A self-confessed hoarder and student of the vinyl arts, at times it's almost as if Josh Davis wasn't so much born into the world as stamped between two templates and slid into a paper sleeve. A man whose raison d'etre is to stockpile sounds and reconvene them into genius collages, as DJ Shadow, Davis has long held the world of hip-hop and beats in his thrall. <p> 'The Private Press' is Shadow's first solo album since the monstrously acclaimed 'Entroducing' back in 1996, although he has been involved in collaborative projects in the interim. 'The Private Press', though, is DJ Shadow untapped – an entity that does more than simply roll out and re-arrange obscure middle eights, rather someone whose work can start as a concept or a challenge. The album's 'Monosylabik', for example, is an epic piece constructed around a solitary sample that is stretched, cajoled and seduced into a phenomenal soundscape. Elsewhere, tracks like the nine-minute 'Blood On The Motorway' are Shadow showboating his knack for scoring films that have yet to be made. In the same way that the Aphex Twin is selfish in his approach to music making, DJ Shadow approaches his art with unswerving dedication and, in both cases, the end results are never less than astonishing.
