Ninjatune
The Ninjatune label is twenty years ago this year, and in September are releasing a slick 6 CD boxset with favorites and rarities. The artwork for the project has been done by openmind. Additionally a book, Ninja Tune: 20 Years of Beats and Pieces written by music journalist Stevie Chick will be available in August. To celebrate they’re giving away rare mixes, video, etc each week leading up to the September release. The downloads are available for one week only. we’re already into the sixth week of the project. This week they’re giving away a blockhead video for his newest album, the music scene and a short edit of a tune of his featured on Ninjatune XX. It sounds like they’re also going to give away a blockhead remix of an EL-P tune later on in this project. Ninjatune has been home to a large portion of my favorite artists like Blockhead, Kid Koala , Roots Manuva, Amon Tobin, Infesticons/majesticons, Spankrock, Two Fingers, Lotek HiFi, Thunderheist, Diplo, Qemists, Toddla T, NMS, Bigg Jus, and Antibalas. In particular Blockhead made a big impression. His first album, music by cavelight, hooked me. I liked his work with Aesop, and the album pushed me more into instrumental electronic music. I’ve liked most of his stuff since then even as he’s slowly raised his mood and tempo. Great sense of humor too. Not super flashy or out to prove anything, but very soulful and fitting.
Welcome, come on in, sit down, be at ease. I want to take you back – back, back, back into the mists of time, when Margaret Thatcher was still – just – in power, Nelson Mandela had just been released from prison, the World Cup was won not by Germany but by West Germany and a man called Tim Berners-Lee published a formal proposal for something esoteric called the World Wide Web. And two young DJ/producers, fresh from their success with the likes of household names such as Yazz and Lisa Stansfield as well as in their own right, returned from a tour of Japan sick of major label bullsh*t and decided to set up on their own. These two fresh-faced young men, Jon More and Matt Black, collectively known as Coldcut, made NINJA TUNE.
Twenty years! Twenty fu*king years!? That’s a long time for anything, but for an independent record label it’s aeons. So yes, we are going to make a fuss. Yes, we are going to celebrate. But this will not be a tired cash-in, a festival of re-tread or an orgy of old. NO! We are focussing on new material, new newness. Below is a list of what we will do. More detailed announcements to come.
