DJ Shadow Enlists Nas, Danny Brown for Surprise New EP
DJ Shadow released a surprise new EP, The Mountain Has Fallen, via Mass Appeal. The four-track project is available to stream on SoundCloud and features Nas, Danny Brown and Oscar-winning composer Steven Price (Gravity, Baby Driver).
Shadow previously shared EP opener, “Systematic,” which features Nas and also appears on the Silicon Valley Season Four soundtrack. The track finds Nas getting political over a classic b-boy base that Shadow laces with surreal synth squelches. DJ Shadow continues to push that futuristic flare over the EP’s next three tracks.
“Horror Show” is a mechanized stomper that features Danny Brown in diabolical form – “Smoke so much I think I need a farm of it/ Writer like Shakespeare on the top tier” – while “Good News” is a lurching, head-spinning instrumental. The Mountain Has Fallen closes with “Corridors,” another instrumental that blends DJ Shadow’s spaced-out industrial boom bap with Price’s cinematic scope.
In a statement, the producer explained why the EP is a “victory lap” following 2016’s The Mountain Will Fall. “Prior to the last album, I made a lot of high-risk moves behind the scenes, including walking away from a comfortable major-label deal,” he said. “My thinking was, If The Mountain Will Fall LP ends up being successful, I’d be in a much more positive place in my career. With everything that’s happened since it came out, I feel like I bet on myself and won. So I guess you could say that this new EP is my version of a victory lap. It’s a celebration, and an extension of those confident steps forward.”
The Mountain Has Fallen follows DJ Shadow’s DJ Shadow kicks off the summer leg of his tour in support of the album tonight, July 7th, in Toronto. The trek wraps August 4th in Nashville, Tennessee.