Oct
08

Ninja Tune Week: Kid Koala’s “Some of My Best Friends are DJs”

Renato Pagnani is now Diving off Docks. One of the great things about Ninja Tune is that they give guys like Kid Koala a viable platform. Let’s face it, DJ albums are a hard sell.  Demand-wise, they fall somewhere below instrumental hip-hop and above klezmer rap. Which isn’t to say that Kid Koala isn’t a… Continue reading »

Oct
08

Ninja Tune Week: Blockhead’s “Music By Cavelight”

Jeff Weiss also enjoys kerosene light, Lightning Bolt, Usain Bolt, and a Lighter Shade of Brown.  You invite false expectations when you call your record Music by Cavelight, more so when you include a song called “Sunday Seance.” Understandably, people expected Blockhead to be a dude who made beats while bathing in the blood of… Continue reading »

Oct
07

Ninja Tune Week: The Herbaliser – “Very Mercenary”

Even if he now resides in New York, Dan Love remains From Da Bricks. Although hip hop underpins the whole Ninja Tune aesthetic, it would be a ridiculous to tie them too closely to any specific genre, due to the breadth and variety to be found in their two decade strong discography. Like Stones Throw,… Continue reading »

Oct
06

It’s A Cold World

The Liquid Swords instrumentals are providing the soundtrack to my sorrow at watching Roy Halladay destroy the Cincinnati Reds like a Afghani-built bomb embedded in a cork of champagne. I found this floating around the Internet last week and have been meaning to post it ever since. Many moons ago, I wrote a 1,200 word… Continue reading »

Oct
06

Ninja Tune Week: King Geedorah – Take Me to your Leader

Thank you very much, Sach O’s billing till Thursday. Alternately known for British rap icons (Roots Manuva, Wiley, Jammer) and extreme left-field US Hip-Hop (Majesticons, Anti-Pop Consortium, cLOUDDEAD), Ninja Tune offshoot Big Dada records rarely ever aims for the conventional Hip-Hop crowd. Even by the experimental standards of contemporaries Def Jux or Stones Throw, Big… Continue reading »

Oct
05

Belated Bookkeeping

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbuoBm3eP5E I still haven’t written anything substantive about Off the Books and probably won’t. Reviewing your own show is tacky and no one believes you anyway. There’s an innate Homerism to it that would shame Rick Monday, and I’m sure it will it bleed out in fractured phrases and maudlin reminiscences at various points in… Continue reading »

Oct
05

Ninja Tune Week: Cinematic Orchestra’s “Every Day”

Today is Matt Shea’s birthday. He is now old enough to rent an orchestra.  Reading over reviews and write-ups of the Cinematic Orchestra’s Every Day, it’s litle wonder the album didn’t prove more popular. Phrases worryingly similar to ‘musical saviours’ and ‘album of the year’ were bandied about, and yet it remains a remarkably undiscovered… Continue reading »

Oct
04

The Low End Professionals’ Bogus Journey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdjVZQRa7Ro Shades of Dead Presidents, “Luchini” and a Tea party rally. A La Roux sample and a Creative Control video can go a long way. I also appreciate the city of Chicago’s long-standing ties with the word “Bogus.” Lest we never forget Crucial Conflict’s pioneering work in the field, which is only matched by the… Continue reading »

Oct
04

The Greatest Rapper Ever (2010 Edition)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m44nnb8F80 Brown has many blunts to blaze before the song title can be accepted at face value, but the Hybrid has my vote for rapper of the year. This explains why I stay writing on the Grandmama-jersey sporting rapper when I have a half-dozen other posts pinballing around my head. Other rappers need better promotion,… Continue reading »

Oct
04

Ninja Tune Week: Amon Tobin’s “Supermodified”

Floodwatch chin-strokes to the thinking man’s thinking man’s music. Amon Tobin’s Supermodified changed my life. Ok, not really. It didn’t enter my listening sphere at a particularly sensitive or transitional time in my young adulthood. It didn’t bring about a sea change in my tastes or revolutionize the way I interpret and process sound. I… Continue reading »

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