DJ Shadow ‘All Basses Covered’ at Brooklyn Bowl: 11 December 2012

Just the other night, DJ Shadow’s set at Miami nightclub Mansion nightclub was cut short when the promoter told him his music was “too future” for the crowd (check out the video on Facebook). However, the week prior, no one had any complaints when Shadow rocked the Brooklyn Bowl with his ‘All Basses Covered’ DJ set. Shadow was happy to be back for his second show at the venue and in support of his new compilation Reconstructed: The Best of DJ Shadow that was just released. This set compiles the lengthy career of Shadow’s and follows a few rarities releases he put out and his tour, from the end of last year, off the back of his album The Less You Know, The Better.

Maybe the set was too confusing since it didn’t include stuff entirely from Shadow’s own work but Shadow did preface his set (in NYC) that a lot of the stuff wasn’t available on an album currently. He did mix in his track with Little Dragon “Scale it Back” early on his set and he fervently worked his drum sampler as he performed “I Gotta Rokk” from the newer album, and he mixed in a bit of the classic “Organ Donor”, but the majority of his set was off the record. The intelligent and eclectic mix kept the audience on their toes, trying to grasp at the songs and the samples. One of the recognizable highlights was his funky and futuristic rework of The Simpsons theme song. It was truly a unique set that highlighted Shadow’s turntable mastery. And then shortly after, he gave the New York crowd a taste of Bay-area music with some hyphy-flavored song.

However, unlike the 2011 tour, where Shadow was often hidden inside the Shadowsphere, on this tour he didn’t utilize much in the way of lighting or screen projections. And without the screens or his cameras, the audience couldn’t see exactly what knobs Shadow was tweaking to create the beat. Although the elevated stage and DJ decks put Shadow’s hands out of the sight, he himself never got far from the crowd. The unique venue was a fraction of the size of many Shadow has sold out in the past, but it did give him a chance to work on the unique material that is ‘All Basses Covered’. Here’s to hoping ‘All Basses Covered’ is put out in some form… and hoping that venues know who they book before they promote the show.

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