DJ Shadow

DJ Shadow is the production alias of US Trip-Hop DJ and producer Josh Davis.  Davis is one of the founding artists of the Trip-Hop scene and more widely is recognized as pioneer in experimental instrumental Hip Hop.  He has been producing since 1991.

Early Years: 1991 to 2004

Joshua Davis started his music career as a DJ on the University of California’s Davis campus radio station KDVS.  He used the slot to experiment with blending diverse genres and by 1991 was releasing singles under the alias Shadow.  His early tracks combined elements of Hip Hop, Jazz, Funk and Ambient and soon became some of the foundation stones of the newly emerging Trip-Hop scene. 

UK label Mo’ Wax licensed a couple of the early Shadow tracks and one in particular – ‘Lost And Found (S.F.L.)’ (Mo Wax 1994) - received widespread critical acclaim and plays in clubs. 

Davis spent a lot of time in London, working with other Mo Wax artists and remixing for acts including Morcheeba. 

In 1996 Davis released the debut DJ Shadow studio album ‘Endtroducing.....’ (Mo Wax 1996) .  ‘Endtroducing.....’ was a landmark release and has the honour of being credited in the Guiness Book of Records as the first ever album to be created entirely from samples.  Time magazine later named ‘Endtroducing.....’ as one of the "All-Time" 100 best albums.

Later Years: 2001 to present

In 2002, six years after his first studio album Davis released the second DJ Shadow studio album ‘The Private Press’ (MCA Records 2002) and one year later a reworked version of it entitled ‘The Private Repress’ (Island Records 2003).

Davis’ continued desire to innovate and explore new artistic directions has not always gone down well with fans, notably when the album ‘The Outsider’ (Island Records 2006) met with criticism from some fans. 

2006 was also the year Davis signed to the world’s largest record label Universal Music, with his music being released on the Universal sub label Island Records.

In 2011 Davis announced that he would release his latest studio album ‘The Less You Know, The Better’ towards the end of the year.

With his DJ Shadow alias Josh Davis has played a major role in expanding the boundaries of Hip Hop and in doing so helped create the genre of Trip-Hop.  Unlike some of his peers, such as DJ Spooky, Davis has managed to achieve strong commercial success in addition to being innovative and experimental.

DJ Shadow has a huge record collection totalling 60,000 records of which he only keeps a small number at home and the rest in storage.