How do you write an introduction for one of the greatest artists hip hop and electronica has seen? It often feels like an empty over-exaggeration, referring to musicians and DJs as “legendary” or “life-changing”.

But guys – we’re talking about DJ Shadow here. The undisputed king of turntablism and sampling, his debut album Endtroducing… from way back in ’96 was a game-changer for the worlds of hip-hop and electronica, and he hasn’t stopped since. And with a tour on the way and album set for release later this year, we managed to catch him in the midst of his hectic schedule to chat about all things Shadow.

Last time you were down here with Cut Chemist on The Hard Sell Tour, yeah?
The subsequent set that we did to Product Placement, so it would have been 2008, right?

Yeah. I was a bit too young to go to that, tragically, but definitely looking forward to this tour. This time will be pretty different to The Hard Sell – you’re touring your own material at club shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth as well as headlining Splendour in the Grass. How do the outdoor festivals compare to the regular club gigs?
I’ve done [Splendour] in 2006, and I just got back from doing about seven or eight festivals here in Europe. I think festivals have the potential to be really exciting but sometimes also a bit underwhelming – it just totally depends on what type of festival it is and what sort of environment everybody’s viewing the show in.
I think that overall, though, on this tour the festival dates have been really strong. But I like those – it’s funny because if I do a few festivals in a row on tour, I start longing to do my own club shows because the audience tends to know my material better, and then after doing a few club shows, you kinda long for the electricity of doing a big festival where there’s, you know, several thousand people there.