Today the coverstory about the sleeve of Endtroducing by DJ Shadow with an explanation of the name and the blurry dudes choosing vinyls in Sacramento.

Brian Cross, the photographer: “We measured the focus really quickly because of the cat and we measured in feet when it’s set for metres. That’s why the foreground is out of focus. It was honestly a total mistake”

A good DJ’s work helped to make a great result out of a failed picture: it was remade with cartoon characters, constructed from Lego and put on T-shirts. Don’t look for the author of the front cover — he’s hiding inside as well as the photos of his 45s that were initially planned for the front cover. The front cover has Shadow’s friends, also hip-hop Jedi: Tom Shimura (Asia Born) in a white wig and sweater, Xavier Mosley (Chief Xcel) with a bunch of vinyls and Beni B in a baseball cap.

The author: “I felt like I was on to something when I was doing Influx, my first single for Mo’ Wax, Lost in Sound, my second single, and the What does your soul look like EP. All of that preceded Endtroducing….., and the reason why it’s spelled with an ‘E-N-D’ is because it signified the fourth and final chapter in a series of pieces that I was doing for Mo’ Wax with a certain sound, a certain tone, a certain atmosphere. And I feel like my work really changed after that. It was the summary of this sound, and [the album] wrapped up the series. I had this vision at the time that every album I did after that would be completely different, and that’s something I’ve been trying to be adamant about — maintaining that autonomy from record to record”.

I like the acknowledgments the most: “Special thanks to my mom and family for raising me and not to asking for many questions.” Amen!