Much of today's electronic music revolves around cruel disfigurement. The chopping, slicing, sudden muting and punching in/out of the vocalists betrays a puppetmaster producer's merciless hand. DJ Shadow was always different. In repurposing sound, his editorship was never one of godlike ruthlessness. From his 1996 LP Endtroducing… onward, Shadow has wielded his encyclopedic knowledge of music with an auteur's vision, a composer's touch and an aesthete's respect. Call it hyperrealism, plunderphonics or just plain collage—Shadow's contribution to the art of sampling is undeniable. In the years following Endtroducing…, Shadow followed his muse into increasingly cinematic realms (The Private Press), detoured into regional hip-hop scenes (The Outsider) and got back to basics (The Less You Know, The Better). His reverence for his craft demands ours, so grab a ticket to this rare Southern appearance from a contemporary legend.