As Sonar Kollecktiv might say, Ten Years, Who Cares? but when a label such as Big Dada has released one of the greatest tracks of all time ‘Witness (I Hope)’ and supported and developed the guy who made it, Roots Manuva, I’m sure we care.

And how did it all start? Well, there are countless examples of music journalists forcing their way into the industry they spend so much time being criticising in a biting the hand that feeds them way. That said, they are a privileged group and can be even more involved in the scenes they cover than the musicians themselves. And it was with this type of enthusiasm that Will Ashon used his journalistic knowledge of hip hop and related music that got him the job of running Ninja Tune’s hip hop sister/brother label, Big Dada.

He was there at the start in 1997 until a couple of years ago when he went part time to allow him to write novels (see below). The last couple of years haven’t showed any loss of enthusiasm at BD on this double CD testifies.

The most recent superstar signed on the label is Wiley who has come out of the grime scene and the Xxxchange mix of the latest single, ‘My Mistakes’ shows that they’re happy to look beyond the shores of their London HQ for talent.

The mighty TTC, Diplo and early cLOUDEDEAD and Mike Ladd (aka Infesticons), Spank Rock shows how experimental and freethinking the label has always been.

You won’t need reminding of the hits by Roots & TY that are liberally sprinkled throughout.

If you’ve not been keeping up to date there’s some old an recently releases by New Flesh, Busdriver and the under rated Lotek HiFi.

You can’t be dada with some forward thinking that’s still further out, like Infinite Livez’s tribute to crisps, ‘Worcester Sauce’, the all too relevant anti-war of ‘NMS’ (Super Pretzel/Diplo), unreleased early Diplo, ‘Now’s The Time and ‘Anti-Matter’ (hip hop meets reggae roots).

Being more of a historically over the past 10 years than back to back hits makes this album that much more enjoyable. And what a great cover for this album; Hirst sculpture meets Dada of record label. It’s pure joy to look at while listening. Well deep but you won’t drown, ideal for a splash around and have fun (a bargain at less than £10.00).

If you’re wondering what happened in the first two years, see the compilation Black Whole Styles and there’s going to be a Well Deep DVD if you’re that way inclined.

What’s Ashon doing at the moment? His gone a bit part-time to get out his new novel, Clear Water, published by Faber. No idea what it’s about but apparently John Conltrane’s track ‘Spiritual’ was the soundtrack while he was writing it so it should be good.

Hectic Mix nominations (Main Room): All Roots amd TY , ‘Dans Le Club’, ‘Sweet Talk’, ‘Dead Dogs Two’, ‘My Mistakes’,
Hectic Mix nominations (Basement Room): Busdriver, Lotek HiFi, cLOUDDEAD, ‘Anti-Matter’, ‘Now’s The Time’, ‘NMS’, ‘Shadowless’, ‘Big Jus’

Reviewed: Various — Well Deep: Ten Years Of Big Dada Recordings (Big Dada) Cat. No. BDCD100-P1&2 Release date: 15th October 2007
Tracklisting:
1. Movement — Roots Manuva (4:13)
2. The Tale (Radio Edit) — TY (3:37)
3. Night Night Theme — Infesticons (4:05)
4. Colossal Insight — Roots Manuva (3:45)
5. Dead Dogs Two — cLOUDDEAD (Boards of Canada mix) (5:00)
6. Wherever We Go — New Flesh (3:46)
7. Wait a Minute — TY (3:22)
8. Fader Party — Majesticons (2:25)
9. Percolator — Lotek HiFi (3:20)
10. Dans Le Club-TTC (3:57)
11. Witness (1 Hope) — Roots Manuva (4:14)
12. Diploe Rhythm- Diplo (4:53)
13. Sweet Talk — Spank Rock (4:11)
14. My Mistakes (xxxchange Mix) — Wiley (3:09)
15. Hard Times — Part 2 (4:38)
Tracklisting CD 2
1. 50/50 — Wiley (2:18) 2. Stick & Move — New Flesh (3:30)
3. Worcestershire Sauce — Infinite Livez (3:03)
4. Super Pretzel — NMS (Diplo Remix) (4:53)
5. Monkey Theme — Infesticons (4:15)
6. Slang Teacher — Gamma (3:44)
7. Now’s The Time — Diplo (3:08)
8. Supply & Demand — Busdriver (2:05)
9. Anti-Matter — King Geedorah feat MF Doom & Mr Fantastik (3:27)
10. Look For Me — Ty (4:14)
11. Killer Apps — Shadowless (4:12)
12. King Spitter — Big Juss (2:18)
13. Black Astronaut — Busdriver (4:00)
14. Can’t Believe — Lotek HiFi (4:01)
15. Closer — Ty (5:06)
16. Physics of a Bicycle — cLOUDDEAD (4:41) (John Peel Session, 2001)

Links:
www.bigdada.com
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada