D.J. Shadow (Josh Davis), born in San Jose (California) and still a student at UC Davis, debuted with self-released cassettes like Hip-Hop Reconstruction from the Ground Up (1991), whose titled would remain his artistic motto. Dubbed by a hapless British magazine �the Jimi Hendrix of turntables,� Davis became famous in the UK before his home country, relying on considerable technical skill and, above all, an encyclopedic knowledge of popular music�both black and white. The single Legitimate Mix (1992), the 17-minute track Entropy (Solesides, 1993), the thirteen-minute In/Flux (Mo�Wax, 1993), and Lost And Found (Mo�Wax, 1994) established him as a legendary figure: Shadow brought bass lines and scratches to the forefront and began composing classical hip-hop.

Solesides was his own alternative label, established in 1993 and later renamed Quannum.

The pinnacle of his artistry is found in the four movements of What Does Your Soul Look Like (Mo�Wax, 1995), his most elaborate single: in the drowsy blues-and-jazz theme of the first movement, and especially in the jungle of organic bass figures, scattered melodies and counter-melodies played on orchestral instruments (flute, violins, saxophone, piano), hypnotic guitar chords, and mutating rhythms of the second movement. The third movement begins as an orchestral piece but then (finally) erupts into a measured disco dance, driven by a syncopated melody from organ and flute in an almost minimalist fashion. Unfortunately, the jazz-inflected theme of the fourth movement, played by the horns over a dense rhythmic carpet, is marred by sampling.

His first true album, Endtroducing (Mo�Wax, 1996), recorded at Dan Nakamura�s San Francisco studio, indebted to DJ Steinski�s cut-and-paste mashups and inspired by David Axelrod�s instrumental jazz-rock, was largely crafted using an Akai MPC.

The revolutionary fact is that it is an instrumental hip-hop album, entirely composed from samples and orchestrated in a lush manner. His compositional style does not use notes, chords, or counterpoint: it uses editing, loops, sampling, and beats. The record is strewn with small sounds and noises that have been decontextualized and reconstructed. His is sound-painting using as a �palette� the ruins of Western civilization.
Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt, the hardcore funk of The Number Song, the psychedelic imagination of Midnight In A Perfect World, and the new single Stem (harp, horn, violins, voice) are not songs�they are soundscapes in which disparate elements are integrated into a cohesive sonic photograph.

The single Organ Donor (1996) is built around a minimalist organ figure in the register favored by early Terry Riley, but with a severe approach that recalls more a Bach toccata. A touch of creativity and atmosphere is found in Hindsight. The most recent, High Noon (1997), is also the most dynamic, though far from the frenzies of techno, and one of the densest, confirming that his talent as an orchestrator continues to grow.
The album features especially a twenty-minute medley, Camel Bobsled Race, organized by another DJ, Q-Bert. The turntable scratches are nothing compared to Shadow�s prodigious arranging effort.

Preemptive Strike (Mo�Wax, 1997) collects (�samples�) the singles from his early years. The multitude of sonic events, the ironic scratches, the parade of samples, and the politically engaged lyrics do not change the fact that Influx (1993) is simply a third-hand, soft funky-soul jam.

Davis was composing symphonies from sampled sounds.

U.N.K.L.E. is DJ Shadow with James Lavelle (the founder of Mo'Wax). The project debuted with the EP The Time Has Come (Mo Wax, 1994), but truly came into its own with the full-length Psyence Fiction (Mo Wax, 1998), and its fusion of breakbeat-based music and pop music. Assigning vocals songwriting chores to a group of distinguished friends (rappers as well as rock singers such as Talk Talk's Mark Hollis, Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Verve's Richard Ashcroft), the duo can focus on "conducting" the synthetic orchestra of turntables, strings, electronics, rhythm-machines and real musicians. Unfortunately, the result is a hodgepodge of styles that would have better served by a series of singles. The gangsta rap Guns Blazing, the easy-listening hip-hop of Unkle Main Title Theme, the trip-hop balladry of Lonely Soul and Rabbit In Your Headlights are merely average in their respective styles and quite tedious when grouped together.

DJ Shadow's The Private Press (MCA, 2002) is a disappointing, transitional album, that leverages his previous achievements (Walkie Talkie) to construct new ideas (Six Days) but without the vigor and the focus to turn them into a new style. The eight-minute Blood On the Motorway is the epitome of DJ Shadow's problems: it is packed with great ideas but ultimately it is boring to death.

Freeze (Pirateria Fonografica, 2003) is a (mostly live) collaboration between DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist.

Diminishing Returns (2003) contains two monumental remixes.

DJ Shadow's The Outsider (Universal, 2006) was the most conventional (vocal) hip-hop album of his career yet. The 17 songs are a detour in a career that was going in a different direction Besides aiming for commercial success (This Time, Three Freaks), they roam a vast soundscape, from punk-rock to power-pop, from soul to funk, content with proving that Davis can do it all. At best, this is lite DJ Shadow for the masses.

Best Of Mo Wax 12's (Mo Wax, 2007) collects DJ Shadow's early singles from 1993-2000.

James Lavelle continued the project U.N.K.L.E. with Richard File replacing DJ Shadow on Never Never Land (2003). U.N.K.L.E.'s subsequent albums, Never, Never, Land (2004) and War Stories (Surrender All, 2007), were mediocre Lavelle collaborations with (respectively) singer-songwriter Richard File and with a crowd of celebrities (Cult's Ian Astbury, Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme, etc). End Titles: Stories For Film (2008) collects leftovers. Where Did The Night Fall (2010), that replaced File with Pablo Clements, was more of a band effort.

The mediocre single I Gotta Rokk was a bad omen for The Less You Know The Better (Verve, 2011), which in fact did not fail to disappoint. It was a schizophrenic experience, drifting from a regular song like Sad and Lonely to Stay the Course (with rappers Talib Kweli and Posdnous), from Scale It Back (a collaboration with Little Dragon) to the sample-based Tedium, from the faux metal of Border Crossing to the jazz-hop of Run for Your Life. The album is a frustrating experience, as one senses the musician's wild talent but the music rarely uses it. Very little works, most "songs" are simply tedious/trivial, and the choice of singles was odd at best.

The Mountain Will Fall (2016), Our Pathetic Age (2019), and Action Adventure (2023), which consists of an instrumental disc and a vocal disc, are facile and uninspired.