Shadow: Hard Sessions

The first two things you’ll notice about this disc are the nifty holographic cover art and the even niftier budget-line price. Take it home, and you’ll find within its encoded grooves a diverse mix of beat-driven electronica styles: dark breakbeats from Hanna, live drum ‘n’ bass from an amazing New York collective called Droid, a couple of very cool contributions by Magnetic, a.k.a. David Harrow, who does amazing things with nothing more than a little spare time and a Mac Powerbook. There are also a pair of somewhat more tribal and trancey entries from the famed German DJ Dietrich Schonemann, and perhaps best of all, a couple of jazzy but hard-hitting jungle compositions by the Akron, Ohio-based Illform. This sampler gives a taste of Shadow’s excellent roster and should lead beat-minded listeners deeper into the label’s catalog.