DJ SHADOW — A Mix Master Maestro Returns to Prague

DJ Shadow is a pioneering hip-hop turntablist and producer merging electronica with hip-hop and practically no limits to other genres in his creations. He returns to Prague, since his last appearance in 2012, and with once again a newer sound.

Since 1991 his finesse originally as a master turntablist and sampler (jazz, rock, funk, etc.) has evolved over the years, so beyond the term mix-master, he could be called a post-modern channeler through his music incorporating multi-genre musicians, spoken word, rappers, vocalists and of course, still based on a myriad of samples up his sleeve. His earliest singles were described by UK music critics with a fresh term (genre) – they called it “trip-hop” to describe this new direction of slow psychedelia influenced hip-hop for labels Mo’Wax and Ninja Tune. However, his album “Action Adventure” (2023) is light years from this sound. The album cover is a 007-Kung Fu spoof with an Asian assassin-spy, knife in hand, and some of the tunes are in synch with it as if made for video games with high-speed or upbeat melodies; there is some downtime (deep and eerie beats for the hip-hop minded) between high-flying or lush electronica and dance-pop. The most pop-oriented...