DJ Shadow's set was an energetic audiocopia of drum & bass that wove itself into the minds of onlookers through funky melodies and cut-and-paste hip-hop beats. Embracing and releasing phrases from a plethora of sampled music is what DJ Shadow does best and during his performance last Wednesday, he put his gift for splice on full display by cueing up a combination of old and new material from his 16-year career. Most of what Shadow spun elaborated on the sonic themes he has cultivated during that career, or as I saw it, a welcome embellishment on his own grooves. At times, it felt as though I were listening to a post-rock electronica companion piece to a conceptual movie or visual art project.
Oddly enough, DJ Shadow spent most of his set visually-divorced from his audience, hidden in the center of the Shadowsphere - a structure that one might mistake for an oracle's giant, glass orb. The Shadowsphere is a perfect metaphor for Josh Davis' ability to place himself completely into the music he composes. It also visually communicates the moods of the music to his audience, as it cycles through Shadow's chosen set of images. Over the course of the show, its shell became a pinball, an eyeball, Escher's reflective self-portrait, a snow-globe, and even the Earth. I felt like a moth being drawn towards the light.
Because the focus of the show was as much visual as it was musical, many in the audience fell into a bobble-headed trance - mesmerized by projected images of the universe, of cities (references to Portland's bridges and skyline ushered in several loud responses), and blips of strobing electricity. The most powerful and memorable of this ocular sound-slide came at the midpoint of Shadow's set. The music became dissonant while a string of flashing words scrolled "Hate/War/Ignorance" across the Shadowsphere. The tension was relieved, and a feeling of great elation spread amongst the crowd, when the words "Love/Peace/Music" took their place.
Portland was especially thrilled when Shadow busted out tracks from his treasured LP, Endtroducing…, which included "Building Steam with a Grain of Salt, "Stem/Long Stem" and the clever keyboard jingle of "Organ Donor." He also mixed together beats from Outsider, as well as a few songs from his newest endeavors. DJ Shadow describes this tour as a journey to find a "source of inspiration" that will help him complete his new album (this is the first time in over 3 years that Shadow is playing solo shows in North America and will be the first studio album release since Outsider). New singles like "Def Surrounds Us/I've Been Trying," sounded amazing live and gave me a lot of hope for whatever shape that completed album takes. I can't wait to hear more from this talented artist and I hope that he finds, if not in Portland than perhaps in his old stomping ground of San Francisco, the inspiration to complete something that is going to rock his fans in the coming months.
