I listen to Changeling every so often. It has a very specific feeling; a sunny Saturday afternoon in 1994 walking from where I lived in Bradford to the town centre, which was only about 10–15 minutes walk away with my mum. This, of course, is a complete fabrication since DJ Shadow didn’t release Endtroducing….. until 1996. But the emotive melodies of each sample still take me there.
It’s my favourite song from the album amongst a slew of brilliant patchworks. But I should entroduce it properly. Endtroducing….. was DJ Shadow’s debut album released on 16th September 1996. Sampling was commonplace by this time but this album was quite unique in its form and quantity of sampling. Where other producers often took a handful of samples per song, Shadow used many more. Some were foundational, some were meandering snippets from film and TV. Some added atmosphere, others were for light relief to break from the darker undertones.
The album took him over two years to complete with his trusty Akai MPC60 MKII sampler, turntable, and Pro Tools via Dan the Automator. The result was an elaborate tapestry of vibrant songs taking from a variety of different genres and eras. Drums are heavy, rhythmic, stuttering, smooth, hard, soft, and rough. Melodies are heart-breaking, restorative, jolly, and mysterious. I could bore you with more adjectives and metaphors about how Endtroducing but you really have to listen to it because that’s what it was made for.
I agree with Andy Battaglia when he suggested that the mystique of Endtroducing “has been partially diluted by the symphonic beat-collage culture it helped spawn”. It happened with albums like The Avalanches’ Since I Left You and Danger Mouse’s The Grey Album where writers would embellish on what it all meant and the artistry of it all rather than the art itself. And now I’m wondering if I’ve leaned into that too.
Entroducing is truly sublime. I know it’s easy to say that now, 30 years on with hindsight and a ton of thinkpieces and retrospectives later, but when you really think about how it all came together, it’s a stunning work of art. And while the “depression” and “despair” that formed its creative backdrop were not ideal and maybe shouldn’t be glorified in that “dark place to beautiful art” pipeline kind of way, it emphasises the human resolve and what we’re truly capable of. We can just sit down, make something, share it, and enjoy what we have. Over and over again.
Machines were used to create it but they didn’t manufacture the frequencies from some natural language prompt. DJ Shadow didn’t say “make me a song”; DJ Shadow made that song and he did it dozens of times. And three decades later, we get to press play and discover all the little idiosyncrasies and new old music.