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