DJ Shadow – What Does Your Soul Look Like

Been listening to Shadow since Lost and found but this ep is my favourite thing he has ever produced.

lets be honest, remixes like this are embarrassing and insulting to the original

A very simple and unfussy remix by Peshay here, just running the samples from the original over a two step with occasional amen fill, but the sample is so strong that this is much more preferable to a radical reworking. DJ Die’s more breaky reworking keeps the vocal, but is just that little bit less effective in being that bit more ambitious.

This single was and is a game changer. It paved the way for the new borders of sonic exploration, and is just bubbling with ideas about to burst out on a full (double) LP format from one of the most creative minds of the decade.

at 3:28 min, the track "What Does Your Soul Look Like Part II", contains a vocal sample taken from the 1971 movie "Johnny Got His Gun".

I still can never decide what speed to play this, I love that.

When buying DJ Shadow's back catalogue (and you most certainly should), it's worth bearing in mind that this contains exactly the same music as MW027CD. It's only the cover that's different.

It doesn't matter that the first time I properly heard this was stoned out of my mind after an afternoon of drinking... this EP is HEAVY, even if you're straight!

It takes the art of sampling/DJ-ing/turntableism (whatever you want to call it) to another level. You don't (often) hear the cuts or scratches, what you hear is a magnum opus of mind-bending aural magnificence.

Having read Eliot Wilder's 33⅓ book on the making of "Endtroducing..." (which is a pretty good read) it's clear that much of DJ Shadow's early work was done when he was feeling quite lonely (at least in musical ) and sometimes depressed (personally). This feeling is exemplified in "WDYSLL".

That's not to say that the music isn't uplifting... it most certainly is but it has a general air of melancholy that I feel is unsured in the realm of 'hip hop' music (as broad as that spectrum needs to be to encom this).

Highly, highly recommended and TOTALLY unique.

When I heard this EP, it turned a lot of things around for me musically.
I'd always loved rap/hip hop alongside a love for many other genres and the melting pot mentality that Shadow employs for his early tracks encomed so many elements that I love about music.

The sheer emotion that he manged to get into these 4 tracks using only borrowed music is one of immense skill, ear and patience. Everything sits together perfectly and the sax solo in the breakdown is a very special musical moment.

Definitely one of my desert island discs.