DJ Shadow – ‘This Time [I’m Gonna Try It My Way]’ (Island) Released 06/11/06

He’s been the darling of alternative hip-hop ever since he created the first album constructed completely from samples (1996’s Entroducing), but now DJ Shadow has confounded both fans and critics by branching out dramatically into myriad new genres. In the case of ‘This Time (I’m Gonna Try It My Way)’ Shadow has tried his hand at a middle-of-the-road, over-produced pop song. With its thin funky guitar lines, heavy string arrangement, and soulful vocals (featuring an ‘unknown’ singer), it’s likely he’ll gains the appreciation of thousands of Radio Two listeners, but alienate almost any existing fans in the process. It seems confusing that such a unique, groundbreaking and acclaimed artist should choose to make such a lyrical statement, especially with lines like “the memory of my failures/like a shadow haunting me”, but then again this is most definitely a record made by the artist to satisfy his own needs and not those of them around him.