DJ Shadow's Endtroducing... (33 1/3 Series) Book

And i would like to able to continue
To let what is inside of me
Which is, which comes from all the music that i hear
I would like for that to come out
And it's like, it's not really me that's coming
The music's coming through me

When it comes to creating something, I'd argue that whatever inspired it is just as important as the sheer talent it took to execute it. Sure, having the aptitude for a particular craft is crucial to the process, an integral cog in the creative wheel. But what spawned the idea? More often than not, a creation's influence comes from elsewhere; their own favorites. It's part of why the whole "recommended if you like" option exists in the first place.

Now this is by no means a condemnation on originality. But I'd assert that even the most original artists - your Bowies, your Basquaits, your Burtons - have their own influences, and I'd be damned if those influences didn't play an essential role in perfecting their own genius.

Take Radiohead, for instance. Sure, the English band had been initially dismissed (perhaps rightfully so) as another Britpop retread. But as their career progressed, so too did their sound, their ambition. My interest level, as well, for I went from casual fan to full-blown obsessed in the matter of a college semester. I collected b-sides and imports, voraciously read interviews. More importantly, I learned of what inspired their ever-evolving sound; it led me down my first of countless wormholes of discovery, opening my eyes to artists I may not have found otherwise. It's how I became hip to critically-acclaimed yet criminally-underrated older artists such as Can or Talk Talk, as well as more contemporary under-the-radar acts like Liars or Sigur Ros. It's also how I was introduced to DJ Shadow.

All it took was a Guitar World article candidly mentioning what influenced the unique, off-kilter drum loop that kickstarted my all-time favorite record, OK Computer:

"The opening track, "Airbag", is underpinned by a beat built from a seconds-long recording of Selway's drumming. The band sampled the drum track with a sampler and edited it with a Macintosh computer, inspired by the music of DJ Shadow, but admitted to making approximations in emulating Shadow's style due to their programming inexperience."

At the time, "Airbag" was like nothing I'd ever heard before. And yet somewhere out west, a recent college grad named Josh Davis had been making the music that had inspired it for several years. And the best part? Its creation wouldn't have been possible without its influences. Literally.

For those unfamiliar with DJ Shadow's work, his compositions are primarily made up of samples, his creative process all but defining the notion of "the whole being greater than the sum of the parts." Yet despite this literal borrowing, Davis's output is entirely original, if not groundbreaking. And there's no greater example of this than his landmark debut, Endtroducing…

I'm just as transfixed by the record today as I was during my first listen. So, you can imagine my excitement upon learning of Eliot Wilder's account of Shadow's masterpiece as part of the 33 1/3 series. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm would soon falter. Oh, the irony that a work depicting something so totally inventive would amount to be wholly unoriginal.

How exactly? Because Wilder literally phones it in, the majority of his submission a transcription of a phone "interview" (it's more like two dudes talking, one way more than the other) betwixt he and DJ Shadow. Despite my misgivings to this format, there was still potential for something interesting; after all, Davis is intelligent, articulate and passionate about his craft. And yet Wilder appears ill-prepared, half of his "questions" being responses to Davis's answers, offering little room for introspection from either end.

What's more, Wilder doesn't even inquire about Endtroducing… until page 70 (of 98!), and when doing so only focuses on a handful of its tracks. I wasn't necessarily expecting a song-by-song breakdown. What I was expecting, though, was something a little more inspired than a glorified magazine Q&A.

I suppose the one saving grace to this account was learning about Davis's background: his Northern California upbringing, his early-acquired eclectic taste in music, his proclivity for "crate digging" in concert with an affinity for scratching acting as the two-headed impetus to his craft. I'll never not be interested in an artist's approach, even when presented in a lackluster format such as Wilder's piece. If anything, it speaks to the staying power of the artist's output; its freshness, as well as its timelessness.

There's no denying DJ Shadow's Endtroducing… is both fresh and timeless. Unfortunately, Eliot Wilder's take on the record is anything but.