Dj Shadow

DJ Shadow’s Josh Davis is widely credited as a key figure in developing the experimental instrumental hip-hop style associated with the London-based Mo’ Wax label. His early singles for the label, including “In/Flux” and “Lost and Found (S.F.L.),” were all-over-the-map mini-masterpieces combining elements of funk, rock, hip-hop, ambient, jazz, soul, and used-bin incidentalia. Although he’d already done a scattering of original and production work (during 1991-1992 for Hollywood Records) by the time Mo’ Wax’s James Lavelle contacted him about releasing “In/Flux” on the fledgling imprint, it wasn’t until his association with Mo’ Wax that his sound began to mature and cohere. Mo’Wax released a longer work in 1995 the 40-minute single in four movements, “What Does Your Soul Look Like,” which topped the British indie charts—and Davis went on to co-write, remix, and produce tracks for labelmates DJ Krush and Doctor Octagon plus the Mo’ trip-hop supergroup U.N.K.L.E.