DJ Shadow's touring habits reflect his recording habits; a deep respect for diversity and unpredictability drives his shows. After celebrating the turntable with Cut Chemist in 2008 and wowing us with stage craft with his Shadowsphere tour in 2011, he's squared it all away for his latest tour, focusing on the music at his fingertips and delivering a flawlessly executed set of carefully curated tracks.
After shifting venues (in hindsight not the best idea – an afternoon at the Ivy pool bar would've been nicer) the roster cut down the line-up, with an entire slew of local artists getting cut and just the one room operating on the night.
Before Shadow's set the evening felt unfocused. Katalyst gave a lacklustre performance, letting the tracks do all the heavy lifting. It felt like whatever was on top of his (likely very large) soul and funk piles made it into the set with little thought. It was, as it turns out, pretty soulless. Sydney bedroom producer Kilter fared better, offering a thumping selection of big bass tracks and displaying some neat pad work. Dexter wrestled with technical problems and waded through a sluggish set punctuated by some sketchy beat juggling. His track selection never fails to raise eyebrows though.
DJ Shadow never fails to understand that the crowd loves music as much as he does, and uses the privilege of being able to play music to open our minds up to new directions and new ideas. His set was pre-fabbed, but only because he wanted to get the tone just right. He still manipulated various elements to get just the effect he needed, and his scratching remains unmatched. LA is a breeding ground for underground hip hop sounds and Shadow mined it ruthlessly to bring us some pretty exhilarating and abstract stuff.
It was a loud, energised and strangely modest show, and Shadow survived a sloppy set-up to deliver a masterclass in contemporary bass music.