although I think Prince Paul played the kazoo on there (not joking) so. . .

    'It Takes A Nation of Millions' might be it.

    Their is a bit of live instruments on that LP including Vernon Reid on Sophisticated Bitch.
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