DJ Shadow- 3 Freaks

[EuroZeroZero]

The video for the new Shadow single is posted up on his website.

http://www.djshadow.com/news/article/25

I can't say i'm really into it. It's not bad. Just not special. Maybe it'll grow on me. Regardless, it sounds *nothing* like DJ shadow...but that could be the vocals/video (the video seems pretty stereotypical to me).

[Leon]

Originally Posted by EuroZeroZero

I can't say i'm really into it. It's not bad. Just not special. Maybe it'll grow on me. Regardless, it sounds *nothing* like DJ shadow...but that could be the vocals/video (the video seems pretty stereotypical to me).

Exactly my thoughts. When I first heard it, it seemed very average. Not really bothered to listen again, to be honest.

[Cadevil]

The song is absolutely awful. Hopefully not a sign of what may be a MAJOR departure from his earlier stuff.

[Tom]

Another link:
Personally, I think it's hot. Private Press was largely lame, and it's nice to see him moving in another direction. I can see this alienating a lot of his fans, and that kind of makes me happy, haha.

Originally Posted by DJ Shadow

I know everyone wants to know what's up with the album, so here's what I can tell you. I'm planning on finishing at the end of March 2006. That could change, but I doubt it. There's too many important windows that start to close if I miss that deadline and I'm determined not to do that. 8 songs are finished and mixed. Another 2 or 3 should be done this month, with the rest to follow. Haven't settled on a title yet (it usually comes at the last second).

Stylistically, it's very different from The Private Press. Some have said “Press” was an inward-looking album. If that’s true, than this album is the opposite, and that suits me just fine. I’ve also stopped worrying if my changing taste in music costs me fans; life’s too short to live in anyone’s box, especially if that box is constraining your shine. Case in point: cats who tried to goal tend “3 Freaks” without knowing anything about Bay music or its history, even as the song was on its way to classic status among those who actually support and create Bay music. What does that prove? I believe it proves that sometimes you’ve got to clean house. It’s something that all artists I admire have done at one time or another, be it Neil Young, Marvin Gaye, or whoever. You can’t please everybody all the time, but you can please yourself. So go ahead and hate me now, you’ll love me for it later. And on that note...

[Stephen]

Hmmm, I don't like the rapping about going to the club and the scantily clad ladies in the vid. Well, I like the ladies, it just doesn't sit right with what Shadow has done before. At the risk of looking like I know fuck all about anything, this sounds like it would sit very easily with anything the Neptunes knocked out, both musically and in terms of content. Which - dare I say - isn't what any of us wanted from Josh. Like the man says though, maybe we'll all love it further down the line. I quite like the end section when it seems to get it's groove together, though that might be because the bass isn't really coming through on my shitty speakers with Quicktime.

[EuroZeroZero]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Hmmm, I don't like the rapping about going to the club and the scantily clad ladies in the vid.

I think that's what got me too. The song ain't *bad* itself.

[dubman]

what's wrong with that?
anyway, while i'm neither on it or against it yet, i find it to be a potentially exciting departure from his run of the mill crap that has gotten so. freakin'. boring.
i fully support this. last thing the world needs is another phoned-in shadow album.

[Scott Warner]

"Why Shadow sucks in '06"

"IT'S THE MONEY!"

Seriously though, I don't really get this track either. Probably needs a few more good listens. Personally I love to be challenged by my favorite artists but I don't feel that is what is going on here yet...

[Future Proof]

I can't say that I like the track either but I have no problem with the lyrical content, I'm quite the rap-head as of late myself and listen to a lot of 3 6 Mafia, which makes those lyrics look like Disney.

It's the music itself that I have a problem with, and the same reason I only marginally like Timbaland's production. This beat is so jerky and so tryin not to flow that you can't really even nod your head to this at all, let alone dance to it. I mean for chrissakes, the beat takes a vacation on 3 and 4, what crap! That's just a me-thing but hey, at the end of the day it all boils down to if it caters to my sensibilities or not.

I can't say I'm suprised though, I know he's had deep connections to the hip-hop scene since he started and I've seen him DJ for Latryx. If he's got some crunk shit on the next album that'll be fine with me, but it just has to be crunk and dag nasty, not some wierd beat with a wierd time signature with some wierd-sounding rappers over the top.

[joethelion]

ok first...

psst - old news boys, the track was released back in October

and over the time, I've gone from absolutely hating it, to loving it, and now - I simply accept it, I neither really hate it... or even like it. At least it's not as bad as the "4 Freaks" remix, which is just straight bad

I just hope that all the album doesn't sound like this, but the David Banner track only alludes to the fact that the whole album is going to be that.

and while this is the first time that Shadow's been really pushing and vocal about this type of music, he has been supporting it for a long while now (ever since the "Diminishing Returns" mix) - so it's not just for the money and how 'crunk' is big, and technically - I think this is called 'hyphy' or something to that effect, it's whatever is the local variant of hiphop is where he's from.

Personally - I haven't been a huge fan of his since 'The Private Press"... I mean - before, the albums and releases had a sense of 'wholeness'... like you'd listen to the first track, and the next thing you knew - it was the end of the album. To me - the "Private Press" sounded almost incomplete, I could never listen to it straight through

It was only until I got the live dvd/cd that I really liked TPP, and that was probably b/c most of the tracks were infused with UNKLE stuff (like "Blood on the Motorway / Rabbit in Your Headlights")