Chris Daly fucks, then he sleeps.   Say whatever else you might be so inclined to about Bonobo, but you certainly can’t say he’s been traveling at less than the speed of sound these days.  Fresh off his 18 month, international “North Borders” tour, he dropped the appropriately named The North Borders Tour – Live, a CD/DVD […]
This is what would be playing if robot Nazi carnies won the war. In which Danny Brown’s love of grime comes to the forefront. Kevin “The Bug” Martin mangles dancehall, dubstep, grime, and industrial techno into something that sounds like the tile would make it seem. Freakshows. $10 gets you squirting automatons and a side […]
Everyone knows that it takes more than just talent to blow up. There’s also usually a running man dance of branding, co-signs, and savvy management who guides artists to the top. Pure luck matters too. Until Drake flashed the YOLO signal for the Weeknd, the latter was just another anonymous MDMA-mangled R&B singer. Frank Ocean […]
Adam Wray’s favorite Ninja Turtle is Leonardo. Drew Lustman aka FaltyDL, has been one of dance music’s unsung heroes for a minute. Since signing with Planet Mu in 2008, Lustman’s been working hard to establish himself as one North America’s most consistent and exciting producers, filtering far-flung regional sounds through a distinctly New York lens. […]
Enter the Robin Byrd Era April 19, 2012
Robin Byrd is an ex-porn star who has spent the last 30 years interviewing sex industry staples and other bizarre figures on public access in New York City. Blockhead is a producer best known for his collaborations with Aesop Rock and a string of stellar instrumental records on Ninja Tune. DJ Pizzo is the man […]
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Baller Blockin April 5, 2012
Maybe it’s because the latter half of my college years were soundtracked by Labor Days, Float and Music by Cavelight, but I still consider Blockhead better than almost all of the new barrage of instrumental beatmakers who cultivate semi-anonymous public images to mask (presumably) boring personalities. Like, I know people are trying to get me […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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, […]
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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 […]
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