I always wonder if DJ Shadow had to clear all those samples. It seems like a nightmare to have to do today. Wish it wasn’t the case or I would use a lot more samples. This track is great though, he’s always been a favorite of mine.
What about Girl Talk? I guess that’s why his album was free…
I saw DJ Shadow in NYC after Entroducing came out. That was a real snoozer… just him DJing random stuff none of which sounded like the album. Coincidentally, I saw Tricky around the same time and that show was even worse!
You can get away with it if they’re well disguised and you’re not too famous. Oli XL boasts that their debut album has ‘386 uncleared samples’ https://x-l.love
Just thought I’d mention, back in the day when DJ MAG reviewed “what does your soul look like part 2” it was the reviewer in that review that coined the phrase “trip hop”, that term had never been used before that review.
You probably won’t find this fact documented anywhere but I was a vinyl junkie back then and didn’t miss a thing.
And if I may add, I hate the term trip hop, I always called it instrumental hip hop before then.
He reviewed In/flux.
Officially In/flux is the “first trip hop song”.
It came out as a single and on a Mo wax compilation. Both different edits from the one on Preemptive Strike.
Yeah I bought in/flux back in the day too, still have it the one with the plain light blue sleeve, so it was that review that coined the phrase, I guess my memory ain’t what it was.
I read an interview with DJ Shadow a long time ago (maybe around private press?) where he said that he really tries to go so obscure that clearing samples isn’t usually an issue.
But I imagine it would be a lot tougher these days!
Good article. Times have changed, sadly, with WhoSampled kinda screwing everything up, IMO. I liked it better when you had to hunt to figure out samples yourself.
Anyway, I’ve never used any samples in my own music. Nope. Not a once.