Ninja Tune isn’t your average hip-hop label; both in terms of the quality of their releases and the content of them. In-line with the rest of the music scene there, the UK-based label is often described as progressive or experimental. But where Def Jux takes hip-hop in a whole different direction, Ninja Tune takes it to a different genre. Over the course of these 4 disks the line between hip-hop and various forms of electric music is often toed. With a slew of releases over the past years from Kid Koala, Amon Tobin, DJ Food and DJ Vadim, Ninja Tune takes you on a much needed trip down memory lane with two double disks; “ZenCD – A Retrospective” and “ZenRMX – A Retrospective.”
The “ZenCD” set collects 32 of the finest tracks that have appeared on a Ninja Tune release over the years. The vast majority are instrumentals and depending on your tastes, all the varying styles may or may not work for you. Some of the highlights include DJ Food’s bass guitar driven “Dark Lady” and the dynamic “Spirat.” Amon Tobin’s “Sordid,” “Deo” and the awesome Shadow-esque “Easy Muffin.” Mr. Scruff doing his jazz thing with “Get A Move On” and Bonobo going flute crazy on “Pick Up.” Kid Koala’s turntable madness is on full display on both “Skanky Panky” and “Fender Bender.” Some other fine selections rounding out the first double disk set are Coldcut’s “Autumn Leaves,” Herbaliser’s “The Blend,” “Black Jesus” from 9 Lazy 9 and Cinematic Orchestra’s “Channel 1 Suite” and “All Things To All Men.”
So the “ZenRMX” retrospective is basically the same idea, only it is a collection of remixes rather than originals. A couple of the nicest remixes come from Squarepusher, DJ Food’s “Scratch Yer Head” and East Flatbush Project’s “Tried By 12.” The Manitoba remix of Mr. Scruffs “Sweetsmoke” is pretty wild too. Other such standouts are the Jamie Hodge mix of DJ Vadim’s “USSR Reconstruction,” Dr. Rockit’s mix of the Cinematic Orchestra’s “All That You Give” and DJ Food’s “Turtle Soup” flipped by Luke Vibert all hold down the first disk. The second disk isn’t up to par with the first, and really only Damu’s mix of “The Man With The Movie Camera,” the monumental Kaleioscope version of DJ Food’s “The Crow” and Food’s remix of The Herbaliser’s “Mrs. Chambee Takes The Plunge” do anything for me.
Keep in mind that these double disks are sold separately, and with that in mind I would have to recommend the set of originals. Not only do you get 32 songs versus 20, but it is better stuff and a better representation of what I have come to love from Ninja Tune over the years.
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