DJ Shadow

DJ Shadow built his reputation as a producer's producer, stitching samples into dense, cinematic tracks long before "plunderphonics" became a word people used casually. His 1996 album Endtroducing..... remains a landmark in instrumental hip hop, a record made almost entirely from other people's records. Since then he has kept moving between hip hop, trip hop, and downtempo, always more interested in texture and mood than following a formula.

He has a show coming up at Mission Ballroom, worth catching for anyone who wants to hear that sample-based craft played loud in a room built for it.