DJ Shadow has been a favorite of mine since my buddy Kris B. introduced me to “Entroducing…” back in the days when I worked in the Engineering office at Marshall Erdman. You can search my site for posts about DJ Shadow, there are a few, including the time I saw him live here in Madison.
It was a mild shock to come across a vinyl copy of “DJ Shadow – Preemptive Strike” at a recent visit to Half Price Books.
This is my second favorite studio release from DJ Shadow, and at only $20 I had to get it. The album is in great shape and was well cared for. As I played it while writing this I couldn’t help the feeling I always had that this was an extension of “Entroducing…” and thus was a perfect compliment to it. There are shorter tracks with a few uptempo on sides 1 and 2, but also 2 sides of “What Does Your Soul Look Like” tracks.
The “What Does Your Soul Look Like” tracks are slow and spacey and a delight and though back in the day I longed for more uptempo, I found myself appreciating them even more while listening to them this time. The mixture of beats and spoken word and scratching and tempo slicing is phenomenal. The feel of these tracks is hypnotic and introspective.
I checked the Wiki on this album and was surprised to find it is a compilation. This is a collection of singles that DJ Shadow released from 1993 and 1997, which certainly explains the correlation with “Entroducing…” nicely. These tracks are a great set in themselves though and not off of any other albums in the sense of “compilation”, like a greatest hits or some other grouping.
I always love custom labels and these are cool, mirroring the art.
In the past I have purchased “Entroducing…” and “Reconstructed: The Best Of DJ Shadow” and from the DJ Shadow show I went to I picked up a copy of “XFM Mix” from the DJ Shadow Handmade series.
Also while researching “Preemptive Strike” I found out he has a new one coming out.
DJ Shadow Previews New Album ‘Our Pathetic Age’ With Hard-Hitting ‘Rosie’
Oddly, I have no interest in owning this on vinyl. Though I will search out the CD from the library, or download it from Amazon. The “Rosie” track is pretty damn good. I am glad that Josh is still out there doing his thing. I spent hours and hours scouring the internet for any scrap of DJ Shadow material I could get my hands on. I turned Dalton on to DJ Shadow and he would find things and together we amassed a collection.
I have 97 DJ Shadow albums, shows and bootlegs in my collection, but “Entroducing…”, “Reconstructed: The Best Of DJ Shadow” and “Preemptive Strike” are probably the only ones I will ever end up having on vinyl.
Glad someone gave up this copy.
The Aural Retentive 