In the six years since dropping the seminal Endtroducing, Josh “DJ Shadow” Davis has pretty much behaved like many of today’s precocious hip-hop producers. He’s had his hand in several side projects, stayed out of the public eye and, of course, kept us waiting for a follow-up far too long.
According to The Private Press, he’s been doing a lot of thinking too. Shadow’s second LP is introspective and deliberate, a slow-burner that combines an obsessive-compulsive sense of crate-digging with his own genius in how to make it all make sense. He reportedly toiled away for hours on end alone in his basement-studio, and, as a result, it’s also a vastly different album than the free-wheeling, break-beat laden Endtroducing.
Contrast is something of a theme within The Private Press as well. He plays with dub on “You Can’t Go Home Again” and loops cheeky humor throughout “Mashin’ on the Motorway.” But although Shadow touches on many bases, he manages to maintain an intimate mood. Interludes of recorded letters from the 40s tinge the album with nostalgic compassion and lend cohesion despite Shadow’s proclivity for genre-hopping.
Tracks like “Fixed Income” and “The 6 Day War” are somber yet deeply affecting, and “Blood on the Motorway” slowly builds on piano and bell hooks into a cathartic climax ? you can almost picture them being played over a scene in some Paul Thomas Anderson movie. The Private Press isn’t all musical meditation, though. “Walkie Talkie” is a stripped-down flaunting of Shadow’s prowess as a turntablist, and other songs like it recall the head-nodding party beats of Endtroducing‘s “The Number Song.”
The album’s real strength lies in its ability to make such glaring juxtapositions seem seamless. Shadow works with this idea within songs as well, as he once again creates moments that simply defy labels, genre standards, or for that matter, logical explanation. “Monosylabik,” by far the standout track, romps through an orgy of hi-hats and space-funk samples to create one of the most unique listening experiences this side of a Neil Diamond/Eminem collaboration.
Eclectic, cerebral and sonically spicy, The Private Press isn’t easily digestible upon the first listen. But Shadow works like a practiced storyteller, cooking the tension to a boiling point and letting it explode, leaving only the listener’s brain to clean up his cleverly crafted clutter. The album?s true beauty reveals itself only after you’ve done your mental chores on it.
