It was an eBay purchase that pulled DJ Shadow out of a pandemic slump: a trove of some 200 tapes’ worth of broadcasts recorded from a Baltimore and Washington, D.C.-area radio station in the 1980s. Novel yet stuck in time, their blend of dance, R&B, and early hip-hop triggered nostalgia without feeling overly familiar. On his latest LP, Action Adventure, Shadow homes in on a related aesthetic, importing an underground hip-hop ethos into the most expensive studio money could buy—in 1983. Whether with an MPC or a DAW, he remains a world-class drum programmer, and the beats here balance vintage luxury with slick modern production value. The synth space lasers and electronic drums on “Time and Space” sound clean and classic; the drums and melody on “Ozone Scraper” are basic but richly textured. The total effect is like a 4K remaster of an old film’s 35mm print, its fine grain beautifully rendered in high resolution.
| A1 | Ozone Scraper |
| A2 | All My |
| A3 | Time And Space |
| A4 | Craig, Ingels, & Wrightson |
| B1 | Witches Vs. Warlocks |
| B2 | A Narrow Escape |
| B3 | You Played Me |
| B4 | The Prophecy |
| C1 | Friend Or Foe |
| C2 | Fleeting Youth (An Audible Life) |
| C3 | Reflecting Pool |
| D1 | Forever Changed |
| D2 | Free For All |
| D3 | She's Evolving |
