Introducing..... DJ shadow

Josh Davis, a.k.a. DJ Shadow, (born January 1, 1973 in Hayward, California) is a turntablist musician. His recordings are noted for their lush, atmospheric, sample-based sound.

DJ Shadow spent his late teenage years in Davis, California and was a DJ at the community radio station KDVS. During his time as a disc jockey, DJ Shadow was significant in developing the experimental hip hop style associated with the California-based Solesides record label. His early singles for the label, including In/Flux and Lost and Found (S.F.L.), were genre-bending works of art merging elements of funk, rock, hip hop, ambient, jazz, soul, and used-bin found records. DJ Shadow is often cited as a leading creator of trip-hop, though this is a label he strongly contests.

Although he previously released a couple of original works (during 1991-1992 for Hollywood Records) by the time Mo' Wax's James Lavelle contacted him about releasing In/Flux on the fledgling imprint, it wasn't until his distribution association with Mo' Wax that his sound began to mature and cohere.

Shadow's first full-length work, Endtroducing....., was released in late 1996 to immense critical acclaim. Endtroducing made the Guinness World Records book for "First Completely Sampled Album" in 2001. The only piece of kit Shadow used to produce the album is the AKAI MPC60 12bit sampling drum machine. Preemptive Strike, a compilation of early singles, followed in early 1998. Later that year, Shadow produced tracks for Psyence Fiction, the debut album by U.N.K.L.E., a long-time Mo' Wax production team that gained superstar guests including Ian Brown, Thom Yorke (of Radiohead), Richard Ashcroft (of The Verve), Mike D (of the Beastie Boys) and others. His next project came in 1999, with the transformation of Solesides into a new label, Quannum Projects. Nearly six years after his debut production album, his second album, The Private Press, was released in June 2002. In the same year, the movie Scratch (2001, Doug Pray) was released to DVD with DJ Shadow appearing several times throughout the movie. A video for his track "Six Days" was also released in 2002, directed by Wong Kar-Wai.

The documentary films Dark Days and Wisconsin Death Trip feature music from DJ Shadow.

DJ Shadow has also collaborated with fellow hip-hop DJ Cut Chemist. Together they have created two popular mixtapes entitled Brainfreeze and Product Placement. These mixes fuse jazz, funk, and soul in the framework of a cohesive concept. Shadow himself has stated on his website that if you own either of these on vinyl you are the owner of a bootleg, as they were only ever released on CD and distributed to a selection of outlets for sale.

In the year 2004, Shadow's feature length DVD, In Tune and On Time was released. The DVD features a live performance in London, emphasizing intricate visuals.

In 2005, Mo' Wax released a Deluxe Edition of his first album, Endtroducing....

Also in 2005, Brian Udelhofen began work on the Shadow Percussion Project, an attempt to adapt some of the tracks from Endtroducing... for a live performance group. The result was largely successful and well-received by DJ Shadow himself.

He has also collaborated with several other artists, including Blackalicious, Zack de la Rocha, Keak Da Sneak, David Banner and Dr. Octagon (Kool Keith).

A remix of the song titled "Six Days" was featured in the movie The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

In 2006, he signed a deal with Universal Records.

Saturday, August 12, 2006, DJ Shadow guest programmed on Rage, an ABCTV Australia show.

DJ Shadow - Live in Homelands 2000