Praise Shadow

2016 has been a stellar year for experimental hip hop luminary DJ Shadow, aka Josh Davis, with the release of his critically acclaimed studio album The Mountain Will Fall – his first release in five years – drawing praise from all corners, from the Guardian who called the record “impressive in its inventiveness” to MOJO who claimed “Shadow is back in the frame” and AV Club who hailed it as “DJ Shadow’s best work since his early-aughts heyday”. For many, it is Shadow’s 1996 debut album Endtroducing that they keep returning to, widely regarded as a groundbreaking release that paved the way for experimental hip hop and changed the shape of electronic music from that point on. Upon its release The Guardian gave it a 5* review and called it “One of the most daring and original albums of recent times”, continuing, “This is genius”, while Spin wrote that the album ""practically folds you into its symphonic fantasia, the coming-of-age story of a 24-year-old bunk-bed dreamer."" Almost a decade later Pitchfork awarded Endtroducing a perfect 10 in their review of the 2005 Deluxe Edition, calling the record “deeply spiritual.”

The figure of George Frideric Handel cast a long shadow over musical London in the first half of the eighteenth century, condemning many of his contemporaries – fine composers themselves – to long years of obscurity. This recording throws light into forgotten corners and discovers some glittering gems, some of them demanding dazzling vocal fireworks from their performers. Several of these composers set scenes from Classical mythology or Old Testament narratives – but they also explore the underside of the Baroque psyche in one of David’s darkest psalms and in a representation of Arcadian madness.