Re-releasing an album less than a decade old, bundled with bonus tracks, means that somewhere, a record executive smells a trend coming back around.
Endtroducing, DJ Shadow's 1996 debut, has just been reissued in double-disc form, and it isn't hard to imagine why. The downtempo-trip-hop-electronic movement that Shadow helped popularize in the late '90s is coming back in a big way, with "chill out" discs charting and smooth-jazz stations making room for Massive Attack on the radio. Whether or not the trend pans out, it is great to be reminded of
Endtroducing, which mixes jarring drums with sweet but menacing melodies. Moments into "Best Foot Forward," the opening track, it's startling how fresh Shadow still sounds. And once the classic rhythms-and-keys masterpiece "Organ Donor" ramps up, it's easy to see why so many people tried, and mostly failed, to follow in Shadow's footsteps.
-- Jordan Harper
