Guess Who’s Coming?

Hip-hop and avant-breaks legend DJ Shadow is offering fans, newcomers and lost web-wanderers the chance to download two new tracks, for free. Def Surrounds Us and I’ve Been Trying were first released on limited 12″ vinyl, with original artwork in ‘selected’ UK and U.S. record stores. Today they were made available, without cost, for 24 hours.

Since his inimitable 1996 debut LP Endtroducing, Joshua Paul Davis has grown into one of the scene’s key producers, straddling genres from funk to rock, and collaborating with acts and artists such as U.N.K.L.E. (on 1998’s Psyence Fiction), Mos Def, Blackalicious and Kool Keith (as Dr Octagon). Out of the studio and onto the turntables, Shadow’s mixtape work with Cut Chemist gave rise to releases like The Hard Sell, and most triumphantly the classic cut and paste effort Brainfreeze, meaning expectations are high for his forthcoming production album, pencilled in for a 2011 release.

To download the tracks go to DJ Shadow’s online headquarters, where the musical mastermind has been kind enough to embed a simple download link. Be warned though, site traffic today looks to have been significant- we had a few attempts before beating the hordes to the money, and not landing on a page that may as well just read “unlucky”. The trials and tribulations of technology.


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