Ninja Tune

cornbb

Hi folks - first post in the Hip Hop forum so go easy on me!

I've gotten hold of a few Ninja Tune compilations and I like much of what I hear - particularly the likes of Amon Tobin, Coldcut, Kid Koala and DJ Food. I'm a newcomer to this genre ("abstract hip-hop" or whatever you'd like to call it) so I was wondering if there are any fans of this type of music about the place and if so which way do they advise I should go from here?

Kali

*steps forward* .. congrats on reaching the zenith of record labels I've around 50/60 NinjaTune releases, only about half I'd class as hip-hop though, so maybe a bit odd seeing it in this board... I've yet to purchase a bad record released on NinjaTune, possibly the Solid Steel collections get my least listenings of the lot. You've already mentioned some of the best artists, but Bonobo, Cinematic Orchestra, Hexstatic, Herbaliser and Dj Vadim should all be compulsory purchases as well (I absolutely love Amon Tobin).

Following on your next step should be Big Dada... NinjaTunes more mainstream hip-hop orientated label, the likes of Roots Manuva, cLOUDEAD, Ty etc. all 3 should be right up your street. From there I'd go check out any/all releases on Anticon and Def Jux particularly Dose One, Boom Bip, Aesop Rock, Sole, El-P, Cannibal Ox, RJD2, Mr. Lif etc. etc.


Have fun.

Makaveli

If you enjoy the more instrumental side of Hip-Hop there are some pretty amazing albums out there. Many of which have a Ninja Tune vibe to them.

DJ Shadow - Endtroducing. You've probably heard it (or heard of it being mod of the experimental forum). Amazing album, the fact it's made up entirely of samples really is quite ridiculous.

RJD2 - Dead Ringer. Very much in the same vein as DJ Shadow, Dead Ringer is the first (and best imo) album released by RJD2. There are some tracks with emcees on them so it's not purely instrumental (nor is Endtroducing). Ghostwriter is by far the stand out track.

Blockhead - Music By Cavelight. A Ninja Tune release, another outstanding album. His production is top notch and the album has a great flow/fluidity to it. Very chilled out and mellow.

Aim - Cold Water Music. If Music By Cavelight is chilled then this is sub zero. Very underrated album I feel, and one that is often overlooked. Aint Got Time To Waste, although a non-instrumental track is the stand out for me. One of my favourite tracks of all time.

Edan - Beauty And The Beat. Very nice album. Has less instrumental tracks than the others but is definitely similar in style. Well worth checking out.

DJ Format - Music For The Mature B-Boy. Not really the same as the others but one I think everyone should check out. A lot of the tracks feature Abdominal, Format's beats just seem to go hand in hand with his flow. The instrumental tracks show that the tracks don't need an emcee to stand by themselves. This is great party music. Very upbeat and one of the few albums that I'll happily play over and over again.

The Herbaliser - Something Wicked This Way Comes. Another very good Ninja Tune release. The Herbaliser are perhaps more of a Hip-Hop act than the likes of many of the artists on Ninja Tune which seem to blur the lines between electronic/Hip-Hop an awful lot. Again a good mix of instrumental and non-instrumental tracks providing nice balance to the album. Some excellent production and a very enjoyable album.

DJ Krush - Strictly Turntablised. He has a lot of albums but I'll go for this one because it's a little less drawn out than some of his others. It's an album that oozes cool, a lot darker than the other albums mentioned, very chilled vibe. Many consider it Trip-Hop but it's just semantics really. All that really matters is that it's good music.

That should keep you going for a while anyway. Most of the above have a few albums out, some with larger catalogues than others so if you like what you hear you should check out some of their other work. I will say that DJ Shadow - The Outsider and RJD2 - The Third Hand are albums very different to their usual work. The Outsider is a pretty awful album imo and although The Third Hand is an almost complete departure from what we're used to from RJD2 it's worth a listen.

cornbb

Thanks for the speedy replies! I guess the Hip Hop forum might be an odd choice but I wanted to get advice on the hip-hop aspect of NinjaTune as I already have a good grounding in the electronic/IDM/experimental aspect.

So I'm getting to be a big fan of Amon Tobin, I've bought Out From Out Where and Supermodified and intend to check out Foley Room next. I also have a couple of Cinematic Orchestra releases but didn't even realise they were on NT! I'm also familiar with some of DJ Shadow's stuff including Endtroducing.

The Herbaliser sound like an excellent place to go from here, judging by "8 pt agenda", a tune I found on one of the Xencuts compilations.

There seems to be a lot of depth to this stuff, I guess what I'm after is intelligent and left-of-centre hiphop/rap (i.e. the guys that seem to be apologists for the bling & bitches crowd). That plus the Amon Tobin/Coldcut type of stuff that uses incredibly impressive sampling.

Those recommendations will keep me going for a bit, thankfully much of them appear to be available on emusic.com

spacecoyote

definitely some nice recommendations above, I'd say you'll enjoy the Herbaliser alright, Something wicked..... is their best release I've heard so far, with a nice blend of genres. Definitely check it out.

RJD2 - Deadringer really is an excellent album, should be right up your street if you're looking for mostly instrumentals with a hip hop vibe. Have heard a fair bit of abuse for The Third Hand, but I actually really enjoyed that album myslef

Aesop Rock, as mentioned above is also worth a listen. Maybe check out Fast cars, danger, fire & knives, its a short album, but will give you a good feel for his style.

CunningLynguists have some excellent intelligent hip-hop, probably some of the best hip hop albums released in the last few years.

Cut Chemist - The Audience's Listening, is also a very nice, mainly instrumental hip hop album which i'd say you'll like. He's one of the DJ's from Jurassic 5.

The Handsome Boy Modelling School albums you might also enjoy. So....How's Your Girl and White People are both great albums imo.

Also Dan the Automator (one half of Handsome Boy Modelling School) released a nice left of centre album called A (much) Better Tomorrow which is worth a listen.

El-P's I'll sleep when you're dead is a fantastic album of allternative hip-hop, my favourite release last year.

J Dilla Donuts - BUY THIS ALBUM

Mr. Lif I, Phantom is more intelligent, left of centre hip-hop, a great album.

Blackalicious, both Nia & Blazing Arrow are worth picking up

Saul Williams - most might call him a street poet, rather than a hip hop artists. I don't have much of his stuff, but his self-titled album would probably be your kind of thing.

And if you're looking for sample heavy stuff, then you might enjoy DJ Yoda's How To Cut & Paste mixtapes

There's tons more stuff out there, but all thats been mentioned so far should get you pointed in the right direction

Orizio

I'm absolutely appalled nobody has mentioned Massive Attack, Tricky, Portishead or Prefuse 73 yet.

As for J Dilla, Donuts is really not his best work. Get Slum Village's Fantastic Vol. 2 and Common's Like Water For Chocolate instead if you want to hear him at his nicest.

Outside of the US and Britain, you should check out the very new releases from Wax Tailor (France) and Nomak (Japan).

Kali

Blackalicious, both Nia & Blazing Arrow are worth picking

Nia.. my favourite hip-hop album of all time. Fantastic.

Missed it out from my original post, but brand new on NinjaTune, Zero Db's Heavyweight Gringos is bloody great stuff, typical NinjaTune hard to pigeonhole electronica/jazzy hip-hop.

cornbb

Currently downloading "Days to come" by Bonobo from emusic.com. First impressions from listening to a few streaming tracks are great!

flyswatter

cornbb wrote: »

Currently downloading "Days to come" by Bonobo from emusic.com. First impressions from listening to a few streaming tracks are great!

Good album. Transmission94 is a quality track. One of my favourite Ninja Tune artists is Mr.Scruff. Has the same kind of jazz and breakbeats style as a lot on the label.