B-Side Wins Again: Ray Agee

Since DJ Shadow is in town today, here's a Ray Agee B-side, "My So Called Friend," one of his fave Cali funk spins on Watts Way.

DJ Shadow Celebrates 30 Years of Endtroducing @ History, Wednesday

Join DJ Shadow on a trip back through Endtroducing at History on Wednesday at 7 pm. Get tickets here. Check the clips below.  

DJ Shadow explains how "You Played Me" came together

DJ Shadow breaks down the Jan Jerome-inspired track "You Played Me" off Action Adventure. He plays the Concert Hall Feb 3rd.

Discussing Charlotte's well-sampled Backyard Heavies with J.R. Branch & Mickey Walker

The Sounds Visual site tracked down J.R. Branch and Mickey Walker for a revealing chat about the Backyard Heavies. 

Here's the scoop...

The Backyard Heavies were a short-lived, Charlotte-based R&B/funk band. An offshoot of the band The Tempests, producer Allen Touissaint encouraged the band to record some instrumental 45’s after they were brought to his attention by Marshall Sehorn.

One of their singles, 1971’s “Expo 83,” became a deep funk classic that was featured on countless DJ compilations, and would later be sampled by artists including Kanye West, Pete Rock, DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist, while other songs like “Chitlin’ Strut” would go on to be sampled by artists including Eminem, Kendrick Lamar featuring RZA, and Chance the Rapper. 

Check out the Sounds Visual interview right here. Listen to a couple of Backyard Heavies classics below. 

DJ Shadow releases new album, Action Adventure

Writes DJ Shadow...

My new full-length album, ‘Action Adventure,’ is released today. There are 14 tracks, encompassing my most recent musical thoughts and ideas. The album has no guests, no collaborations, and no features. As such, it represents a wholly personal artistic statement, albeit one indebted to countless sources of inspiration: the samples I use, the artists I respect, the genres I admire, and those close to me, past and present, who have encouraged me and supported my journey. If there are to be more albums in the future, I’ll be grateful. But if this is to be the last…because indeed, one never knows…it would be a fitting end to a charmed life in music. I hope it finds a place within your own sonic tapestry. 

– DJ Shadow, Oct 27, 2023

Listen here: https://djshadow.lnk.to/actionadventure. 

DJ Shadow plays The Concert Hall in Toronto on February 3. Tickets on sale November 3 at 10 am right here.

R.I.P. David McCallum, 1933-2023

Sadly actor/musician David McCallum – who played Ilya Kuryakin on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. – has passed away at 90. 

DJ Shadow announces new album "Action Adventure" on the way

Shadow is eschewing big name collaborations for a more personal statement on Action Adventure. First single out soon.

Here's the scoop from Shadow...

I’m excited to announce to you that my new album is almost here.

Drumroll please…the title of the new album is…

ACTION ADVENTURE

…And I’m REALLY excited about it. There are 14 tracks, and all but one is instrumental. This, by definition, places it closer to Endtroducing and The Private Press in terms of personality and feel, but this is no throwback. The songs represent my continued evolution as a producer and songwriter, and I can honestly say that I couldn’t have made these tracks even a few years ago. Objectively, I hear maturity and growth. The arrangements are sophisticated but efficient, the programming more deliberate. As the title would imply, there’s a wide variety of moods and a premium on melody and texture, with the intention of maximum emotional impact.

Why no big-name collabs? I guess after my last two albums, which had a TON of guests, I needed to get personal and make music for myself again. I didn’t want to compromise or write music to give someone else a runway, I wanted to force myself to permeate every available sonic space and “own” the total composition. Time after time, I found myself writing songs that felt vocal-resistant somehow, so rather than fighting something organic, I embraced the challenge…and “Action Adventure” is the result. I can’t wait for you to hear it!

The album will be out in late October or early November, but the first single will be out THIS MONTH. Expect quite a bit of activity from me over the coming weeks, including more live dates (FINALLY).

As always, thank you for your support, and stay tuned for more announcements coming soon!

– DJ Shadow

For more info, visit DJ Shadow's site right here and check out his Rappcats pop-up on September 16 and 17.  

Just in time for Christmas, DJ Shadow's Entroducing is now a jigsaw puzzle

You can get a 1000-piece puzzle of that Brian Cross sleeve shot for Entroducing feat. Chief Xcel, Asia Born & Beni B right here.  

Whaddya mean you don't know the Chaffey College Jazz Ensemble

Here's "Imagination Flight" by Chaffey College Jazz Ensemble famously flipped by DJ Shadow for "Changeling"

DJ Shadow joins forces with De La Soul for "Rocket Fuel"

DJ Shadow hand-stamped a 300 copy limited edition of the "Rocket Fuel" single which are now being re-sold on Discogs for more than 10 times their initial price.

DJ Shadow @ The Phoenix, Saturday

Following the smashing success of The Mountain Will Fall, DJ Shadow (returning to Toronto to spin at The Phoenix on Saturday) has announced the release of a 20th Anniversary re-release of Entroducing in a special ENDTROSPECTIVE Edition, due October 28. You can pre-order the 6LP vinyl box, 3CD digipak versions and limited edition 12" remixes directly from DJ Shadow's site right here.

Says our man Shadow...
“As a music lover, my favorite records always have some hallmarks of an era, but also sound as if they could have been made almost any time within a 20 year time span. I’ve always felt that as someone who buys a lot of records and sits there and studies them and kind of vibes off them, I also feel like once you put something out into the world, it can be discovered later. That happened so much with Endtroducing – 10 or 15 years down the road, people were discovering it.”

The deluxe CD/LP collection features the original album as well as demos, alternate takes, live versions, and expanded liner notes from an interview conducted by Eliot Wilder, the author of DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing… (33 1/3), along with never-before-released photographs by Brian "B+" Cross and Phil Knott. In addition, the package features 12 exclusive remixes, produced by Prince Paul, Adrian  Younge Hudson Mohawke, Daedelus and other forward looking artists, will also be available as the standalone digital album, Entroducing Re-Emagined. Check out the complete tracklisting after the Clams Casino remix of Stem / Long Stem and a snappy reworking of Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt from Paul Salva below.




ENDTRODUCING – THE ALBUM

1. Best Foot Forward
2. Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt
3. The Number Song
4. Changeling
**Transmission 1
5. What Does Your Soul Look Like Part 4
6. Untitled
7. Stem / Long Stem
**Transmission 2
8. Mutual Slump
9. Organ Donor
10. Why Hip Hop Sucks in ‘96
11. Midnight In A Perfect World
12. Napalm Brain / Scatter Brain
13. What Does Your Soul Look Like Part 1 – Blue Sky Revisit
**Transmission 3

EXCESSIVE EPHEMERA
1. Best Foot Forward – Alternate Version
2. Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt – Alternate Take Without Overdubs
3. The Number Song – Cut Chemist Party Mix
4. Changeling – Original Demo Excerpt
5. Stem – Cops ‘N’ Robbers Mix
6. Soup
7. Red Bus Needs To Leave!
8. Mutual Slump – Alternate Take Without Overdubs
9. Organ Donor –Extended Overhaul
10. Why Hip Hop Sucks in ’96 – Alternate Take
11. Midnight In A Perfect World – Gab Mix
12. Napalm Brain – Original Demo Beat
13. What Does Your Soul Look Like – Peshay Remix
14. DJ Shadow Live In Oxford, England, Oct. 30, 1997

ENDTRODUCING RE-EMAGINED
1. Best Foot Forward – Teeko Remix
2. Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt – Salva Remix
3. The Number Song – Lee Bannon Remix
4. Transmissions – Kuedo Remix
5. Changeling II – Adrian Younge Remix
6. What Does Your Soul Look Like Part 4 – DJ Spinn Teklife Remix
7. Stem / Long Stem – Clams Casino Remix
8. Mutual Slump – Daedelus Remix
9. Organ Donor – UZ Remix
10. Midnight In A Perfect World – Hudson Mohawke Remix
11. What Does Your Soul Look Like Part 1 – Prince Paul Remix
12. Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt – Bondax & Karma Kid Remix

RIP Clarence "Blowfly" Reid, 1939-2016

Clarence Reid aka Blowfly was the king of the Miami Sound whose beats and breaks helped build hip hop.

DJ Shadow likes to let music come to him

DJ Shadow goes metal with I Gotta Rokk

Thunder Soul takes over Hot Docs

Besides being among the most heartwarming films you'll see at Hot Docs 2010 (which runs through May 9), Thunder Soul: The True Story Of Conrad Johnson & The Kashmere Stage Band will also have one of the very best soundtracks. Of course there's some stiff competition from some of the festival's other entries like Blank City, A Drummer's Dream, 1991 The Year Punk Broke, Complaints Choir and We Don't Care About Music Anyway but then again, those exceptional high school students from the Kashmere Gardens neighborhood on Houston's nasty northside were never afraid of a little friendly competition.

During the the late 60s and early 70s, the Kashmere Stage Band won nearly every single high school stage band showdown they entered – an astounding 42 out of 46 contests. As you'll discover from Mark Landsman's informative and inspirational Thunder Soul documentary, Kashmere's phenomenal decade of dominance on the stage band festival circuit actually had less to do with the 1973 group's super-tight rhythm section of drummer Craig Green (see interview in links below) and bassist Gerald Calhoun or the various stunning teen soloists who came and went than the wisdom and guidance of the program's indefatigable music director who built the KSB  into an unstoppable stage band force year after year. Conrad Johnson, affectionately known as "Prof," wasn't satisfied with merely having the most ferociously funky high school stage band in Texas, he wouldn't settle for anything less than the very best high school band – ever.
The Kashmere Stage Band's amazing recorded legacy, neatly compiled on the Texas Thunder Soul 1968-74 (Now Again/Stones Throw) 2 CD archival set, provides hard evidence that they achieved Johnson's lofty goal. Certainly you won't hear a word of disagreement from credible deep funk authorities like Keb Darge (considered to be the first to spin a KSB record in a club setting) and DJ Shadow who helped touch off the schoolhouse funk craze with his KSB-inspired compilation series of the same name and also sampled their signature tune Kashmere for the Handsome Boy Modeling School track Holy Calamity.

What set the Kashmere Stage Band apart from the thousands of other school bands across North America is the way Johnson looked beyond the conventional big band jazz charts to embrace the contemporary funk idiom as a viable music form all the while encouraging his students to compose their own songs, perform them and record them. Of course, there's much more to the Kashmere story than a few badass tunes and Landsman puts it all into proper perspective with Thunder Soul which screens as part of the Small Acts series at the Cumberland 3 on Friday (May 7) at 9 pm, Bloor Cinema on Saturday (May 8) at 6 pm and again at The ROM Theatre on Sunday (May 9) at 1:45 pm. For tickets see link below.

Mark Landsman discusses Thunder Soul


DJ Shadow chronicles Thunder Soul's SXSW premiere



Kashmere by the Kashmere Stage Band


LINKS
Thunder Soul at Hot Docs 2010 http://www.hotdocs.ca/film/title/thunder_soul
Thunder Soul http://thundersoulmovie.com/
Kashmere Stage Band http://www.myspace.com/texasthundersoul
Stones Throw Records store
Interviews with Conrad Johnson and KSB drummer Craig Green