The Outsider

The Outsider was awaited for a long time

A musician who came out from suburbs of San Francisco and known as Josh Davis or DJ Shadow has at last released his third LP. DJ Shadow is rather enigmatic personage. Being credited as a key figure in developing trip-hop style along with such bands as Portishead and Massive Attack, Josh Davis is studiously working in the field of electronic music but seems not to care mach about his own career. His first full-scale album of 1996 Entroducing has created a furor in the world of electronic music and even now it still considers to be a very strong work, which many DJs mention as the main influence on their music. Only six years after DJ Shadow released his next album Private Press. The album didn’t generate the similar public excitement. Davis was trying to offer the new direction in his Private Press very different from what he was doing before. And now, another four years after, DJ Shadow is ready to introduce his new work The Outsider. During his entire career Davis was always busy with different side projects, writing singles, soundtracks etc. So it may seem that he had not enough time for himself. DJ Shadow is somehow proving his nick name: there are not so many albums of his, but he invisibly presents on many records.

The album is full of completely different songs

The album opens with an intro over two minutes long; it’s a piece of dramatic music with an English gentleman speaking over the ambient sounds about the story of The Outsider. The first proper track is really good to begin the album. This Time (I’m Gonna Try It My Way) is a nice summer song that sounds like an old funk track with kicking drums, guitar samples and catchy vocals. DJ Shadow keeps on experimenting through the entire album. For example track named Backstage Girl is a successful blend of blues-rock and rap and Triplicate/Something Happened That Day reminds a movie sound track with some latin America musical influences. Many tracks on The Outsider sound really different, but this doesn’t mean bad. Each of them has it’s own special air what makes listening to the album pretty exciting, you can’t know what to expect from every new song. The range of associations that DJ Shadow’s songs evoke are emotionally wide. You can find here an obscure string samples and weird vocals but the next composition will turn out to be a hip-hop/rock song. There is a special charm of the album in it; you can never tell what you will find in the next track.

DJ Shadow stays devoted to his artistic principles

On The Outsider DJ Shadow stays devoted to his artistic principles, he explores the new fields for expressions of his thoughts. The album differs a lot from the previous works, but fans don’t have to worry about this, the main DJ Shadow’s musical influence – funk, combined with the music style that is huge on the underground music circuit – huphy, is still here and comprises the unique Josh Davis sound. The Outsider is a milestone in DJ Shadow's career – the rare sound of an artist making the kind of music he wants to hear himself. It touches areas and genres that the previous albums didn't dare go near and that suits him just fine. As DJ Shadow himself says: "There's songs on this album that I think blow away almost anything else I've ever done. I think song for song it's the best album I've ever made. One thing's for sure - it's going to make it very difficult for people to imitate my sound!" The Outsider is the album that was awaited for a really long time and happily it turned out to be a completely new and at the same time recognizable DJ Shadow. The album will be an interesting musical journey for many DJ music lovers.