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

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

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

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 »

Oct
04

Sach O: Introducing Ninja Tune Week

Question: what do you do when your record label turns 20 just as the style of music you’ve pioneered enters its renaissance? Answer: you throw a party, preferably a big one. That’s just what seminal “abstract Hip-Hop” label Ninja Tune is doing with their massive Ninja Tune XX box set, a whopping 6 CD collection… Continue reading »

Oct
03

Sach O: The Bug ft Hitomi – Catch a Fire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-sSqMsckgM Let it not be said that The Bug doesn’t wring every bit of life out of his productions. Going on 3 years since London Zoo, the riddims on that album are still paying dividends, probably because none of Kevin Martin’s aggro-minded Dubstep followers have been able to surpass the blend of darkness, anger and… Continue reading »

Apr
27

Black Sands and Bonobos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wxJu-X0zVo During the four year-break between Bonobo albums, a seismic shift occurred in the world of bass music. Dubstep went from a minor blip bubbling up from the bongs of London to a widespread virus infecting beat music. As recent efforts from bass veterans Breakage and Autechcre displayed, it’s almost impossible not to note the… Continue reading »