Electronic Sound July 2015 (Regular Edition) | Page 12
DJ SHADOW
Francisco, what with the tech industry that has settled around
the city. It’s said it’s an unaffordable parody of the place it
once was. Has that had an impact on the music scene?
shortly after ‘Endtroducing.....’, as “decimating” the music
industry. Ever wish it had never been invented? Or do you find
advantages to it?
“There are a lot of obvious physical changes to the city but
that’s also happening nationwide. You walk around Manhattan
and it’s shocking how much it’s changed. Or Brooklyn. East
New York used to be a no-go area, now it’s unthinkable what’s
happening to it. In San Francisco, well, a lot of artists have
been priced out and moved to the East Bay, but it’s still the
Bay Area. People shift around within a 20-mile radius, yet the
same forces that create inspiration for artists here continue to
be present. As for the tech industry, I always say we should
at least be happy it’s happening in the city, because if it was
happening somewhere else we’d simply be grumbling about
how nothing goes on here.”
“From a music discovery perspective, the last five years have
been incredible. Soundcloud is great. Prior to that, there was
nothing out there I felt any user affinity to. Some things click
with me, others don’t. Twitter yes, Facebook no. People do
get put out of shape if you say anything contrary about the
internet, though. Even if you casually remark on the old days
and the way things are now, people look for any reason to
label you a hater or a Luddite. And to me, it’s very pragmatic.
I was never abused by the music industry, so I don’t buy into
that bashing. At the same time, there were benefits then and
there are benefits now, as well as disadvantages both ways.
If I say to people that I make a lot less money than I used to,
that’s just a casual fact. There’s no subtext to it. Luckily, there
are still a lot of patrons of the arts. I appreciate it when people
come out and see me play or support what I do.
You talk about not being a purist or a vinyl obsessive or a retro
maniac. Where do you sit with the current revival of vinyl? And
what about the debates around analogue versus digital and the
validity of new formats?
“I’ve never been an audiophile,” declares Shadow. “Sometimes
people are quite disappointed when they come up to me for
advice on whether to buy a $2,500 turntable and I’m always
like, hey, I made music on a four-track. ‘Endtroducing.....’ was
mixed on a $700 16-track analogue Mackie.
“I think I have an affinity for vinyl because there’s [a] 100 years
of creative output on that format. I care about eight-tracks
exponentially less because it was a disposable format, although
I collect it, as I do cassettes, CDs, mp3s… So to me it’s that
vinyl was THE format for a long time and as such it holds sway
in my heart, not in a purist sense but because there’s so much
music available on vinyl. But then towards 2008 or 2009, I
found I was losing opportunities to purchase vinyl as all the
major chain stores, like Tower Records, were closing around me.
I remember there was one in Piccadilly in London, right? That’s
gone? There we are. So as those places disappeared, and there
wasn’t yet something like Soundcloud, and I was feeling, ‘This
is pretty fucked up, my options are being removed without my
having any say’.
What do you make of the rise of EDM and DJs supplanting
stadium rock?
“I’m happy for anything that allows DJs to express themselves.
But if the tables were turned and I was a rock purist and that’s
where all my energies were based, I’d be very unhappy right
now. I’ve personally never been comfortable with the idea of
being some kind of entertainment machine onstage, that’s
never been my thing. But as we know, all this started in the UK
years ago, so I do feel I have a longer perspective on it. Fatboy
Slim at Brighton Beach, the whole Chemical Brothers Big Beat
stuff… Still to this day, I don’t think those events have been
touched. I was upbeat about it then and I’m upbeat about it